Youth Unemployment
Debate between Lord Harrington of Watford and Lord Kennedy of Southwark(2 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, we have plenty of time. It is the Lib Dem Benches next, then the Cross Benches.
Jobs Market
Debate between Lord Harrington of Watford and Lord Kennedy of Southwark
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)
There is plenty of time. It is the Conservative Benches next, then the Cross Benches.
Lord Harrington of Watford (Non-Afl)
My Lords, I do my best in these questions not to give Ministers—particularly this Minister—a hard time. However, in my capacity as chairman of Make UK, which has 26,000 manufacturing companies, I speak to a lot of employers. They find, first, that in the last year or so, they have been faced with energy costs that are twice as much as those of their competitors in Europe, and despite the Government’s announcement nearly a year ago of a reduction in those energy costs, they have not seen anything happen. Secondly, there has been an increase in national insurance, which is a big payroll tax, and thirdly, there is the bureaucracy and other things that come out of the Employment Rights Act. Given all this, how can the Government expect employers to employ more people?