Milliband vows to boost number of female engineers

Writing on Facebook, the Labour leader said Britain's lack of female engineers should be a "matter of national embarrassment", as he called for an extra 400,000 people to be trained in the profession by the end of the decade. "If we are going to win the race to the top in the 21st century, we have to re-establish our historic reputation as a world leader in technology and manufacturing," he wrote. "We need to equip our businesses with the skills they need to succeed. But the UK is facing a crisis in the number of engineers being trained up. "This is not just a shortage of the traditional civil, mechanical and electrical engineers, but also in information technology, green energy, and life sciences where many of the jobs of the future will be created." Miliband also criticised the lack of female engineering professionals in the UK. He continued: "In 2013, only 14% of engineering graduates were women. And only 4% of professionally registered engineers are female. The next Labour government will seek to put the UK back at the forefront of invention, technology and engineering with a national mission to create an extra 400,000 engineers by 2020. We are determined to make it happen. And we have a plan to make it happen." Responding to his declaration, Michelle Richmond of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), said: "It's great to see that Ed Miliband is making plans to tackle the engineering skills shortage. "There is no easy fix to this problem so it's important that any future training programmes are developed in close consultation with industry, schools and colleges if we want them to make a real and lasting impact. "The lack of inspirational engineering role models for girls is also part of the problem so we must make sure we show the next generation that engineering is an interesting and challenging career choice."