Harlow’s MP Robert Halfon spoke of his vision to have “millions” of people doing apprenticeships, when he met journalism students at Harlow College.
Robert also highlighted his inspiration to become an MP when he was just ten years of age and paid tribute to a doctor at Great Ormond Street Hospital who changed his life
He told the students “I wanted either two jobs in life, either to be an MP or a written journalist because I love writing. The MP thing, two big reasons. The first, an MP came to my school when I was ten years old from Essex. He told me that Parliament has a thousand rooms and as a ten year old, I didn’t believe that anywhere could have that many rooms, so I demanded to go. I went and I thought oh my god this is incredible, I want to be an MP.”
He moved to Harlow in 1999 and said “it was the best decision I’ve ever made. Harlow is the greatest town in Britain.Every town has its problems. We have a great future. Our schools are improving, we’ve got new estates being built, there will also be a new hospital, we’ve got laboratories coming here. You’ve got everything here, shops, transport to London and the countryside, art galleries and greenery everywhere.”
Robert is chairman of the education select committee and a keen supporter of young people in general and Harlow College in particular. He told the students that he would like to see millions of people do apprenticeships adding “I’d love it to be advertised properly on social media, but its hard to know which platform to do it on as Facebook is seen for the old people now.”
He said he was concerned young people in the current economic crisis, saying “My whole career has been about supporting young people. I worry particularly about mental health. Going around to different schools and colleges, young people have spoken to me about mental health in a way that never happened before. I think absolutely we need to help young people with the cost of living, but also we need to do something about mental health.”
When asked about food banks, he described them as an incredibly important service. “Of course in an ideal world we wouldn’t have anyone going hungry, but often sadly, its people who have lost their jobs or have been made redundant and they need help. In an ideal word we wouldn’t have food banks. The government has to make difficult decisions on how its money is spent.”
photos: Robert Halfon pictured with journalism students