Miliband Signals Support For Tech City

Red Ed Comes To East London

MilibandLabour Party leader Ed Miliband visits East London’s Tech City today to reiterate his support for growing the UK’s technology skill cluster.

Miliband recently declared his support for growing a domestic technology workforce by proposing a full-time apprenticeship be made available for every job secured by an overseas applicant. The hope is that Britain will be able to slowly reduce its reliance on foreign expertise by promoting opportunities within existing firms.

In his speech to Silicon Roundabout’s elite today, Ed Miliband is likely to highlight the reduction in digital apprenticeships over the past 12 months, correlated to a rise in the number of skilled workers being sourced from outside the EU.

With an increasing demand for highly skilled workers in East London, politicians are looking to find solutions that will address the ‘vast gap’ between what we can source domestically and what our businesses require for growth. By offering these training opportunities, a new generation of young people can be equipped to fill the void created by Tech City’s rapid expansion.

As a market that is now worth in excess of £100bn to the UK economy each years, technology is an increasingly important area for political focus, and bodies such as the TCIO (Tech City Investment Organisation) are working hard to help nurture its success. For Britain to compete with global leaders like India and the United States, more must be done to attract young people into the sector.

There are certainly a number of challenges ahead to ensure that the East London technology cluster continues to grow and develop. The recent attention from all political parties is an acknowledgement of the current benefits of the project, as well as the future potential for EC1 to become an internationally recognised location for tech innovation.

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