THE PCS civil servants union yesterday slammed Labour’s new proposal which would see three quarters of unemployed youth thrown off Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) because they do not have a high enough level of education qualifications.
A PCS spokesman said: ‘People looking to Labour to offer opposition to this government’s cruel welfare policies will find this thoroughly depressing.
‘If young people need training they should be given it, without having their benefits cut.’
The Labour leader announced his attack on youth in a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank.
Miliband told the think tank: ‘Young people should sign up for training, not sign on for benefits’ and, aping PM Cameron, hit out at the so-called ‘something for nothing culture’.
Under the new plans youth who have not achieved a qualification of level-3 or above will not be eligible for the Jobseekers Allowance.
Currently seven out of ten 18-21-year-olds who receive the Job Seekers Allowance do not have a level-3 qualification.
Miliband went on to threaten that under a Labour government young unemployed people that ‘refuse to take training courses to gain key skills’ would be kicked off benefits completely.
If they do agree to do the training they will not be able to claim Jobseekers Allowance, and will have to apply for a subsidence allowance, so that they can study without starving.
Only a fraction of those who apply for a subsisdence allowance actually get awarded one. Those that do would receive substantially less then JSA – those that don’t will starve.
In a further attack on the working class, Miliband announced lower rates of Jobseekers Allowance for people who have not been in work for five years.
Those who have been working for five years will receive as much as £100 a week, as opposed to £72 for everyone else.
This means that if you are working for a company for four years and it goes bust you would be penalised under Labour’s new system and receive a lower amount of JSA.
Miliband claimed the changes would ‘restore the principle of contribution’. He claimed: ‘It is a principle deeply felt by the British people that people should get something back for all they have put in and not get something for nothing.’
The IPPR has produced a report entitled ‘Condition of Britain’ which Miliband signalled will be the blueprint for Labour’s policy.
The institute suggests ‘that someone who has been working for years and years and paying into the system’ should get more help if they lose their job than someone who has been working for a few years.
Unison, Unite, the GMB and NASUWT unions refused to comment an Miliband’s new attack on the working class.
Young Socialists National Secretary Joshua Ogunleye said: ‘Why should unemployed youth be punished for not being able to get a job?
‘There is a million unemployed youth in this country, capitalism can not offer them any future whatsoever.
‘Miliband’s attack on young people is more Gove than Gove! It shows that Labour hates young people as much as the Tory coalition.
‘Miliband, like Cameron is harking back to the Victorian era of the “deserving poor and the undeserving poor” where those deemed worthy of charity were given a few crumbs and the rest were left to starve.
‘Talking about something for nothing as far as workers are concerned is tripe. The working class produces everything and gets nothing. The ruling class and its sons and daughters get everything while they produce nothing!
‘That is why we are marching to the TUC to demand a general strike.
‘The only way forward is to bring this government down and bring in a workers government that will implement socialist policies and win a decent future for young people.’
Starting on Tuesday August 17 the Young Socialists are marching 248 miles from London to the TUC conference in Liverpool on Sunday September 7th demanding jobs for youth, no to zero-hours contracts, free university education and that the TUC calls a general strike to bring this government down.
