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1. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   It is a pleasure to close this debate after so many thoughtful contributions from hon. Members across the House. Many difficult questions have been raised. I thought of following the example of the soon-to-be-former hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) in just resigning to avoid those difficult questions—[Interruption.]. I will resist the encouragement. It has been fantastic to listen to hon. Members talking about their own experience of Saturday and summer jobs. It allowed me to imagine the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) running around with multiple plates balanced on her arms, and the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) getting busy with his chamois. I pictured the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Douglas Lumsden), who I belatedly welcome to his position, as a postie in shorts, fighting the rain coming off the North sea. I pictured the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) with long, flowing locks getting busy scrubbing pots in the Italian sunshine. That was important, because it allowed me to picture Conservative MPs doing something productive. More importantly and seriously, it was a reminder of the importance of our first employment experiences in making ourselves into fully rounded human beings and workers. My job was working on Saturdays before going to university and in the summers at Beveridge fishmongers’ in Giffnock. The antisocial teenager in me would want to be in the back of the shop filleting something, but every time a customer came in I had to remake myself and find confidence all over again. It is in no way an overstatement to say that all the Saturday and summer jobs that hon. Members have spoken about are why we are all here. They gave us that first chance and opportunity to find confidence in ourselves, as many hon. and right hon. Members have said. However, I will caution Conservative Members. Yes, this is about experience and people finding an opportunity and, as some have said, avoiding the long-term scarring effect of youth unemployment, but for many young workers this is about paying the bills. These jobs are not a nice additional thing. I think of the young woman with a family who I met; she had a zero-hours contract and simply did not know from month to month whether she would be able to pay her rent or take her kids to anything special. My hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Sean Woodcock) spoke powerfully about how insecurity in the workplace is linked to the health of the economy. When people’s incomes are hollowed out, it hollows out the centre of our towns and ends up in the empty high street shops that we see.

   Hansard source
2. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   The reason I am responding to the debate by talking about the impact of zero-hours contracts is that Conservative Member after Conservative Member rose to speak in defence of those contracts. Of course, many people value flexibility in the workplace, but some employers have used that flexibility to take advantage of their employees, including young employees.

   Hansard source
3. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   I am very happy to welcome that summer school from the Dispatch Box, and I congratulate my hon. Friend on getting that into Hansard. I also congratulate him on teaching those students a lesson about the hypocrisy from the Conservative Benches, which they will get used to. Many hon. Members spoke about seasonal workers as if the legislation was somehow going to force seasonal contracts to be permanent contracts. That is simply not the case—where people genuinely value that flexibility in the workplace, they will be able to continue to work in that way.

   Hansard source
4. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   Where the workers that the hon. Member describes feel that way, they will not have to change their contracts. We are talking about the people who work for the same employer as their main job, week after week, without any certainty of income. The right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) said that only 3% of workers rely on a zero-hours contract as their main job. That is one in 25 workers. [Interruption.] In his constituency, there are 60,000 people of working age, meaning that hundreds of people in his constituency do not have the right to regular hours.

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5. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   I will take the right hon. Member’s intervention. Maybe he can say why he thinks those hundreds of workers in his constituency should not have the right to full-time employment.

   Hansard source
6. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   Those people will still be able to have those contracts under the legislation, but we are talking about potentially hundreds of people in the right hon. Member’s constituency—that was his formulation—who rely on zero-hours contracts as their main form of employment, with no certainty of income from month to month. That cannot go on in this country; it is fundamentally unfair. Several Conservative Members mentioned business rates, which the Government take incredibly seriously. The Conservative party began the revaluation without any plans whatsoever for any transitional support or relief for the people affected by it; Labour introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion to protect ratepayers from seeing large overnight bill increases because of that revaluation. As my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda and Ogmore (Chris Bryant) said, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases this year, and 23% will see their bills go down. Plenty of arguments could be made about whether we have gone far enough and how far our continued reforms of business rates should continue, and my colleagues in the Treasury will do that, but for members of a party that had no plans for any relief whatsoever to be saying now that they will spend £4 billion on abolishing those rates altogether, without saying where it will come from, is frankly ridiculous. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) mentioned the great British savings this summer, and made a very fair request for those in the Treasury, as they look at the overall impact of that, to look at the impact on individual young people as well. Many Opposition Members rightly raised the impact of increased national insurance contributions. As I have said before from the Dispatch Box, we recognise that that was a big ask of business, but what it did was say to the international money markets that we were a serious country again. That has been seen in lower mortgages, and in lower borrowing rates for businesses. I understand the genuine concern expressed by Opposition Members about the impact on youth employment, but I would say that it is at best a partial explanation, given that employers of workers under the age of 21 and those employing young apprentices do not pay national insurance. The hon. Members for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) and for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) and the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green suggested that whenever a Government add to existing business costs, we should think about the cumulative impact rather than viewing it in isolation, and that is an entirely fair argument. Every time we ask something of businesses, that gives us in government a further incentive and, indeed, responsibility to do more to remove costs from them. That is precisely why, through the £2.5 billion youth guarantee package, businesses are being given a £3,000 incentive to employ 18 to 24-year-olds who are at risk of long-term unemployment, a £2,000 incentive to hire foundational apprentices, a further £2,000 to hire apprentices aged between 16 and 24, and fully funded costs for 16 to 24-year-old apprentices. That, of course, is on top of all the other work that we are doing to reduce the costs on business.

   Hansard source
7. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   As was said earlier, we believe that people working full time should be able to afford the basics in life. My point is that we are dealing with the issue of youth unemployment by incentivising businesses to employ young people. Many Opposition Members mentioned red tape. They will not have to wait terribly long to see the work that the Secretary of State and I have been doing to reduce the administrative burden on business. Many others spoke about additional costs being imposed on business. Let me remind them that our target to reduce that administrative burden by £5.6 billion is a net target, and they will not have to wait very long to see the progress that we have made in that regard.

   Hansard source
8. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

   Summer Jobs

   Of course he does. It is in the Labour party manifesto. He has spoken about backing our industrial strategy, and this is an incredibly important part of it. The hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) spoke about how beautiful his constituency was. [Interruption.] Yes, I know—I am looking at him. Later this month I shall be on my way to a holiday in Cornwall, and perhaps I will stop off in his constituency with my family. So many Opposition Members spoke of our imposing a tourism tax on local areas, but there will be no such imposition. This is devolution, allowing local areas to decide whether they want to invest in that or not. I can confirm that we will not move our amendment, but this Government are proud to be taking employment law into the 21st century, proud that we are rebalancing business rates for smaller businesses to help young people get jobs, and proud that we are backing our high streets. We have commissioned Alan Milburn to investigate the high level of youth unemployment, and we look forward to the publication of his final report in the autumn. The report will be backed by evidence and the real experiences of young people in a changing labour market. What it will not be based on is outdated, Dickensian ideas of getting 13-year-olds working late into the night before school. This Labour Government will act, and these reforms will deliver the national renewal that our country needs.

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9. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Bill Esterson

   Nuclear Energy Sites: Scotland

   As the Minister has just said, new nuclear is essential for energy security. It is also essential as an alternative career for workers in oil and gas. Does the Minister agree that by blocking new nuclear in Scotland—in contrast to what is happening in England and Wales—the Scottish Government are undermining not just the energy transition and our energy security, but alternative jobs for the very people whom they claim to represent?

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10. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Becky Gittins

    Independent Schools: Regulation of Proprietors

    As my hon. Friend mentioned, Ruthin school in my constituency is also owned by Galaxy Global Education. As of last week, with the abrupt closure of the school, which is thought to be one of the oldest—if not the oldest—independent schools in the UK, parents were left bewildered, having prepaid for the next term, and staff were left without any employment rights discussions or proper redundancy processes. Most importantly, students were left devastated, not knowing about their future. Does she agree that this is a really important call for more transparency and the ability to hold any such organisations that propose to educate our young people to account?

    Hansard source
11. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Becky Gittins

    Independent Schools: Regulation of Proprietors

    In the light of what we have heard this evening, does the Minister agree that the case of Galaxy Global Education warrants the Department for Education’s considering the recording of information about not only who is running independent schools, but the ownership of independent schools? Will she meet me and other affected MPs, alongside colleagues in DBT, to ensure that, where there are issues of widespread foreign ownership and business malpractice, we can get together and eradicate them from our independent schools sector?

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12. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Bambos Charalambous

    UK Aid Policy: Global Funding Trends

    The right hon. Gentleman has talked about stretched budgets. Does he agree that we also need to address debt, because private debt is a big factor in preventing some low-income countries from investing in their health and education systems? It should form part of the Government’s strategy to leverage more money into debt-distressed, low-income countries.

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13. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Baggy Shanker

    Small Modular Reactors: Jobs

    9. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of small modular reactors on job opportunities. [R]

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14. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Baggy Shanker

    Small Modular Reactors: Jobs

    I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests relating to Rolls-Royce. By backing SMRs, which the previous Government failed to do, this Government are backing Britain, delivering stronger energy security and good, skilled jobs in Derby and across the UK. Does the Minister agree that, in order to boost the benefits for our brilliant small and medium-sized businesses, at least 70% of the SMR supply chain must be built here in Britain?

    Hansard source
15. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Alistair Strathern

    Summer Jobs

    I am grateful to the official Opposition for giving us all an opportunity to reminisce about our own summer jobs. Probably many more years ago than I would care to admit, I was lucky enough to work both as a cleaner and at my local Co-op to help pay my way through the summer. Both those jobs were important to me; they not only stopped my mum murdering me for being around the house too much, but provided that crucial introduction to the world of work, and an opportunity to start to establish some of the disciplines and awarenesses of life that have served me, I should like to think, reasonably well over my 36 years on this planet—

    Hansard source
16. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Alistair Strathern

    Summer Jobs

    I am grateful for the protestations from the Front Bench. Those jobs were also crucial in starting to form my politics. In both settings, I was incredibly lucky to work with some fantastic colleagues. Not only did my clumsiness—from spilled buckets to broken bottles in the aisles—mean that I often relied on their generosity and patience with my ineptitude, but they gave me a window into lives that were very different from mine to date. There were similarities between those two jobs. Both sets of people worked in industries in which the minimum wage had been crucial to driving up their security and sense of prosperity. They were grateful for that, and as a result there was a great deal of support for the Labour Government at the time. However, there was one crucial difference. At the Co-op, those with whom I worked had regular contracts, secure work and good terms. They were supported by a recognised trade union, and felt a comfort and security in their jobs that was denied to many of those with whom I worked cleaning local schools. There, the practical realities of limited terms and conditions, and insecure work with non-guaranteed hours, were not artefacts of a contract or remote bureaucracy; they were tangible insecurities that hung over people’s day-to-day lives, and undermined their sense of security and ability to plan with confidence for the future that they wanted to provide for their family. That is why, many years down the line, I am proud to be part of a Labour Government who are delivering a record expansion of workplace rights through the Employment Rights Act 2025, and why the fundamental vision of protecting workers and ensuring a minimum social contract for those working hard for their families and doing right by their communities will always be foundational to my politics. We come here not to embrace the contradictions and tensions that inhibit social change and progress, but to be creative enough and bold enough to lead the country, and to lead the way to a better economic settlement for the working families whom we are here to serve. That is why the minimum wage has been so transformational for our country, and why we have weekends now. I am very confident that in time, the Employment Rights Act will prove to be a big step forward for so many of the working people I am proud to represent. That does not mean that every aspect will always be perfect. Consultations with businesses and employers will be foundational in ensuring that we get the nuances right, when we look at how things play out in different employment settings, but the fundamental principle is this: my constituents and the cleaners I worked with deserve more confidence and security in their employment. That is exactly why I feel completely at home on the Government Benches, with my Labour colleagues. The Conservatives’ motion raises important issues. It is absolutely right to say that, over many years, we have not done enough collectively to bear down on some of the barriers to young people getting employment. We are doing a lot of work on that, but there is a lot more that we need to do. I am really glad that this Government are waking up to the need to do far more on vocational skills and apprenticeships. They are thinking about how we can reform qualifications to ensure greater alignment with our industrial strategy, and the growth opportunities that will come from industrial changes, but they are also breaking down practical barriers to accessing opportunities for young people in my communities and right across the country. The Government are introducing foundational apprenticeships, and are making sure that they are in reach of the hardest-to-reach young people—those who are desperately in need of the steps into work that apprenticeships can provide. They are reforming levies to make it cheaper for employers to take on apprentices and give them the training that they desperately deserve.

    Hansard source
17. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Alistair Strathern

    Summer Jobs

    I absolutely agree that we need to invest in apprenticeships to ensure that many more young people can access them, as well as work placement opportunities in their communities. That is why I welcome the spotlight that the Milburn review is already starting to shine, forensically, on barriers to young people accessing such opportunities. I am really keen to ensure that the Government lean into the practical implications of his diagnosis that we need to shift more money from supporting young people who are out of work into helping them into good paid work. I am very proud to have supported the Government’s jobs guarantee, and of the wider work that we are doing to ensure that employers in my community and right across the country are practically and financially incentivised to bring young people into the world of work and supported to train them up, so that those young people can benefit from opportunities that feel out of reach to far too many of them at the moment. That is an approach that we need to thread into all our work in this space. I was very moved by the conversations that Gareth Southgate had in last month’s documentary, in which young men who had been out of work for a very long time spoke of the impact it had on their self-esteem. It reflected issues with their confidence that had been long in the making. It reflected how they felt in their communities, and how they felt they were treated at school. Putting that right requires a continued focus on curriculum reform and place-based investment, but I would like the Government to go further in embracing the recommendations of the recent review on white working-class underachievement at school, to make sure that every young person, no matter what community they live in or where they come from, has no barriers to succeeding, and can feel confident in their ability to succeed at school. In a moment of agreement, let me agree with the Conservative party’s diagnosis that we need to go slightly further on business rates to support fantastic local employers in doing more for young people. I think the Conservatives are being slightly cheeky in skirting the fact that the plans we inherited from them would have seen a huge cliff-edge increase in business rates. The many financial pressures that we have had to juggle since coming into government have meant that it has been challenging to balance things. I approve of the work that we have done to try to ease some of the multipliers, and I would like us to go further still. I also approve of the work that we have done to give further discounts to pubs, given that they have been in decline for decades, and I would like us to go further still there. Fundamentally, however, the plans we inherited from the last Government would have been completely disastrous for the very businesses whose virtues the Conservatives are espousing today. If the Conservatives are so passionate about the errors of the Government’s choices on the minimum wage and national insurance, I encourage them to be bolder, and to do more than just offer regret, because regret will not change a single aspect of those policies’ implications. If they are genuinely confident that there are better ways to plug the gaps in our public finances and improve our public services, why are they not committing to reversing the national insurance hikes? If they genuinely believe that the minimum wage has gone up too far, why are they not embracing the practical end point of that argument by suggesting that they would cut it? Maybe it is because, much as they like to complain about the implications of our policies, they begrudgingly recognise that in the incredibly difficult circumstances that we inherited, both those choices may well have been right. I look forward to a Conservative Member proving me wrong. I thank the many Members who have shared their fantastic experiences of summer work, and the many colleagues with whom it has been inspiring to work on some of these issues, including staff from Amazing Apprenticeships, a charity in my constituency that does genuinely amazing work to boost apprenticeship opportunities for young people across the country. I look forward to continuing to work with them as the Government bring forward the Milburn review.

    Hansard source
18. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Adam Thompson

    Climate Change: Weather Events

    7. What steps he plans to take following recent weather events to help tackle climate change.

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19. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Adam Thompson

    Climate Change: Weather Events

    While many of our ongoing discussions in this House rightly focus on decarbonising heating, climate change means that cooling is becoming increasingly important, too, particularly in the context of our recent extreme heatwaves. As these heatwaves become increasingly frequent, homes and businesses in Erewash and across the country increasingly need cooling as well as heating. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that the growing demand for air conditioning is met through energy-efficient technologies and clean electricity, so that adaptation to climate change does not come at the expense of our net zero goals?

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20. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Seamus Logan

    Climate Change: Resilience Planning

    One of the Department’s key planks in tackling climate change is carbon capture. Given the Government’s difficulties around the defence investment plan and the need to find allegedly an extra £5 billion, can the Minister confirm her Department’s continuing support for the Acorn Project at St Fergus in my constituency?

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21. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Graham Leadbitter

    Nuclear Energy Sites: Scotland

    6. Whether he held discussions with the Scottish Government and local authorities prior to announcing potential nuclear energy sites in Scotland.

    Hansard source
22. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Graham Leadbitter

    Nuclear Energy Sites: Scotland

    Two years ago, Labour promised to cut bills for every household by £300. Not only are households now paying hundreds of pounds more instead of less, but Labour’s nuclear tax on household energy bills will cost Scots a further £300 million over the next decade. The Minister knows that Scottish energy consumers pay among the highest electricity prices in the UK; he knows that there are serious alternatives that are quicker to implement and could actually reduce bills, such as geothermal energy; and he knows that the Government’s own figures for a nuclear waste disposal facility are up to £53 billion. With serious and far more cost-effective alternatives available, will the Minister listen to the Scottish people, stop the obsession with costly nuclear power that Scotland neither needs nor wants, and transfer energy power to—

    Hansard source
23. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Dave Doogan

    Summer Jobs

    The Minister is talking up the economic performance of the United Kingdom since his party took over in 2024. He is labouring the point about the first quarter of this year, but I detect that he is less confident about the second quarter—we will see what that brings. Youth unemployment stood at 626,000 last year, so with this fabulous economy, why has it gone up by 109,000? Why are there 109,000 more 16 to 24-year-olds out of work under this Government now than there were this time last year?

    Hansard source
24. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Dave Doogan

    Summer Jobs

    Will the Minister give way?

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25. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Dave Doogan

    Summer Jobs

    It is always nice to be the Minister’s first refusal. Have I put him off his stride?

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26. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Dave Doogan

    Summer Jobs

    Looking to the future, a job vacancy has just come up in Clacton. It would be good to know whether the Labour party will be putting forward somebody of a youthful nature as its candidate. To get back to the core issue of the debate, the Minister, in his meandering rebuttal to the motion from His Majesty’s Opposition, talked about a £1 million fund to help people aged 16 to 24 get back into work. That would be £1.50 per unemployed person aged 16 to 24. If the Government applied that money just to the 109,000 extra unemployed young people over the past 12 months, it would not even be a tenner. Does the hon. Gentleman think that would make much of a difference?

    Hansard source
27. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Future of British Horseracing

    I would like to add to the list of our glorious racecourses. Bath racecourse is Britain’s highest flat racecourse, and it adds so much to the community. We have plenty of races, but we also have family and big sporting events. It was also an important centre for the vaccination programme. It is not just horseracing; the whole city benefits from having a racecourse. As has already been said, we lose something great when they go. I would like to hear a bit more about how we can save our racecourses.

    Hansard source
28. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Future of British Horseracing

    British horseracing gets significantly lower returns from the gambling industry than our neighbours France and Ireland. Does the right hon. Lady not agree that it is disappointing that betting levy reform did not deliver better support for the industry?

    Hansard source
29. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Future of British Horseracing

    Does my hon. Friend agree that, with good intentions, the Government wanted to do something about gambling addiction, but so much gambling is now done on the black market? We should look at gambling addiction as a public health issue and look at other reforms to support the horseracing industry.

    Hansard source
30. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Community-owned Renewable Energy

    The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee report on community energy, which I am sure the Minister has read, has raised concerns that community energy projects are at risk of being left behind unless there is clear guidance from the Government on how and when the necessary reforms will be implemented. Will the energy independence Bill establish a workable model so that community energy will be delivered as soon as possible?

    Hansard source
31. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Vikki Slade

    Topical Questions

    The Government have worked with Ofgem to bring forward low or no standing charge schemes, which are supposedly open for trial. I cannot find them and neither can my residents. The access to those schemes is so small, so what are the Government doing to make them available to more people now?

    Hansard source
32. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Tim Farron

    Summer Jobs

    Will the hon. Member give way?

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33. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Tim Farron

    Summer Jobs

    The hon. Gentleman is making some important points. Obviously, in some parts of the world, including mine, many jobs are on offer but it is hard for young people to take them up. Some 60% of employers in the hospitality and tourism industry in the Lake District find it difficult to recruit staff. One reason is the lack of public transport to get young people to the places where they are needed. Another reason is the lack of affordable housing. Does he recognise that this is a structural problem affecting young people everywhere, but particularly in rural areas such as Cumbria?

    Hansard source
34. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Tim Farron

    Summer Jobs

    I am grateful to the Minister for giving way, and for raising the issue of the tourism levy. We will have a mayor in Cumbria next May, and one of the considerations they will have is the fact that we have 20 million visitors every year to a county of 600,000 people. Those visitors use facilities in our communities—police, hospitals and many council facilities, not least the roads. They are very welcome to use those facilities, but not a penny is contributed towards them. I think people will instinctively be against a tourism tax, but the Government’s choice to cut the local authority’s funding by 31% is going to put the mayor—of whatever political colour—in a position where they feel they have no alternative but to introduce it. Would it not be better if mayors were able to make decisions and have our services funded properly by taking into account the visitors in the first place?

    Hansard source
35. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Tim Farron

    Summer Jobs

    My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. She mentioned the youth mobility scheme. At present, the UK has youth mobility visa arrangements with a number of countries around the world, but with only one country in Europe, Andorra, which is a fat lot of good. As I mentioned, those in the hospital sector desperately need to recruit more staff. A youth mobility scheme arranged with our neighbours in the European Union would enable young people in this country to gain experience overseas, but would also enable the hospitality sector in the Lakes, in London and elsewhere to recruit the staff who they need to work over the summer.

    Hansard source
36. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Sarah Olney

    Summer Jobs

    I am sure that Members on both sides of the House have heard from businesses on their local high streets and throughout their constituencies about the challenges that they face from unaffordably high energy bills, the Government’s increase in national insurance contributions, and recent business rates increases. This is a challenging economic landscape for businesses, especially those in the hospitality and retail sector, made worse by this Government’s repeated mistakes. The increasing burden on small and medium-sized enterprises means that many do not have the resources to provide employment opportunities where many young people traditionally found their first jobs. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that many of these problems began under the last Conservative Government. It was they who undermined hospitality, retail, farming, agriculture and so many other sectors providing seasonal work over the summer through their terrible Brexit deal, the disastrous mini-Budget, and their failure to reform business rates as they had promised. Their record is a dispiriting picture of low growth, rising costs and falling living standards, all of which paved the way for where we are now. That is why it is so disappointing that this Government have added to those challenges through their short-sighted tax grabs, and are not acting with more urgency to support local economies and job opportunities around the UK. The state of our economy requires bold action.

    Hansard source
37. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Sarah Olney

    Summer Jobs

    I am terribly sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I did not hear all the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. He said something about unemployment in 2012. That was, of course, very soon after the global banking crash, which had a huge impact. The state of our economy requires bold action: addressing the workforce skills crisis, reversing the national insurance jobs tax, speeding up delivery of the industrial strategy, and, most important, negotiating a new growth and defence partnership with the European Union, including joining the single market and forming a new customs union. More than 1 million young people in this country are currently not in education, employment or training, the highest level in over a decade. That is a very worrying statistic. The Milburn review has warned that the UK is at risk of experiencing a “lost generation” of young people owing to rising ill health, growing skills gaps, a dysfunctional housing market, and many other structural factors. We are seeing not a lack of ambition among young people, but an institutional failure on the part of both the current Government and the last one. Ministers should be seeking urgently to ensure that young people have access to the skills, training and work experience that are necessary to begin their careers and participate in the workforce, but they cannot gain that experience if businesses simply cannot afford to offer new opportunities because they are struggling to stay afloat. The cost of employment has risen significantly during Labour’s time in office, and more than 110,000 jobs have been lost in the hospitality sector alone since the rise in national insurance contributions. If businesses are not able to grow, it will not be just summer jobs that suffer; employment opportunities across the board will suffer, and of course that explains why the unemployment rate has climbed from 4.3% at the time of the 2024 Budget to 4.9% now. Our SMEs face huge challenges, and many are already struggling to absorb rising costs. Unless more is done to support them, vital entry-level jobs and essential contributions to the culture and character of our local communities will risk being lost. As for issues affecting the workforce more broadly, the Liberal Democrats have welcomed the industrial strategy, alongside a funding boost for skills and training, but that progress stops well short of the fundamental reform that we need to see if we are to address the workforce shortages that many industries are facing. British businesses must be able to hire the people they need, with the skills that they need, but they must also have scope to employ less experienced workers who are just starting to climb the career ladder. Opportunities for young people are shrinking, and any business will tell us that the apprenticeship levy is not fit for purpose. Firms cannot obtain the funding that they need to train staff, and hundreds of millions of pounds of funding go unspent. The Liberal Democrats have long called for proper reform of the apprenticeship system to give businesses real flexibility over how they spend their money to train their staff. The motion also calls for the abolition of business rates, and the Liberal Democrats agree that we need to see a complete overhaul of this unfair and damaging system. However, it was the last Conservative Government who failed to deliver the fundamental review of the business rates system that they promised in their 2019 manifesto. Perhaps things would have been different today if they had not simply kicked the can down the road. With the hospitality sector struggling to employ new workers, damage is being done to the prospects of our young people, who are now facing a soaring youth unemployment rate of 16.2%. It is self-evident that that trend is damaging to our economy as a whole. At the heart of this debate are people who are finding it incredibly difficult to obtain a job and support themselves, their partners, their children and their families—to pay rent, to pay their bills, to pay for groceries, to pay for essentials. That is what must not get lost in the debate. The motion purports to examine the factors limiting opportunities for young people, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a glaring omission of any reference to the damage caused by the last Government’s failed Brexit deal. The appalling agreement negotiated by the Conservative party has been a complete disaster for our country, and particularly for small businesses, which are held back by reams of red tape and new barriers to trade. An astonishing 16,000 firms have stopped all exports to the EU as a result. While the Liberal Democrats welcome the steps—even if small and hesitant—that the Government are taking to improve our relationship with the EU, I urge the Minister to recognise that this should be only the start of moves towards a much deeper trading relationship, which should include joining the single market and forming a new customs union. That would be truly transformational for our economy, and for our young people’s employment prospects. At the very least, the Government should be making far more progress to secure a youth mobility scheme with the EU. If that were in place, there would have been exponentially more work opportunities available to young British people this summer. Will the Minister set out a timeline for the introduction of a youth experience scheme? That would be beneficial to our whole economy, and could ease some of the burdens that our hospitality sector faces.

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38. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Sarah Olney

    Summer Jobs

    My hon. Friend is, of course, entirely right. A youth mobility scheme would benefit not just young people who live in this country, but our businesses; it would allow them to recruit from across the EU, and obtain the short-term staff that the hospitality businesses in his constituency so badly need. Businesses across the country, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, are struggling with unprecedentedly high costs, while battling a rising tax burden and an unfavourable economic climate. Struggling businesses mean fewer jobs, lost opportunities and lower living standards, so it is clear that we must look for ways in which to support local businesses and all who rely on them.

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39. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Richard Foord

    Early Release of Prisoners

    A constituent of mine is an official, a civil servant who works in support of the IICSA. Having had emotional interviews with so many victims of the crimes that we are discussing today, he cannot fathom why Governments have not yet fully implemented those recommendations. Does the hon. Gentleman share that frustration?

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40. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Pippa Heylings

    Draft Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

    The Liberal Democrats support extending eligibility for contracts for difference so that existing nuclear generating stations can obtain those contracts. Building new large-scale nuclear in the UK suffers from spiralling costs and has been bogged down by serious delays, so we recognise the importance of extending the operational life of existing assets. To meet our climate targets and strengthen our energy security, it is important to make the most of our existing infrastructure and these investments, and so rely less on imported fossil fuels. Many of the respondents to the Government’s consultation expressed their support in principle for the proposed amendment, citing the benefits to our energy security, system resilience, affordability and decarbonisation. Any future contracts for difference awarded to large-scale nuclear must be awarded at competitive prices and be value for money for consumers. Beyond this, it is also vital we continue to invest in renewables, in SMR research and development, and in CfDs for green technology, to ensure we get low energy bills, strengthen our energy security and do our part to tackle the climate crisis.

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