Quotes from Wes Streeting

We need an education system that prepares people to seize the opportunities of the 21st century - from tackling the inequality that sees the poorest kids arriving at school at a disadvantage from the age of five to creating a truly lifelong learning system to help people reskill and retrain as they're living longer and working longer.

I was born in Tower Hamlets in London Hospital, Mile End. I grew up in Stepney on a council estate and lived with my mum and only saw my dad on weekends.

Increasing student numbers must be a central plank of the Labour manifesto, backed up by action, not just well-meaning words.

Ideas must always be subjected to debate and challenge.

I'm not new to debates about bans and boycotts. I encountered them during my time as President of the National Union of Students.

In an ideal world, of course, we would still be arguing for free education. If I was starting with a blank sheet of paper, I would have system that was funded by progressive taxation where graduates aren't making that contribution. But we don't live in an ideal world.

I wanted to be all sorts of things. I went through phases. I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be a lawyer. For a little while I wanted to be a priest, which my dad wasn't very happy about.

My childhood hero was Timmy Mallett. He came to my primary school and it was the best day.

One of the privileges of my adult life has been meeting pioneers of LGBT equality, particularly Waheed Alli, Michael Cashman and Ian McKellen.

I represent a diverse constituency on the London/Essex border.

I have a different perspective on public services to most middle-class professionals on the left.

There are thousands of kids out there for whom higher education will never seem a realistic prospect but who have the ability and the potential to succeed.

We need to open up our party to wider involvement to build the movement we need to win elections and change our country.

People like me on the centre-left of politics have a fight on our hands. Our job is to appeal to people's hopes and aspirations by providing real answers to the challenges facing our country.

Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer are quite right to call for a Brexit that puts jobs first, and to hold ministers to account for their promise to negotiate a trade deal with the E.U. that delivers 'the exact same benefits' as single market membership.

My mum was a lone parent at the age of 18, bringing up a son in the 1980s. The benefits system put food in the fridge.

When I was at a tough inner-city school, drama gave me a friendship group. It's been so core to who I am and given me such confidence later in life.

Isis combatants, foreign and domestic, plan to attack us regardless of whether we extend airstrikes into Syria. The deadly and fanatical nature of this death cult requires a multi-faceted response to wipe out its military capability and erode its base of support.

There is a proud and patriotic tradition on the centre left of supporting our armed forces; being tough on crime as well as its causes; that expects people to pay their fair share of taxes as the price for a civilised society and that spends money wisely.

There are so many students out there who said they don't understand NUS or know how to get involved, and don't think the priorities and policies of NUS represent them and reflect their interests.

The benefits of globalisation and economic growth are being unevenly distributed and people are acutely aware of their own relative disadvantage.

Politicians can't be expected to answer for the actions of their relatives.

My mum would have gone hungry before I would go hungry.

Rather than allowing students and teachers to celebrate their success, some would rather we measure success in Britain in terms of failure; that our education system can only truly be of a high standard if significant numbers lose out. This is no way to build a world-class education system.