Few guarantees in Brown's drive for jobs

7 July 2009 2 mins read Howard Williamson Education Youth Work

I am incredulous that, during last week's launch of Building Britain's Future, Gordon Brown should have made the claim that "this is the first time that any government has guaranteed that jobs and training will be available to young people".

It is, apparently, the first time that, if there is a job available, young people will be compelled to take it up or have their benefits cut. In previous recessions, Brown argued, young people were written off and this is a "mistake this government will not repeat".

Does he not remember the New Deal for Young People - financed by a windfall tax on the privatised utilities - of which he was the architect? Does he not recall asserting, alongside a certain Tony Blair, that there would be no "fifth option" of unemployment for those aged 18 to 24 who had been on Jobseekers' Allowance for more than six months?

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