Young facing a life on welfare
IT IS a national disgrace that one million young Brits are neither in work nor education.
The fact that youngsters who should be starting out on a career are instead facing a life on welfare is truly shocking.
The Government appears at last to be waking up to the criminal waste of our native resources.
As Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden says: “We have become too reliant on overseas labour to fill shortages.”
Sinking £1billion into skills training for 600,000 new roles is a start.
And it is true that previous governments opened the door to a tidal wave of cheap foreign labour.
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But Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ own calamitous budget last year was a wrecking ball for jobs.
The impact of hiking employers’ National Insurance contributions has been disastrous for thousands of young Brits, as it makes it far dearer for bosses to take a chance on giving them a first step into the workplace.
Meanwhile the failure to build an effective deterrent to illegal migration ensures an endless supply of low-paid foreign workers on the black market.
Immigrants are still filling far too many vacancies at the expense of homegrown talent. It is vital that the Chancellor rapidly reverses this imbalance.
As she prepares for her make-or-break Budget next month, she must focus on one simple mantra.
Jobs, jobs, jobs. Not tax, tax, tax.
Friends in low places
SIR Keir Starmer is rightly furious over the shameful ban on Israeli football fans attending a match against Aston Villa.
So what will he say when he finds out that Lucy Powell, who is tipped to become the Labour leader’s deputy next week, is close to a controversial Muslim councillor at the centre of the ban?
Waseem Zaffar is such a firm supporter of the ex-Cabinet Minister that he even presented her with a birthday cake at a recent campaign event.
But his pro-Islamic views are so extreme that some are calling for him to be kicked out of the party.
Not only has he vowed to boycott Villa Park for the visit of Maccabi Tel Aviv, he also reportedly once lobbied a school to let a four-year-old girl wear a hijab.
If senior Labour leaders cosy up to such characters, they won’t be believed when they express outrage over antisemitism.
For too long, they have hypocritically indulged the views of people like this to court Muslim votes.
How can the party be taken seriously on extremism if it won’t cut ties with hardliners?
