Labour's job-killing taxes weren't enough - they're doubling down to boost unemployment

Keir Starmer is getting into a habit of saying one thing but doing another. Unemployment is a case in point. Unemployment has gone up every month for the last twelve months. Their job's tax was a job-killer. It's meant 100,000 fewer jobs, hitting younger workers hardest. You might have thought Labour would learn their lesson and change tack, but instead, they are doubling down - with the Employment Rights Bill, more aptly known as the 'Unemployment Bill'.

We all want to see people treated well by their employers, but this Bill isn't about that. It's been written by the unions, for the unions. Unions, along with this Labour Government, simply don't understand businesses. They don't understand the decisions businesses have to make when they hire people. They don't understand that making it harder to let someone go means it's harder to recruit them in the first place. And they either don't understand or are choosing not to hear what businesses are saying.

I've lost count of how many businesses have told me the Unemployment Bill means they are going to cut back on hiring. Just the other day, a CEO said to me "I'm not going to take any more chances on people".

That means next time he meets a young person who's left school with no qualifications, they won't be giving them the chance of a secure well-paid job. Despite having done that many times in years gone by. That drawbridge between unemployment and opportunity is going to be pulled up.

Conservative estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost, or never even created, as a result of this Bill.

At a time when economic growth is dismal, and the welfare bill is ballooning, such a blow to the jobs market would be disastrous. Official figures already show that 27,000 more young people are now out of education, employment, or training since Labour entered government last year.

Worse still, the official impact assessment warns that the Unemployment Bill will deter businesses from hiring younger, less-experienced workers -precisely those who need opportunity the most.

If this happens as predicted, the impact on the public finances will be enormous. It could mean tens of thousands of additional welfare claims, costing the taxpayer billions of pounds more every year.

And it will mean many thousands of people condemned to live off benefits rather than earning their own income and paying their way.

As Kemi Badenoch has said, "the rider is as big as the horse" and current trends are unsustainable. This is simply unsustainable. Rather than trapping more people in welfare dependency, Labour should support businesses to create jobs and reward effort and aspiration.

There is an alternative. The Conservatives, under Kemi Badenoch's leadership, have a plan. We've set out how we will make £47 billion savings from public spending, including £23 billion of welfare savings.

We'll make sure it makes financial sense for people to work, not be on benefits. We'll cut taxes on business and scrap red tape that gets in their way.

We are the only Party with a credible plan and the team to deliver a stronger economy for our country.

Helen Whately is the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary