A few weeks ago, I wrote in this column about the scale of unemployment and the ever-rising number of people claiming benefits. As a reminder, this number stands at 9 million.
I outlined that our ballooning welfare state has come to represent an incentive, rather than a safety net - where you get paid to do nothing - which causes massive harm to both the economy and individuals.
On Sunday, Welfare Secretary Pat MacFadden appeared on BBC One to discuss the solution to the unemployment crisis. He proposed a new £800 million youth guarantee scheme aimed at providing “intensive advice” to 900,000 people and offering work experience or training to 300,000 individuals. The plan also includes subsidised job offers for those who do not secure employment through training, depending on employers opting into the scheme. He emphasised that young people who do not actively engage with the programme without a valid reason will lose their benefits.
While I agree with some aspects of this scheme, such as those individuals not seeking work should not receive benefits, other parts raise concerns. Firstly, “intensive advice” sounds both somewhat opaque and a rather weak way to secure jobs for millions of people. Secondly, when pressed on which companies had signed up, McFadden could not identify any.
Today, as I sit in Parliament writing this, the Employment Rights Bill is progressing through the House. Labour has listened to our advice and reversed its decision to implement day-one employment rights for businesses nationwide, but this is just one part of the 330-page, job-damaging legislation. It does not alter the fact that the Bill remains unfit for purpose, nor does it change the fact that it will grant unions the ‘Right to Roam’, ban banter in pubs, or end flexible working.
The simple fact is, businesses cannot afford to take on more workers. Since the Labour government raised National Insurance payments, businesses across the country have been struggling and shutting down. Businesses are being attacked left, right and centre, and those suffering are the youth who are unable to get jobs.
McFadden’s Sunday announcement resembled putting a sticking plaster on a war wound. The way to get people back into work is by creating an economy where businesses can afford to hire them. This means Labour must scrap employers’ national insurance hikes, stand up to its union paymasters, and remove every single job-destroying, anti-growth measure in the Employment Rights Bill now.
