Cat Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Voter Engagement and Young People, responding to ONS statistics on young people in the UK not in education, employment or training, said:

“Past experience tells us that recessions and economic downturn disproportionately impact young people. Prior to the crisis three-quarters of a million young people were not in education, employment or training and – with youth services slashed, escalating student debt and chronic levels of mental ill-health – young people were already being denied the opportunities enjoyed by their parents’ generation.

“The Government must urgently provide assurances to young people finding it harder than ever before to enter the job market and to stop the next generation being hugely disadvantaged by the economic downturn of this pandemic for decades to come.”