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Businesses would save up to £4,500 per apprentice they hire through a wage rebate under a new pledge unveiled by Reform UK today.

The party has said it would introduce a 30% 'apprenticeship wage credit' for small and medium-sized firms in order to boost young people in training and encourage them away from 'Mickey Mouse' degrees.

Announcing the new proposal, Suella Braverman, Reform's Education and Skills spokesman, said Britain 'needs apprentices' amid the crisis of one million young people not in employment, education or training.

Branding it a 'betrayal' of Britain's young people, Ms Braverman said: 'We realise that to completely revamp the mindset of this country into the skills revolution that we need, the government will lead from the front.

'That is why we will reimburse each business 30% of the wages when they take on a young apprentice.

'In doing so, a Reform government is investing 30% into each young person's success.'

Suella Braverman unveiled a new £1.5 billion pledge to save businesses thousands for every apprentice they hire

Speaking at a business in North London, Ms Braverman said boosting young people in trades would help protect them from AI disruption in the labour market

Reform said it would crack down on 'Micky Mouse' degrees like gender studies, leaving youngsters with thousands of pounds in debt and unable to find a job

Ms Braverman also said that a Nigel Farage-led government would introduce a new apprenticeship retention bonus, in an effort to ensure newly qualified workers stick with the company that trained them up.

Workers who stay with their company for two years of service will be handed £2,000 by the government as a reward.

The party said that the policies would cost around £1.5 billion, partly paid for by making 'significant savings' by banning all foreign students from accessing taxpayer-funded loans.

However, plans to scrap student loans for EU students could spark a furious showdown with Brussels, something deputy leader Richard Tice said he was willing to do battle over.

He said: 'There's no such thing as a sort of static trade deal.

'We've got to have the courage to recognise that and work out what's best for the UK.'

Ms Braverman also took aim at taxpayer-funded 'Micky Mouse' degrees from 'third-rate universities'.

Asked to specify the sort of degrees being criticised by the party, Ms Braverman blasted: 'This has been well-chronicled for many years. Whether it's gender studies, golf course studies, I think I've seen.

'There's not a necessity, there's not a value in many of these degrees… You've got to ask yourself what are your graduate outcomes looking like?'

Ms Braverman said the new pledge would help equip Britain's young people for a future in which AI disrupts the labour market.

She warned young people: 'Be very aware of the changing labour market and prepare accordingly.

'This is why I believe so passionately in a skills revolution. We need young people who are going to be builders, scaffolders, painters and decorators, quantity surveyors, people whose jobs will not be hit by AI.

'AI is not going to be able to paint a room!'

Reform aims to reach 600,000 apprenticeship starts per year by the end of the next parliament.

Labour insisted they are already focussing on boosting apprenticeship take-ups, with 500,000 new jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities, including a 'guaranteed job for 18-24-year-olds who have been out of work for 18 months.'