Message from Tory conference: Don’t vote Conservative if you’re under 25

Under Tory plans you could make National Insurance contributions for nine years yet still not be entitled to social security support should you lose your job.

David Cameron has announced that under an all-Conservative government under-25s would not be able to claim benefits. Young people must “earn or learn”, Cameron said.

“Today it is still possible to leave school, sign on, find a flat, start claiming housing benefit and opt for a life on benefits. It’s time for bold action here. We should ask, as we write our next manifesto, if that option should really exist at all.”

It’s important to look at the background against which Cameron’s remarks were made: during the period April 2013 to June 2013, there were 1.09 million young people (aged from 16 to 24) in the UK who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). Over a longer term, youth unemployment has been within 50,000 of the one million level since Apr-Jun 2011.

Notwithstanding the fact that a ‘life’ on benefits is no longer an option due to government reforms (if the coalition are to be believed, that is), simply withdrawing the right of NEETs to claim benefits is no solution at all to the problem of youth unemplyment.

David Cameron said today that young people must “earn or learn”. Noble words indeed, but language which misses the point: many people want to learn but can’t because they need to earn, and many others want to earn but are prevented from doing so because the jobs just aren’t there. Analysis from UNISON has shown that in some parts of the UK more than twenty people are chasing each vacancy.

The evidence that young people want jobs but are unable to get them is supported by recent research from Comres, which found that 88 per cent of young people want to work or study.

Cameron went on:

“the [Conservative] party should give young people a “clear, positive choice” to go to school or college, do an apprenticeship or get a job.”

Except, on this government’s watch, youth apprenticeships are down by 12 per cent. In 2009/10, under 19s accounted for 40 per cent of starts; in 2011/12 that figure was just 25 per cent.

This is before we even get to the potential injustice of the measure: under Tory plans you could make National Insurance contributions for nine years yet still not be entitled to social security support should you lose your job. Is this ‘rewarding hard work’? Hardly.

20 Responses to “Message from Tory conference: Don’t vote Conservative if you’re under 25”

  1. Emma Coften

    This is most obsured! Not everyone is in the position where they can asked their friends to find a job for their son or daughter… some of us have to be among 100’s of applicants to get through to an interview! What do can you expect if those creating policy have never had to operate in the real world?

  2. Jake Church

    so glad i am not a youngster anymore, what a prospect leaving school and can’t get a job or training or college place due to them not being there then having your benefit stopped ????? I am aghast at how this repulsive crowd of bullingdon bullies are getting away with these measures and worse imagine paying in for 9 years and not entitled to a penny. It is robbery without the mask and blunderbuss whilst stuffing a disgusting London, already bloated with more money…..I DETEST TORIES AND EVERY DISGUSTING UNCARING MONEY GRABBING HURTFUL POLICY THEY HAVE FOISTED ON THE POOR, DISABLED AND LOW WAGE EARNERS…they did not even win the election so libdem arse kissers, YOU WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. judith

    Where do these lot get this rubbish from..its absurd…where are all of these jobs going to come from???Or the money to educate people who cant afford to pay for themselves…this government really want to step back and take a look at the cumulative effects of all of these policies they seem intent on spewing out. No doubt this absurdity be met by the private members bill which has just had its second reading on bringing back National Service..Take a look at what is happening here..you will have to keep your kids until they are 25…and fully grown adults …where’s the jobs Cameron??? Where’s the money coming from???Half the population cant afford to feed or house themselves never mind paying for adult children.Or will we just put our offspring out onto the streets.Next the CSA will be expecting absent fathers to pay until their children are 25! Most people want jobs and education but you have made it almost impossible to achieve unless you are wealthy!

  4. Pete

    What about those under 25s who have been paying tax for 4-5-6 years?
    They’ve contributed to the system, so aren’t the deserving of something if they find themselves without a job or a home?

  5. Paul Corcoran

    Your headline: “Message from Tory conference: Don’t vote Conservative if you’re under 25”. Really? Why? Because everyone under 25 wants to claim benefits? How very naive.

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