Wigan borough apprentice engineer is selected to take part in Europe’s biggest skills competition

Ben Love, 20, who trains with international tech conglomerate Siemens, will fly the flag for his country at the EuroSkills Finals in Gdańsk, Poland.

Taking place until September 9, EuroSkills is the largest skills competition in Europe attracting over 100,000 visitors.

Ben, who hails from Astley, has been selected to join Team UK, to compete in the engineering competition, by WorldSkills UK following his success in the UK-wide competitions. Team UK comprises of 20 elite apprentices and students skilled in a broad spectrum of disciplines from engineering to construction, digital to creative.

Governments and industry will be watching with interest to benchmark how well Team UK performs compared to the country’s main European competitors. At the event, 600 skilled young professionals, under the age of 25, from 32 member countries including Germany, Switzerland and France will compete.

Ben said: “As an apprentice, I never thought I’d be representing my country in the skill I love. It’s been hard work fitting in extra training around my apprenticeship but everyone at Siemens has been so supportive. I can’t wait to join Team UK and compete at EuroSkills.”

Ben Blackledge, chief executive of WorldSkills UK which selects and trains Team UK to the highest international standard ,said: “This will be a life-enhancing opportunity for Ben, and I wish him the best of luck. Ben and the rest of Team UK are the embodiment not only of the characteristics that we should aspire for in a young workforce, but for the UK Government’s ambitions for Global Britain too.

“The EuroSkills Finals provides a valuable mechanism for benchmarking the quality of skills. Through its competition-based assessment of young people’s skills against European industry standards, we can compare UK standards against those in the rest of Europe and importantly bring that international best practice back to the UK through the programmes we run at WorldSkills UK.”

To secure a place in Team UK, the apprentices and students have been through an exhaustive selection process, taking part in the prestigious WorldSkills UK National Competitions. Following the European Finals, they will continue their training with WorldSkills UK with the aim of being selected for the WorldSkills Finals which take place in Lyon, France next year.