As the battle buses roll round the country ferrying candidates and party leaders on marathon electoral journeys, we took the time to assess how well their manifestos might tackle one of the biggest issues facing sustainable economic recovery for the UK – the skills crisis.

The crisis is acute as we face sustained employment growth but real terms stagnation of wages. ‘Living standards' have consequently become a major battleground for all parties. With 13.5 million new jobs forecast to be created over the next decade, but only seven million young people entering the labour market over that period, the gap has to be filled by the working age population. There has never been a time when adult skills is a hotter political issue.