Dear Sir,
Today’s younger generations will be the first to be worse off than their parents’ generation. Tory policies over the last decade have decimated their life chances and narrowed their opportunities, from simply being able to afford to move out of the family home and becoming independent, to benefiting, as previous generations have, from such things as a well-funded NHS, a free university education and a social security safety net when things go wrong.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recently released research which showed one in three children are now living in absolute poverty in the UK, and Shelters figures show that 130,000 children were homeless last Christmas, and this is expected to rise again this year.
The Tories hiked up tuition fees meaning students leave university with huge debts, they stopped the education maintenance allowance in England which enabled young people to stay on at school and make it to university.
Young people get paid less for doing the same job as those around them and cuts to youth services and counselling services have left our young people in crisis with nowhere to go or turn to for help.
Charities and community initiatives cannot fill the gap of well-funded professional support services and they shouldn’t have to.
The issues this new generation will have to face when it comes to climate change are enormous, it is not acceptable or responsible to hand this future down to them as their legacy.
Labour will ensure people are paid fairly for the work they do, by bringing in a real living wage for everyone, no matter what their age. They will invest and restore the services previous generations have enjoyed, they will ensure there are enough affordable social houses so young people can start their lives and, through Labours new green deal, create jobs and provide lifelong training while working to negate the worse effects of climate damage and leading the world in green technologies.
Labour will end tuition feeds and bring back maintenance grants, invest in our schools and feed our hungry children, so they can achieve their potential.
We CAN already afford to do this; it is just about a shift in priorities. Who does our economy work for, if it is not to feed our children and give our young people the future they deserve?
Young people have been leading the calls for change and Labour have listened. For their future, vote Labour.
Kathy Beetham.
