Mary slams Tory/Lib-Dem youth job cuts

Wakefield MP Mary Creagh has slammed the government's plans to scrap support for youth jobs.  Responding to Tory/Lib-Dem cuts of £6.2 billion this year, the MP warned that slashing investment in jobs programmes would be devastating for local young people.

When in power, the Labour government funded 200,000 jobs for long term young unemployed people through the Future Jobs Fund.  The Tory-Lib Dem government says they will save £320m by cutting the fund.  This will mean the loss of between 40,000 and 80,000 youth jobs this year alone, with many more to be cut next year.

In Wakefield, government money for more than 700 jobs for young people has been provided in the first wave of the Future Jobs Fund.  A Labour government would have extended the Fund to create more jobs locally.  The Tory-Liberal scrapping of the Fund means that these additional jobs will not now happen. 

Wakefield MP Mary Creagh said: "These cuts take us back to the 80s and 90s.  The Tory-Liberal government is taking us back to a time when millions of young people were left on the dole with no hope or opportunity to get ahead.  Before the election the Conservatives and Liberals both promised to support the Future Jobs Fund.  They have broken their promise. 

"I welcomed the first Future Jobs Fund recruits to the Labour Council in December.  I met with 3 young people at an environmental project in Wakefield who were employed thanks to the Labour Government.  Just last week I met a young worker at Reconnect - a local charity which provides support for vulnerable elderly people in Wakefield.  These young workers' jobs are at risk after just two weeks of this Tory-Liberal government."