The finest young skilled apprentices from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have been selected to represent the UK at Europe’s most important skills competition.

Team UK, which will be competing in the EuroSkills finals in Budapest from 26 to 28 September, comprises 22 elite competitors skilled in a broad range of disciplines from engineering to construction and digital to ‘creative’.

Neil Bentley, CEO of WorldSkills UK (pictured), which selects and trains Team UK, said: “This will be a life-enhancing opportunity for these remarkable young people.

"After Brexit, our economic success as a nation will be dependent on our ability to close major trade deals and attract inward investment, and this will always hinge on demonstrating that we have people with the right skills.”

Dr Bentley said governments and industry will be watching with interest to benchmark how well Team UK performs compared with the country’s main European competitors. At the previous Euro-Skills finals, held in 2016 in Gothenburg, Team UK finished seventh.

Included in Team UK are Elliot Dawson (CNC Milling), Ross Megahy (Mechanical Engineering CAD) and Scott Kerr (Welding).

Further information can be found at the Web site (www.worldskillsuk.org).