Ed Miliband promises jobs for young unemployed in Midlands visit

Labour leader Ed Miliband will promise to find a job for every young person who is unemployed for a year or more, in a major speech in Coventry today.

He is set to pledge that a Labour government will guarantee every person under 25 at least six months of paid work, if they are on the dole for 12 months.

The so-called “real jobs guarantee” will be funded by imposing a new tax on bankers’ bonuses.

Mr Miliband has chosen Coventry to issue the key election pledge because it is hosting Labour’s Youth Conference, taking place at Warwick University.

Official figures show 90,000 people aged 24 or younger are unemployed in the West Midlands region.

It means the unemployment rate for young people is 23 per cent, almost one in four.

Mr Miliband will attack the Government for offering young people work experience, via a controversial scheme which involves offering eight weeks in the workplace without pay.

Those taking part are able to continue claiming benefits.

Mr Miliband is expected to say: “Work experience of course has a role to play in helping people into work.

“But work experience is not the same as a real job. It cannot be the summit of our ambitions.

“There is only one solution to a jobs crisis - jobs.”

He will add: “The first line of a Labour Budget would be a tax on bank bonuses to get jobs for our young people.

“To businesses we say, we’ll pay the wages, if you provide the training. To young people: if you’re out of work for a year we’ll guarantee you the opportunity to work.

“When people ask what’s the difference between ourselves and this government, let’s tell them – under Labour, a job is guaranteed, at least at the minimum wage with real training and real prospects.”

Mr Miliband is also expected to talk about his own family’s history, drawing on his father’s experience arriving in Britain as a Jewish refugee in 1940 before going on to become a leading left-wing academic.

The Labour leader will say: “He succeeded because he was given a chance. And the opportunity he was given was matched by his sense of striving.

“He worked hard to make something of himself. And that is one of the things I learned from him. Hard work—and its value. It was just a sense that you shouldn’t waste our potential.”