Glasgow North MP, Ann McKechin, today slammed the Government’s plans to scrap support for youth jobs.

Responding to government cuts of £6.2 billion this year, the MP warned that slashing investment in jobs programmes would be devastating for young people in Glasgow and across Scotland.

Ann said:

“Local young people have really benefited from Labour’s investment in jobs.  15,400 jobs have been created for Scotland’s young people through the Future Jobs Fund.

“That’s why I cannot understand the government’s cuts in youth jobs – especially when unemployment is still rising.

“It is important we have more jobs in this area not fewer opportunities to get ahead in life.”

The Tory-Lib Dem government want to save money by cutting employment programmes, including the Future Jobs Fund's Young Person's Guarantee, which ensures that all young people struggling to find a job for 6 months get a job or training placement. The government is planning to withdraw the recruitment subsidies from the Six Month Offer - so-called "golden hellos" which encourage small and medium sized businesses to participate.

We all agree with cutting waste, but as Harriet Harman pointed out in the House of Commons yesterday, "Cancelling 40,000 jobs for young people under the Future Jobs Fund is not cutting waste; it’s blighting their prospects."

The Tory Liberal government has also seriously underestimated the costs of withdrawing job support when businesses are still reducing and contracting. At a time when the government professes to be in the business of reducing government spending, abandoning thousands of our young people on costly out of work benefits will devastate lives and cost us all more money in the long run.

They have not said how many jobs will be cut, but the proposals as they stand imply cutting 40,000 to 80,000 youth jobs this year alone, and many more to be cut next year. These savage cuts will punish young people trying hard, for the mistakes of the banks and big business.

Slash and burn cuts like this, under the banner of ‘cutting the deficit’ and at any cost to labour and to output, jeopardise our economic growth strategy.

In previous recessions under the Tories, youth unemployment continued to rise for years after the end of the recession. It had already begun to fall under Labour after this recession – as a result of the extra support including the Future Jobs Fund.

From the evidence available to us so far, this new Government is worryingly keen to take us back to a high unemployment, low wage downward spiral in a desperate attempt to please big business and the wealthiest few who stand to profit from the misery of a high unemployment, low wage economy.

We must judge them on their actions, not their over-blown rhetoric - and their first act has been to cut job support and gamble the fragile economic recovery, and with it youth job prospects, on the failed policies of the past.