Following my post last week about the plight facing young people in Reading in this recession another day brings yet more worrying news.
Government figures published today show nearly a million young people are now officially not in work or education.
I was only a child at the time of the last recession but I can remember hearing about the impact mass unemployment had on a generation of young people under Thatcher in the 1980s.
Labour has let down a generation of young people.
The thinktank the Centre for Cities also published a report today which warned that the number of young people out of work is set to rise and that Labour's flagship policy, the Future for Jobs fund, will fall far short of what is needed:
"The £1 billion Future Jobs Fund, announced in the 2009 Budget, aims to create 150,000 new jobs during 2009-11 for long-term unemployed young people. This will help less than half the expected 350,000 young people due to be long-term unemployed by Dec 2011.
For those people who believe that Reading will escape the recession largely unscathed I would draw your attention to this paragraph in the study:
"The worst affected cities, such as Sunderland and Barnsley, have experienced an increase of four percentage points or more in their youth claimant count since the recession began. But it's not only Northern ex-industrial cities which are affected: Swindon and Milton Keynes have also seen big rises."
As I reported last week, Reading is seeing a big rise in the number of people claiming JSA (job-seekers' allowance). I noticed a large queue forming outside the job centre in the Town Centre on my way to work last week before the centre had even opened for the day.
I'm glad to say that the issue of youth unemployment is rising up the political news agenda locally with pieces on last week's Politics Show (which was filmed in Reading University) and in Post journalist Hilary Scott's regular column.
I met officers earlier this week to discuss my plan for a special summit on helping young people in the recession. I am hopeful this will take place early in the autumn to ensure students can attend.
In Parliament, Jo Swinson MP (Lib Dem, East Dunbartonshire), currently Britain's youngest MP last week called for an urgent debate on the issue.
Sadly her call was rejected by Leader of the House, Harriet Harman, presumably because the government has no idea how to tackle the problem.
I have written to the Lib Dem education and employment teams in Parliament urging them to step up their campaigning on this issue.
I also met a representative of the National Union of Students today to hear more about their plans for an alternative higher education funding system. The plan includes a proposed graduate tax to help fund higher education.
I think this would be punitive in the current climate where many graduates leave university with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt.
The Lib Dems are committed to abolishing tuition fees and reforming the way higher education is funded to make it fairer.
A debate on the NUS proposals is planned to take place in Reading this November.
The government is currently reviewing the cap on tuition fees for higher education (which stands at £3,000).
There is wide speculation that the government could lift the cap and fees could rise as high as £20,000 for some elite institutions - however, the review is not expected to be published until after the next election.
Yet more evidence (if it were needed) of this Labour government ducking the tough decisions.
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