Labour accused of 'damaging futures' of young Britons as graduate roles hit record low

A Labour minister has been accused of "damaging the futures" of young Britons as staggering new figures show graduate roles are at a record low.

Speaking to GB News, Defence Minister Luke Pollard was skewered by host Ellie Costello on the Government's increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.

Ellie challenged the Labour MP on the data, telling him: "Graduates are facing the worst job market on record. Vacancies have fallen 45 per cent in just one year. It's been described as a jobs drought.

"Can you admit now, as a Government, that increasing National Insurance contributions on employers has made hiring young staff a lot less attractive? You are damaging the opportunities and therefore the futures of young people?"

Mr Pollard responded: "Well, I want to see more young people into work and so does the Government."

Ellie interjected, asking him: "Will you reverse the policy, then?"

The MP told GB News: "Well, that's why we've taken steps to make it easier for people to hire.

"There's a £3,000 grant for those people who hire a young person who's been unemployed for six months.

"We've also removed the some of the taxes on those people who are hiring a young person, a 21-year-old for instance, as long as their wages aren't above £50,000. So we've taken steps to do that."

Mr Pollard assured that the Labour Government is wanting to "grow our economy and create more jobs within our economy to do so".

He explained: "And if we look at the area that I'm responsible for in defence, we're putting more of a rising defence budget into British companies creating more jobs for young people, not just for graduates, but for technical trades as well.

"And you will have heard the Prime Minister in one of his first announcements talk about the support he wants to offer for more technical trades, so we can get more young people into good jobs that will provide them a lifetime of well-paid employment.

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"That's not just by the graduate route, that needs to be via technical routes as well. I think many of your viewers will be shouting at the TV now saying, let's create more electricians, let's train more plumbers, and that's precisely what this Government is wanting to do."

Criticising the Government, Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said the drop is "precisely what they were warned about" when increasing National Insurance contributions for employers.

He said: "This is precisely what Labour was warned about when introducing hundreds of pages more employment red tape and hiking National Insurance.

"The first thing firms cut back on is hiring and this year's graduates are paying the price."

The data compiled by recruitment platform Adzuna shows the figure for this year is the lowest since records began in 2016.

In July, just 8,383 positions for university leavers were advertised, a 45 per cent drop compared with the same month last year.

A Government spokesman has said: "We are determined to go further to restore opportunity for young people through our £2.5billion youth employment package which will deliver almost one million opportunities to earn or learn.

"And further reform will follow the Milburn Review to support young people across the country."