CONDEMNATION FOR CON/DEM COALITION DECISION TO CUT SUPPORT FOR YOUNG UNEMPLOYED

The Con/Dem government says they will save £320m by cutting some employment programmes, including: "…ending further roll out of temporary jobs through the Young Person's Guarantee (Future Jobs Fund)" and removing recruitment subsidies from the Six Month Offer. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/press_04_10.pdf page 3

At a time when the economy is still fragile these cuts will be devastating for local young people. The Labour government had announced funding for 200,000 jobs through the Future Jobs Fund and 118,100 had been confirmed for individual organisations. A further 80,000 had been pledged followings bids from organisations from around the country, including several in Derby.

Furthermore, the £320m the Con/Dem government says it will save by cutting the Future Jobs Fund is misleading because the net cost is much lower than the headline figure. Although the jobs that are paid for under the Future Jobs Fund cost £6,500 per job, when the savings on unemployment benefit are taken into account the cost is much lower. That means that up to 80,000 jobs would need to be cut this year to save £320m.

The Con/Dem coalition are making these cuts even though Theresa May wrote to the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) on 28 April this year to say: "The Conservative position on the Future Jobs Fund...has been misrepresented by certain groups in the media. We have no plans to change existing Future Jobs Fund commitments. However it is essential that this support delivers long term sustainable work for those who take up FJF opportunities. If elected we will review the operation of the Fund to ensure this is the case..." http://www.acevo.org.uk/Document.Doc?id=612

The Lib Dems were also falling over themselves to say they had no plans to reduce government commitments to the Future Jobs Fund. Steve Webb, the Lib Dem Minister of State for Work and Pensions also wrote to ACEVO on 21 April in which he stated "We have no plans to change or reduce existing government commitments to the Future Jobs Fund. We believe that more help is needed for young people, not less”. http://www.acevo.org.uk/Document.Doc?id=604

I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised by the duplicitous words of the Theresa May because the Tories are just reverting to type. But I suspect more people will be disappointed by the disingenuous Liberal Democrats. I warned voters about the Lib Dems not being genuine progressives in my short blog on 17 April. The reality is they have always blocked progressive change ever since their share of the popular vote started to increase in the early 1970s. In fact support for the Lib Dems and their antecedents, the Liberal/SDP Alliance, have assisted the Tories into power in four out of the last seven elections. It wasn’t therefore particularly surprising to me that they sided with the Tories and have gone back on their word about jobs for young people.

The youth claimant count is currently 440,000 – a drop of 50,000 since October, reflecting the extra help for young people including the Future Jobs Fund. The number of young people who are ILO unemployed is currently 941,000.

After previous recessions, when the Tories were in government, youth unemployment continued increasing for years, but that hasn’t happened this time. Hundreds of local young people have really benefited from Labour’s investment in jobs. Youth unemployment has already begun to fall and most young people are coming off Job Seekers Allowance within three months thanks to programmes like the Future Jobs Fund.

In previous recessions under the Tories, youth unemployment continued to rise for years after the end of the recession. It had already begun to fall under Labour after this recession – as a result of the extra support including the Future Jobs Fund.

When Labour left office, there were around 40 per cent fewer young people signing on than under the Tories in the 1990s recession. Well over half of young people on JSA were coming off within three months - thanks to Labour's £5 billion investment in jobs, which the Tories opposed. This included over 200,000 jobs under the Future Jobs Fund and a guarantee of a job, training or work-experience for all young people six months unemployed.

If nothing else, the consequences of this election has delivered a salutary lesson to everyone who thought the Liberal Democrats offered a new kind of politics. The reality has been very different. That’s why I’m urging everyone who wants to see genuine progressive social change in our country to support Labour in resisting this Con/Dem government and join us in building a better future.