Every time, I’m left learning about new struggles, the impact of poverty and the things people really want to see from their government. In my role as Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, I visit countless community services, charities, emergency workers and other community settings. I’d suggest asking these questions is the ‘politics of common sense’. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask if being rich means some politicians have no idea what it is like to struggle on two jobs, fear how you will heat your home or live with the distress of credit card debt. Some argue that it is ‘the politics of envy’ to criticise our leaders in this way. There’s nothing wrong with these as such, it’s just it’s time they had a more genuine go at the action.īeing concerned that too many of the country’s leaders come from elite schools or only have experience of high paying corporate jobs in financial industries, is understandable. It would certainly bring more authenticity than the mandatory staged political photos with smiling children or construction hardhats. It would be important for the people to see their elected representatives complete this vital schooling through a degree of media access, at least bits of it, just so they know the apprenticeship was real. Media interviews with prominent and start-out politicians alike, exploring how they found working the bin routes on collection day, would probably be a lot more interesting too.
With the cost of living crisis bringing many hard working households close to breaking point, people are rightly asking more than ever ‘just how in touch are our politicians?’ and ‘do they really understand what we’re having to endure?’. Spending three or four days in each role, concurrently over a few weeks, MPs could expect to do anything from assisting frontline police officers in high-crime areas, undertaking construction work, shadowing a nurse in A&E, supporting an inner-city social worker with their caseloads, enjoying a stint in office administration, trying out fast-food delivery or performing supervised tasks on our transport network. This really would be a University of Life. Working in a combination of shops, hospitals, schools, emergency services and factories, coupled with an experience of the living conditions faced by millions on low incomes, would be a wonderful education for many.
The experience should be a genuine trial, and provided security was all in order, shouldn’t provide any easy get outs or luxuries that the people don’t get. Lasting two to three weeks, the People’s Apprenticeship would see MPs get their hands dirty by undertaking work experience days across the public, private and third sector. Politicians from across the political divide would take part, in what would hopefully be a privileged insight that informs their democratic mandates, rather than serves as a burden they must be seen to endure. That means even our next Prime Minister, whether Sunak or Truss, should be prepared to get on their PPE and work in the corridors of our hardest hit hospitals or assist teachers in the crowded classrooms of today.
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We have seen a lot of MPs act as though they are above the law in recent months, and so no one should be given a free pass on the People’s Apprenticeship. Whether an MP is from humble routes, or from the privilege of Eton, each elected member should undertake an apprenticeship once elected.
All newly elected and existing MPs should undertake a People’s Apprenticeship, in which they must experience a number of different walks of life to inform their decisions in the Houses of Parliament.
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