UKIP has launched its 'Manifesto for Manchester' which would see the Department for Culture, Media and Sport moving north to the city.


John Bickley, the party's candidate in the Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election, explained that there needs to be an increased emphasis on jobs for young people in the region.


Re-locating the Culture Department and most of its agencies to Manchester will create up to 700 jobs, he claimed. Other job creation moves include developing a new ‘Excellence in Hospitality’ training college in partnership with Manchester Airport and the region's local authorities.


The primary aim is to open up the jobs market in this sector to local, young people, offering them the chance to forge a rewarding career.


Also UKIP says it would work with employers to create a new sector-wide internship scheme for youngsters to ensure as many 14 and 15-year-olds as possible get the change to do work experience and make contacts isn the many elite locally based employers.


"We want the people of Manchester and adjoining local authority areas to be first in line for elite job vacancies in this exciting economic sector," said Mr Bickley.


UKIP promises to also develop a social housing points bonus for local students who pass A-levels or vocational equivalent qualifications and find employment within the region.


"Young people doing the right thing and preparing to contribute positively to their communities deserve to have those achievements acknowledged by moving forward in the queue for social housing."


Mr Bickley, who grew up on the Wythenshawe estate, said that after being out canvassing and leafleting  in the area he had ‘been quite depressed just to see the hopelessness in kids' eyes’.


He added: "They feel betrayed and they feel let down by the Labour Party and don't feel there is any hope. If you have a whole under-class of kids you have no future. They have been ignored for too long."


He pointed out that there used to be one of the best grammar schools in the north west in Wythenshawe which he claimed gave thousands of children from all backgrounds “a way out but Labour closed down that aspirational route.


"We have to do something about it, we can't let generations of children wither on the vine."