BRITAIN’S worklessness crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing this Government.
Economic inactivity has soared to more than nine million, with 2.8 million people out of work due to long-term sickness.
It’s an urgent problem that requires immediate action.
Keir Starmer rightly declares he wants to get two million back into work.
Yet the Prime Minister admits that flagship new proposals aimed at making this happen won’t be unveiled for another YEAR.
Meanwhile, it transpires a “new drive” to withdraw benefits from those who refuse work or training isn’t new at all.
The cost to taxpayers of another 12 months of handouts is £100billion.
And that’s before the impact of the Budget job tax kicks in — which experts say could increase unemployment.
We simply cannot afford to import hundreds of thousands of foreign workers while paying people to stay at home.
The PM must be ruthless in cracking down on the workshy who continue to game the system.
And ignore the howls of outrage on the Left which will inevitably follow.
WE hope ministers really have listened to car manufacturers worried about crazy fines for failing to sell electric cars.
A Government review of the fines — £15,000 per vehicle — is welcome.
For too long both Labour and Tories have pursued unrealistic policies which are out of step with the market.
Eco zealotry has blinded ministers to economic reality. Electric cars remain an expensive luxury.
They cost too much, don’t travel far enough — and still can’t be quickly or easily charged.
For most families — even those keen to go green — EVs are proving a non-starter.
The only way to get drivers to switch is to make them cheaper.
Fines on manufacturers will only make the cars pricier to buy and put unnecessary pressure on an industry when Ford and Vauxhall are axing thousands of jobs.
It’s demand that drives markets – not laws and punishments.
LABOUR says it wants to speed up asylum claims made by tens of thousands of illegal migrants housed in hotels.
For years migrants have used legal advice to endlessly expose loopholes.
Since when did more lawyers ever result in swifter justice?
