Youth Unemployment

John Grady Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

Obviously, I know the west midlands well and I know the passion that our Mayor, Richard Parker, has for expanding opportunity, offering more skills and more opportunities to young people. I work closely with him on that agenda. I do not believe we should set area against area. Of course I am concerned about youth unemployment in the west midlands. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that his constituents and mine, and those in every other constituency in the west midlands, can benefit from the proposals I have brought forward today.

[John Grady (Glasgow East) (Lab)]

Glasgow has many brilliant young people who just want to work. They have been let down by the Tories and the SNP, with school standards plummeting and the refusal to fund the Rolls-Royce welding centre. In many meetings I have with employers, they emphasise to me how little they see of the apprenticeship levy they pay in. Will my right hon. Friend outline how the package provides opportunities to young people in Glasgow?

[Pat McFadden]

I do not need any convincing about how great a city Glasgow is, and I will be going there very soon. My hon. Friend asks what this announcement will mean to young people in his constituency and the city of Glasgow. The hiring bonuses I have announced today will be available all over the country, as will the subsidised job—25 hours a week at minimum wage rates for six months for young people who have been unemployed for 18 months or more—precisely to give young people not just a wage but the sense of pride and purpose that comes with having a job. I hope that that gives hope to the young people in Glasgow. It is hope that we need to give to young people all around the United Kingdom.