Tory National Service plan will 'cost thousands of jobs'

Rishi Sunak's National Service proposal is a ‘desperate gimmick’ and a violation of young workers' rights.

GMB also warned that scrapping the Shared Prosperity Fund without replacement will cause hundreds of charities and businesses to cut back or even close, and make it harder to fill vacancies across the economy. [1]

The union condemned the Conservative’s ‘terrible track record’ on helping young people into work, with £1 billion of Apprenticeship Levy funding unspent each year and nurses' bursaries for young people cut back.

Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said:

“This is a desperate gimmick from a Conservative Party that has a terrible track record on helping young people into work.

“They’ve failed to spend the apprentice levy, and scrapped bursaries for training for vital jobs like nursing.

"Now the Tories want to impose unpaid labour on young workers to cover up their failure to secure our economy and national defence

“Young people across the UK need change. They need a Labour government.”