Rishi Sunak has told a young woman struggling to find work to be “optimistic” because “lots of jobs” are being created at a new local freeport.

       The chancellor made the recommendation as he was confronted by protests that he has turned his back on benefit claimants – faced with a big cut in income, after he refused to halt real-terms cuts in payments.

       On a phone-in, 24-year-old Sarah, from Grimsby, warned that young people in her area “don’t have much hope for the future”, because of a lack of jobs and high house prices.

       “I can’t count the amount of jobs have applied for,” she told Mr Sunak, adding: “People don’t want kids because they can’t afford them. They’re putting off starting families.”

       In response, the chancellor urged Sarah to join the Kickstart scheme which had helped 125,000 young jobless people into work – although he then admitted it would be wound up next week.

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       And, speaking on LBC Radio, Mr Sunak said: “The other thing we’re doing in your part of the world, actually, is creating a new freeport.

       “What that will do is create a zone in your part of the world which will mean that jobs are created as companies invest, because we’re providing them with lots of incentives to do so.”

       He added: “Yours is one of the first areas that is taking advantage of those new freedoms and there’s already been some announcements, with Siemens and other companies, and lots of jobs have been created.

       “So I’m optimistic about your part of the world, partly because of that new freeport that’s going to come in there.”

       During the phone-in, Mr Sunak also:

       * Rejected criticism that benefit claimants have been let down, as the uprating falls far short of rising inflation – arguing it is better to help them find “good jobs”.

       * Said the government is spending ￡58bn on disability benefits – “more than ever” and more than Japan, Germany or Austria.

       * Argued it would be the “easiest thing in the world” to bow to pressure to impose a windfall tax on soaring gas and oil company profits – but that would cut investment.

       * Ducked a call from the ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ group to impose a wealth tax on the super-rich – but said there was a mechanism for them to pay more tax voluntarily.

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       * Refused to say if he wanted to be prime minister “one day” – because he is focused on “everything that is on my plate at the moment”.

       The phone-in came after a spring statement which has still left Britons heading for the biggest fall in living standards since the 1950s, experts are warning.