I am writing to congratulate The Argus over the rapid success of your 50 in 5 campaign, jointly run with City College Brighton and Hove during National Apprenticeship Week.

The national week is a fantastic initiative and I was very pleased that this year’s 50 in 5 campaign beat last year’s local total of 67 new apprenticeships so comprehensively.

Your campaign, of course, ran hand in hand with the Conservatives’ successful creation of apprenticeships throughout this parliament.

Two million have been established nationally since 2010, with more than 2,300 created in Brighton Pavilion alone and even more throughout the wider city, as your campaign so amply proved.

A future Conservative government is committed to creating three million more across the UK.

Apprenticeships are vital in giving young people a good start in their working lives offering them the opportunity to learn skills for a wide range of practical vocations as well as the general workplace.

Our newly launched degree apprenticeships will offer even more opportunities.

These new skills and jobs in Brighton will become foundations of the local economy with young people going on to play an important role in the economic future of the city and beyond.

Only with a strong local economy underpinned by a strong working population can Brighton return to the prosperity it once enjoyed.

Congratulations on your 50 in 5 success once again.

Clarence Mitchell, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion