Quotes from Esther McVey

People no longer have one job for life, so it is right that younger generations adapt.

Growing up with a bold feminist in my mother, I witnessed her march magnificently from mini to maxi, fashions so obviously linked to powerful statements of female progression, equality and recognition. I knew no other than freedom of expression in all the forms it came in; art, theatre, fashion, literature and music.

Life is not a theoretical problem to be solved in class.

Not only does work experience provide the opportunity to sample a potential career, but it also builds the essential skills often regarded as 'soft skills' that are needed to thrive in work.

You wouldn't try and make a cake without a recipe book. Careers are just the same.

Has my accent held me back? I don't believe it has at all. I think it can be a colourful accent.

We have seen a shift in the focus of education before entering the workplace, with earning and learning the new norm.

When I became minister for employment, that was my ideal job because it meant I was able to reflect on what I saw growing up and actually try to change it.

People who have been successful in business have a huge amount to offer young people who are just starting out.

If feminism was a dress, it would be that essential little black number, reached for in times of need; different for everyone but a steady constant in a woman's life. Outspoken or understated, demure or provocative, worn to reflect the mood, the personality, the time.

It is only by giving people the tools to empower themselves will they be able to achieve their potential.

What I like to see is people like Beyonce. Here is a woman who is bling-a-ding. Not only does she look like that and act like that - I've seen her perform, and I was blown away - but she is at the top of her profession.

We never have been closed to immigration.

That is what we should be doing: liberating everyone's potential, whether it's a self-made individual, whether it's someone taking the university route, whether it's the apprenticeship route. They are all equal and good and worthwhile.

I've had other friends who had such a burning desire to have children: they have this biological ticking clock. I don't know what happened to mine. Nobody ever wound it up.

I believe most people in their life will fall upon tough times at some point.

Most people fall upon tough times at some point.

Where I come from, from a very different point of view, it's a Labour heartland, it's a trade union heartland, and I'll have a very personal campaign against me there.

Our young people are some of the best and most talented in the world - they are driven, entrepreneurial, and innovative - and with the help of people who have already made it in the world of work, they can go on to be the bosses and employers of the future.

Politicians themselves, every one of us, has a responsibility to make sure that we send out a message that it is a good place to work, that it is positive, that you are transforming people's lives.

I guess, as a young girl growing up in Liverpool in the '80s, when unemployment was high, my ideal job would have been to have been Minister for Employment to see, can you solve these problems? Can you get people into work?

The behaviour of several male politicians against me has never been condemned by Ed Miliband, or the Labour Party, and it needs to be because in the end, it will have a long-term corrosive effect for politics full stop and for young girls who want to go into politics.

Labour parades compassion for the poor, but it practised casual cruelty by consigning millions to benefits. Yet there's nothing compassionate about being trapped on benefits, being robbed of the dignity of work, and shut out from the choices that brings.

Top performers in their fields such as Debbie Moore, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Deborah Meaden and Jo Malone, did not go to university and are just a handful of the individuals who show that with drive and determination, you can succeed by treading your own path.