OPINION
Young people in Britain need a future - and businesses need workers (Image: Getty)
I was elected last year to bring change to my community and change to Britain. We knew this would be tough. Yet now the Labour Government has had time to really look under the bonnet of the shameful state the Tories left our economy in, the true extent of the damage they inflicted is beyond shocking. The current state of the welfare system is a prime example of that.
We all want the next generation to be better off than our own. Yet thanks to the free-wheeling chaos of 14 years of Tory Government we’re now in a situation where one in eight young people are currently not working
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The number of young people who aren’t working due to long term sickness has rocketed by 60,000 in just a year.
Delivering the Government’s Plan for Change, with growth that puts more money in people’s pockets, and a decade of national renewal will take the talent and efforts of the whole country.
A whole generation being locked out of work is a disaster for them, their families, and for Britain. It’s a scandal that this has been allowed to happen and we risk a lost generation if we don’t act.
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In my Telford constituency people believe those who can work should work, those who want to work should get support and businesses tell me they can’t fill vacancies. Something has gone dramatically wrong over the past 14 years - and we must allow people to get back to work so Britain works for working people.
Our welfare system was set up to help those who genuinely can’t work. Of course it’s right that we do that. It’s a core part of what makes Britain great that we look out for those who need support.
Yet instead the Tories allowed the welfare system to balloon to a place where it deepened the spiral of decline they got our economy in – smashing the life chances of young people in the process.
The Tories left a system which led some people to believe that a life on benefits is a route to a good life. It isn’t.
The Tories could have acted on this problem yet they let this farce carry on as if they could do nothing about it.
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That’s because they were totally incapable of facing up to hard truths. If they had, they’d know that failing to take on this issue means higher taxes, higher immigration, yet more pressure on local public services and Britain’s economy risks rocketing down the path of decline they set. We have to move away from a system that means we’re reliant on migration to fill jobs, and encourage young people into work.
It’s our moral duty to turn this system around so young people who need support get it, and those who can work do so. I know our Labour Government gets that in a way the Tories never could.
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Labour is the party of work. I’m a Labour MP because I passionately believe in the power of work to give people a sense of dignity, purpose, and financial independence which is the best way to improve living standards and make people feel better off, while contributing to our wider society.
This is a challenge I know only Labour can meet. The future prospects of a generation of young people rely on us doing so.
Shaun Davies is Labour MP for Telford and former chairman of the Local Government Association