THE Conservative candidate for Warrington South was joined by the party's treasury minister at Morrisons to announce their commitment to deliver more apprenticeships in the town.

David Mowat, who is vying to be re-elected to the constituency seat on May 7, and Priti Patel tried their hand at making sponge cakes at the supermarket, on Greenalls Avenue, under the watchful eye of the store's catering team.

The pair also spoke to former meat apprentice, Matthew Thomason, and former bakery apprentice, Ben Thornley, who both completed their apprenticeships last year.

Since 2010 the growth of apprenticeships has been felt in the area and Mrs Patel is pledging to continue delivering.

"Apprenticeships are vital to Warrington and as a treasury minister I am focused on the economy and job creations - this Government has created 1,000 jobs every day and already two millions apprenticeships over the last five years," she said.

"We are committed to creating even more - three million in the next Parliament.

"We want apprenticeships to be recognised on par with university qualifications for the skills it offers young people.

"That is vital for the success not just for our youngsters but also for the success of our economy and our country."

Despite the pledge to create more apprenticeships, Mrs Patel remains adamant that funding for other services will not suffer.

"The fact that we have created two million apprenticeships and places thus far has changed the educational landscape," she added.

"It is about how you educate the wiser community and how you work with businesses - there needs to be a good relationship as a Government with businesses.

"You need diversity in employment and flexibility as well - the crucial thing here is skills offered, whether in food, retail, engineering, science or technology.

"We have to be competitive as an economy and apprentices are at the heart of that."

Mr Mowat echoed Mrs Patel's vision for the town and vowed to continue giving residents the opportunity to complete an apprenticeship.

"Across everywhere in the country we have not been good at educating the level of people that don't necessarily want to go to university," he said.

"The apprenticeship drive over the last three to four years has fixed that because there are 5,000 people in Warrington South on an apprenticeship now, who would not have been on it four years ago."