Conservatives to Fund Apprenticeships with Bank Fines

A Conservative government will use fines imposed on Deutsche Bank for its involvement in rigging interest rates to fund 50,000 apprenticeships, David Cameron has announced.

The Conservative leader said the scheme would “train young people and get them off the dole and in to work”.

It comes on top of three million apprenticeships the party has pledged over the next Parliament if re-elected.

The Conservatives’ latest apprenticeship pledge will target people aged between 22 and 24 who have been unemployed for more than six months.

The £200m cost of the scheme will be paid for out of the £227m fine that Deutsche Bank received earlier this week for trying to manipulate Libor and Euribor inter-bank lending rates.

Mr Cameron said, “We’re going to take the fines from the banks who tried to rig markets – and we’re going to use it to train young people and get them off the dole and into work.”