Youth Unemployment

Patrick Hurley Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

The hon. Lady refers to national insurance. As I have said, there is an existing tax break for employers of people under the age of 21 in the system, and they will continue to have that, but in addition they will have the hiring bonuses that I outlined in the statement. When we bring those things together, it sends a message that we want to help employers to employ young people and give them a good chance in life.

[Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)]

Under the previous Government, as the Secretary of State mentioned in his statement, youth employment never reached pre-financial crash levels in any single year, so the country had suffered a long period of stagnation. Crucially, some young people, unlike a bloke my age, have never known what an active Government can do to get them into good work. Will the Secretary of State confirm that this targeted package of support is precisely what the young people of this country need in 2026, and that it can finally turn the tables on years of Tory decline?

[Pat McFadden]

My hon. Friend is right. Let me repeat what he said, so that the whole House hears it: when the Conservative party was in power, there was not a single year in which youth employment reached the levels that there had been before the financial crash. Perhaps no other figure shows what a long-term problem this is. It is right that we have targeted support to enable young people not just to earn a wage, but to get the sense of pride and dignity that comes with having a job. I do not want to bombard the House with too many statistics, but another shocking one is that more than half the young people who are not in education, employment or training have never had a job in their life. They have never experienced the sense of discipline, obligation and pride that comes with getting up and going to work in the morning. That is what we have to change.