- Tories today accused the Government of creating a "lost
generation" of more than one million young people who are not in work,
education or training.
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- Despite Prime Minister Tony Blair's claims to have made
significant inroads into youth unemployment with his New Deal scheme, the
total number of economically inactive and jobless 16 to 24-year-olds has
barely declined since Labour came to power, said shadow work secretary
David Willetts.
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- Mr Willetts accused the Prime Minister of consigning
one in six of Britain's 6.65 million young adults to the "scrap heap".
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- According to the Office for National Statistics Labour
Market Trends report earlier this month, some 426,000 16 to 24-year-olds
were unemployed jobseekers in autumn 2003, while a further 654,000 were
"economically inactive" but not in education or seeking work.
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- The total of 1,080,000 was just 10,000 below the figure
inherited by Labour when it came to power in 1997, said Mr Willetts.
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- Setting out his allegations in a speech to the Conservative
Future National Policy Day in London tomorrow, he was set to describe the
figures as a "staggering indictment of Labour's New Deal".
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- He was expected to say: "The recent debate on top-up
fees has distracted our attention from the crisis facing Britain's young
people.
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- "The figures are staggering: That is one sixth of
Britain's 6.5 million young people. They are our lost generation.
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- "Tony Blair talks as if there is no problem of youth
unemployment. And yet our problem is so bad, it is worse than Germany's.
The United Kingdom has a youth unemployment rate of 12.3% compared to 10%
in Germany.
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- "We need a fresh approach to help those who are
not in education and are let down by the New Deal. We want to reform vocational
training. We will also replace the New Deal with a much more flexible approach
to getting young people into work. We will be using the voluntary sector
and commercial organisations much more than the Government.
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- "The Government's ill-conceived plans for higher
education do not help them. The New Deal does not help them. We will help
them."
- http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2472599
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