Warwick hosts Shadow Cabinet

Warwick campus played host to a selection of Shadow Cabinet ministers on Friday as opposition leader Ed Miliband announced Labour’s new flagship youth employment policy in a high-profile major speech to a Youth Conference.

Warwick Manufacturing Group’s International Digital Laboratory also saw appearances from Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna, who heard Miliband call on the youth to play its part in national politics. “We need your energy, we need your spirit, we need your idealism”, he told the audience of around 100 young party members.

For Labour, said Miliband, “it is simply unacceptable to have so many talented young people out of work for an entire year with their hopes and dreams evaporating”. The £600 million scheme his speech outlined would see a tax on bank bonuses help to fund fresh jobs in the private sector.

The speech was followed by an extensive question and answer session, in which the audience questioned Shadow Cabinet Ministers on issues including unpaid internships, the “Robin Hood” bank tax, the need for jobs in manufacturing and the re-nationalisation of the railways.

One light-hearted moment, quickly picked up by national media outlets, saw Miliband [confuse the gender of a member of the audience](http://www.itv.com/news/miliband-gender-muddle34887/), but attendees praised his performance. Warwick student Dom Breslin was particularly positive, telling the _Boar_ that the Labour leader provided “a great mix of innovative policy and raw emotion”.

Others, however, questioned the decision to open the event to so few. The location of the event was disclosed only to those who signed up as paying members of the party. “You’ve got thousands of students worried about employment nearby”, observed one anonymous student, “but you won’t let them in. What sense does that make?” He added: “Of course the audience enjoyed it – they’re all paid up party members.”

The presence of so many Shadow Cabinet Ministers on campus, meanwhile, continues the relationship between the WMG facility and the Labour Party. Gordon Brown visited the International Digital Laboratory whilst it was under construction in 2007 as Chancellor, and officially opened the facility in 2010 as Prime Minister.