2026-02-18 11:22
publication
2026-02-18 11:22
The (un)Labour Party must refute accusations that it has created a generation of unemployed people and condemned young people to a life on benefits. The Statistical Office revealed dismal data – at the end of last year the unemployment rate was the highest in 5 years and reached 5.2%. (compared to 4.1% when they took power from the Tories).
– While Keir Starmer is busy with scandals and endless U-turns, families are being punished. The Labor Party is destroying jobs, hindering economic growth and killing hope for the next generation – such criticism from Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, is not surprising. But as it turns out, even the Labor Party doesn't mince its words.
We risk an entire generation ending up in the trash bin, thundered Alan Milburn, a minister in Tony Blair's government.
Life on benefits, or a dark vision of the British labor market
What outraged the British political scene so much? A grim report on the British labor market states that youth unemployment is 16.1%. Factors such as tax increases and inflationary increases in the minimum wage effectively discourage companies from employing young workers. Peter Dixon from NIESR, quoted by the Daily Mail, notes that the 33% increase in the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 (from £7.49 to £10) has become a barrier to entry. The next increase scheduled for April (up to £10.85) may deepen this trend. Therefore, the economist leaves no doubts – it will not get better.
The middle class is dead. The British government will use tax as a peg
The new – and already highly controversial – property tax, which will replace the stamp duty, will hit the hardest workers who, after years of hard work, could afford to buy their own homes. Minister Rachel Reeves must face sharp criticism of the proposal for a new levy that would apply to houses and apartments worth over PLN 500,000. pounds.
Thus, the Islands face quite a problem. Unemployment among 16- to 24-year-olds is now at its highest level since late 2014 and above the average level in the European Union for the first time this century.
Milburn noted in an interview with the BBC that almost half of 24-year-olds who are not currently in work or education have never had a job.
That's one eighth of all young people. “If they created a city, it would be the third largest in the country.
In practice, this means that many have already separated themselves from the labor market. The Labor Party faces a difficult task – they must reduce unemployment among young people who are neither in education nor training. However, all the reforms that the British government has introduced over the last year and a half, which were intended to increase employment, have had the opposite effect.
The bitter reckoning of Starmer's rule
Lord Frost, a former chief Brexit negotiator who is now director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said the rise in unemployment was “the predictable result of a government that appears determined to make job creation more expensive and risky.” He also added that “higher corporate taxes and the Employment Rights Act send a clear signal to employers to think carefully before hiring people. Employment growth cannot be achieved by regulation.”
Behind the scenes it is said straight: “Leading Labor Party politicians have no real business experience and it shows.”
Resolution Foundation report: This could be the worst decade in a hundred years
ONS figures show the total number of unemployed people in the UK has increased by 443,000 under Labor to almost 1.9 million.
More than 700,000 people have been laid off since the election, including 145,000 in the last three months of 2025, and job vacancies have fallen by 73,000 to 726,000 over the past year as companies cut jobs.
The report comes after official figures last week showed the economy had slowed to a pace of just 0.1% in the final three months of last year, leaving Britain facing its “worst decade” in a century.
ed. aw
