Labour MPs attack Conservatives over plans to axe benefits for under 25s

Labour MPs showed their anger over Tory proposals to axe benefits for under 25s at a debate organised by the Society of Labour Lawyers and Young Labour Lawyers last night.

Lisa Nandy MP said David Cameron was “demonising young people in the most appalling way”. The Shadow Minister for Civil Society, said:

“Removing benefits for under 25s would sweep away the safety net for homeless teenagers, for LGBT teenagers who are thrown out of their homes, for care leavers and others.

That’s not what we need. We need a youth jobs guarantee where the government pays wages and firms provide the training. We need to kickstart the economy to deal with the acute shortage of any opportunities for young people in some areas.”

Sheila Gilmour, Labour’s MP for Edinburgh East, said that 53% of under 25s on benefits had children of their own, and that families would be left struggling if proposals to cut benefits for young people went ahead.

The heated Labour Lawyers debate saw Labour speakers Sheila Gilmour MP, Lisa Nandy MP and Lucy Anderson propose the motion: “this House deplores proposals to end benefits for under 25s”. Conservatives opposing the motion were Harriett Baldwin MP, Robert Buckland MP and barrister Oliver Campbell.

The temperature rose sharply when Conservative MP Harriet Baldwin claimed that Labour shadow minister Rachel Reeves actually supports Tory plans to axe benefits:

“Rachel Reeves has said she will be tougher than the Tories in this area, when it comes to slashing the benefit bill. IPPR are also looking at this area.”

But Labour candidate Lucy Anderson hit back, flatly denying the suggestion and insisting that Rachel Reeves wants to keep benefits for under 25s:

“Rachel’s position is absolutely not that she’s going to implement the IPPR report, she has simply said she is going to look at it.”

The debate came after a month of media interest in proposals to axe benefits for under 25s. In October, David Cameron argued at Conservative conference that benefits for under 25s should be reduced , and Tory officials confirmed they were reviewing policies for 16-25 year olds. This month, the influential thinktank IPPR raised the question again, recommending that benefits for under 25s be replaced with a “youth allowance”.

The debate was packed and questions from the floor came thick and fast, reflecting public anxiety around the issue. One man, who said he worked as an aide to a cross-bench peer, asked why Labour and the Tories couldn’t work together on this issue. Lisa Nandy MP replied:

“We do work together on some issues such as care and families, but when I hear David Cameron demonising young people in the most appalling way, in my view it is just wrong.”