The party has said the apprenticeship levy system fails to provide enough skilled workers for 40,000 manufacturers, pledging to change the system under a new body Skills England.

It comes as four leading trade bodies write to the Government, calling for a broader skills levy under reform, while allowing for shorter, tailored courses to be funded. The British Retail Consortium (BRC), UKHospitality, techUK and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation said the system is restrictive as businesses cannot use the money to fund courses shorter than a year and £3.5 billion is being wasted as a result.

Chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Retailers want to invest more in training a higher-skilled, more productive and better paid workforce. They want to create more opportunities for people up and down the country.

" They want to contribute more to growth. But the broken apprenticeship system is a ball and chain around their efforts. Without reforms to the levy, retail will not be able to turbo boost equipping its workforce for the future.”

Sir Keir Starmer is set to unveil his plan to change the apprenticeship levy to a “growth and skills levy” at a new Stem research centre in the South West.

At present the apprenticeship levy taxes employers 0.5 per cent of their payroll each month if they have a wage bill of more than £3m a year. Businesses paying into the pot can use this money to fund apprenticeship training schemes.

The Co-op is also calling for reform after its research suggested over £600m of levy funding has been returned to the Treasury in the last year.

Co-op Group chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq said: “The apprenticeship levy goes some way to encouraging businesses to invest in their people, but the Government needs to better support businesses to make apprenticeships accessible to all and ensure that funding is used as effectively as possible.”

Leading trade bodies call on Government for reform over 'broken' apprenticeship system