'In just over a year, Labour has killed growth and crushed jobs and livelihoods, with families paying the price'

BRITAIN’S jobs market is facing Armageddon under Labour.

- HELEN WHATELY

Yesterday, the ONS confirmed unemployment has risen for the 12th month in a row, now hitting 4.8%, the highest since the pandemic.

The decline is being felt across the country, with 100,000 fewer on payroll than a year ago. Vacancies have dried up and hiring costs have surged.

Young people are bearing the brunt, as sectors like hospitality shed jobs, whilst wage growth in the private sector slowed to its weakest in nearly four years.

A picture of steady decay, promise and potential slipping through the cracks.

Labour inherited one of Europe's strongest labour markets and, in little more than a year, turned it into a wasteland of lost confidence and wasted talent. The Government's own policies have caused this.

Labour's Jobs Tax and Employment Rights Bill have hiked the cost of hiring by £1,000, a direct hit to small businesses already on the brink.

And at the centre of it all is Keir Starmer, a man with no backbone. Every time Labour face a difficult choice, they buckle. Rather than helping people into work, they are making it harder for employers to hire and harder for young people to get their first step on the ladder.