Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

18. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of unemployment.

[Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)]

20. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of unemployment.

--- Later in debate ---

[Pat McFadden]

I did talk about unemployment. As I said, the unemployment figures are lower, on average, than when the hon. Gentleman’s party was in power. We are, of course, doing everything we can to help people into work, which is why I referred to the measures that we are taking, including the youth guarantee and increased apprenticeship starts. That is a much more active approach than the one carried out by the previous Government, who saw rising numbers of young people not in education, employment or training but did precisely nothing about it.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

The Government loaded costs on to employers while the benefits bill let rip. What on earth did they think would happen?

[Pat McFadden]

As I said, no employer national insurance contributions are payable for workers under the age of 21, and we believe that workers should be decently paid for the work they do. We are responding to the particular challenge of youth unemployment, which I acknowledge is there, and was there when the Conservative party was in power, with active measures such as the youth guarantee and more youth apprenticeship starts. I remind the House that youth apprenticeship starts fell by 40% while the Conservatives were in power.