Nick Clegg: We'll break down social barriers

NICK Clegg yesterday said "birth has become destiny" for many youngsters, as he set out the government's strategy to improve social mobility.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who admitted he had benefited from a privileged upbringing, insisted it was time to break down barriers preventing poorer children reaching their potential.

"It just is not right that for too many young people, birth has become destiny, that the circumstances of someone's birth should shape, narrow and limit opportunities at school, at college, at university, the labour market - and more than that, on some evidence, limit the length of time you will live," he said.

As part of the social mobility strategy, he called on companies to allocate internships through open competition rather than being allocated to the "well-connected". But he faced accusations of hypocrisy over his own intern experience at a Finnish bank, which was set up through a friend of his financier father.

Labour MP John Mann said: "It is total hypocrisy and really desperate for him to attack internships now.

"His policies are holding down social mobility in this country but he enjoyed all the advantages of family connections himself."

Campaign group Intern Aware also claimed Mr Clegg's Liberal Democrats were among the "worst offenders" for unpaid internships.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Lib Dems would be putting their own intern system "on a much more transparent footing", including making applications "name and school blind".

Civil service internships are to be advertised on a central website from 2012, ending informal placements within Whitehall.

Mr Clegg called for financial support for interns, covering out-of-pocket expenses or even offering a wage, amid concerns that many youngsters cannot afford to undertake unpaid positions, particularly in London.

"For too long, internships have been the almost exclusive preserve of the sharp-elbowed and the well-connected," Mr Clegg said.

"Unfair, informal internships can rig the market in favour of those who already have opportunities.

"We want a fair job market based on merit, not networks. It should be about what you know, not who you know."

The government will be tracking progress against its social mobility goals with the publication of a set of "indicators".