Five million people have never worked under Labour

Latest figures show that three million people have not had a job since before 1996, and a further two million people in England and Wales have never had a job at all.

The figures will be highlighted by Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Theresa May in a speech on Thursday.

May will argue that far from being a product of the recent recession, the clear majority of the people without work were already on benefits before the recession began. “These are people that have been hidden away by Labour for the past ten years”, she will say.

Describing the “steady growth in welfare ghettos”, she will say that unemployment didn’t somehow disappear during the ‘boom years’, but that “it was merely disguised, renamed, and hidden away in ever growing pockets of poverty”.

“Labour’s failure to reform our welfare state in the good times has lead to a huge social and economic cost. They have slowly built a wall between the working and the workless, hoping to keep their failures out of sight.”

May warns unemployment is ruining the lives of millions

Theresa May warned that unemployment is devastating families across the country after the latest figures showed a record rise in the number of those out of work.

Unemployment rose by 281,000 in the past three months, bringing the total number of jobless to 2.38 million.

Theresa, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, warned, “Unemployment is casting a dark cloud over the economy, ruining the lives of millions. Whilst the economic cost is great the human cost is incalculable.”

She accused Labour of being “in denial” about the true scale of the problem, and warned ministers were “sleepwalking their way” through the recession:

“We need Yvette Cooper to wake up and allow people on Job Seeker’s Allowance to immediately retrain instead of making them wait 6 months.”

May warns only one in ten helped by Labour's welfare scheme

Theresa May warned Labour’s welfare reforms are “in disarray” after new statistics revealed only one in ten benefit claimants are finding work through their flagship scheme.

Over 132,000 people have started on ‘Pathways to Work’, a welfare-to-work programme for those claiming Incapacity Benefits – but only 11,210 (8%) have found work.

The statistics are even worse for mandatory referrals, with only three per cent of participants finding employment.

Theresa, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said “Labour’s plans to get people off Incapacity Benefits and back into work are in disarray. During this recession, people are rightly worried about the huge numbers of people becoming unemployed but it is essential that we do not forget the people that have been abandoned to worklessness for the last ten years under Labour.”

She added, “Welfare Reform is essential if Britain is going to rebuild a strong economy. But yet again Labour are failing to get it right.”

‘Pathways to Work’ was rolled out across the country last year as a major part of Labour’s plans to get people off Incapacity Benefit and into work. It cost £129 million in 2008/09, rising to almost £200 million in 2009/10.

May slams Labour for axing employment programmes

Theresa May has attacked Labour for shutting down employment programmes across half the country.

From today, there will be no new referrals to Labour’s flagship employment programme – the New Deal – in half of Britain.

The move is part of Labour’s plans to run down existing New Deal provision this summer in areas where they plan to introduce a reformed version of the New Deal, the flexible New Deal.

HOWEVER, the flexible New Deal is not due to be introduced until October and there are concerns that delays in awarding the contracts will leave an even bigger gap in provision.

Theresa, the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, accused the Government of failing to provide a proper response to the unemployment crisis:

“It is utterly outrageous that when Britain is facing the highest levels of unemployment in decades the Government is cutting the help available to people trying to get back into work.”

She stressed, “Labour were caught sleepwalking on the job when unemployment began to rise, and now they are left struggling to catch up with events. It is Britain’s unemployed who are paying the price.”

The Government are sleepwalking through this unemployment crisis

Theresa May has said the Government is “continuing to sleepwalk” through the unemployment crisis, as figures were released showing the biggest fall in employment on record.

The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary said the figures marked “another grim milestone” and highlighted the “revolving door” culture at the Department of Work and Pensions as a key problem:

“There has been a distinct absence of any real leadership in the department and it’s disgraceful that we’ve had four work and pensions secretaries in less than two years.”

And she added:

“It’s vital that the new secretary of state reassures us that she won’t be rowing back from introducing the welfare reform this country desperately needs.”