Labour has accused skills minister Anne Milton of not having confidence in her own government’s flagship T-level reforms.

Shadow FE minister Gordon Marsden criticised Ms Milton for her comments before the Commons Education Select Committee about the overhaul of technical education that she is overseeing, after she said that, as a parent, she would encourage her children to “leave it a year” before embarking on one of the new T levels.

She told the committee: "The job of persuading parents to do any new qualification is always quite tough and we know that not huge numbers will do it in the first instance because... I mean, I’m a parent of four children. If somebody said to me, 'Your children could do this new qualification,' I’d say, ‘Leave it a year.'”

At the launch of the government’s post-18 education review in February, prime minister Theresa May urged people to drop the “outdated notion” that vocational education was for “other people’s children”.

'One rule for government, another for everyone else'

Mr Marsden said it was “astounding” that Ms Milton “does not have confidence in her own government’s flagship education policy.

He added: “It is not acceptable for there to be one rule for the government, and another for everyone else.

“The Department for Education’s permanent secretary has already said that T levels cannot feasibly be implemented on time without a serious risk to taxpayers’ money.

“Rather than rushing through reforms, Labour will give technical education the funding it needs to deliver T levels across the whole further education sector; ensuring free, high-quality training is available for all those who need it throughout their lives.”