WEST WORCESTERSHIRE MP Dame Harriett Baldwin has backed a campaign to reinvigorate youth employment this summer.
The Conservatives want to promote entry-level, flexible, and seasonal work by reversing Government changes to employment law as well as cutting business rates.
They also want to scrap the new overnight visitor levy.
Many early careers are spent working in bars, restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions, and the hospitality and leisure sector blames a fall in recruitment on increased regulations and costs harming their businesses.
Dame Harriett, who serves as Shadow Business and Trade Minister and sits on the Treasury Select Committee, has repeatedly warned of Treasury policy undermining opportunities for young people.
The MP recently visited the Pershore College Jobs Fair, where she heard the feedback from employers and students looking to take their first steps in the world of work.
“Everyone remembers their very first job. My summer job working as a barmaid in Norfolk gave me one of my earliest opportunities to earn an income as well as the necessary experience to set me up for working life.
“When I meet with local businesses, I keep hearing that by overtaxing and overregulating industry, the Government has caused seasonal and part -time vacancies to disappear almost overnight.
“We know that young people want to work flexibly around studying and socialising. That is why we are calling for an end to the damaging restrictions on zero-hour contracts, Sunday and evening work.
“There are far too many young people not in employment, education or training, and many find themselves stuck in a benefits trap,” she said.
She urges the Government to urgently rethink its approach to this issue because she believes it is harming the economy and the job prospects of the next generation.
