Top 44 Esther McVey Quotes

I’m forever being told, and intrinsically understand, that people want to study at different times in their lives, often inspired to do so when they see the practical benefits of their studies.

Everyone deserves the chance to make their own choices. The first step on this pathway is experiencing the working world.

To think that we are all the same and going to follow the same journey, that is wrong. We are going to support and liberate people, to give people as many opportunities to succeed as possible without being prescriptive.

Only three per cent of people are born with a disability; the rest acquire it through accident or illness, but people come out of it. Thanks to medical advances, bodies heal.

People shouldn’t have to lose their accents to get a fair crack at the whip at a job or move up within a sector or industry.

Work experience for many is their first taste of work and an essential first step into the jobs market.

I was raised in inner-city Liverpool, the first in my family to go to university.

Universal Credit claimants who refuse to accept a zero hours contract job offer, without good reason, can be subject to a sanction.

David Cameron, and before him Iain Duncan Smith, went out of their way to attract women into the party. Yes, we need to sell politics to more women, but quotas are not the way forward. You set a quota, what is the right quota? What is the wrong quota?

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.

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

Labour’s disastrous legacy and the Conservative success did not happen by accident: it was about the choices each party made, choices that impact on everyone.

Life is about hard work and getting on with things.

Politics is all about trust. Trust is like the soul: once gone, it never returns.

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

My dissertation focused on the character traits and personality types of successful women.

I have had long relationships but have never married.

I work with a host of amazing women who act as role models, who give their spare time freely to encourage these girls to give things a go, to reach out and take a chance and to explain that should they fail, well that’s just a part of life.

Most people fall upon tough times at some point.

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.

We know that children living in a household with someone in work do better in school, have better educational attainment, and are more likely to have a job later in life than children growing up in a home where no one works.

We’ve got to be as good as our word.

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 teaches you it’s not where you come from, it’s where you get to, and work is exactly the same.

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.

I, for one, want to make sure we give every young person the chance to find the fuel for their confidence, something that will power their ambition.

Lifelong learning is becoming commonplace, with people studying at different times when they see the benefits of doing so.

It’s important to know what you can do and what you can’t.

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.

I believe Jeremy Corbyn getting his hands on power is a risk we cannot afford to take.

My friends have always known there was this more serious side to me, and all my life, I’ve had Conservative values.

When I was growing up, my parents put money into food, utility bills, and the mortgage.

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 ran my first campaign when I was 11. My slogan was ‘Vote McVey, vote the right way.’ I’ve never surpassed it!

It makes my life easier that I don’t have to take my daughter or son to school, that I’ve not got to look after them because they are ill. But then, I’m not nurtured and cherished, so I will seek external love from other close relationships.

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

Outside Westminster, political debate must seem like white noise that bears little relevance to people’s everyday lives. But political choices made by the governments we elect have a real impact on how we live.

If that is your route, to go to university and get a job that way, that is fantastic.

I always thought, as I was growing up, that I’d be married with children. That hasn’t happened.

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.

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.

I want to give the message that anyone can succeed given the opportunity.