MP calls for action to aid city’s jobless

EDINBURGH North and Leith Labour MP Mark Lazarowicz has spoken of the “fear and despair” felt by many young people looking for work.

And he called for concrete action from the Government to offer hope to the one in five young Scots now without a job.

He said youth unemployment had risen 18 per cent over the last year in his constituency.

Mr Lazarowicz said: “Getting your first job or apprenticeship is incredibly tough whether you are leaving school, college or university. So many young people are desperate to work but just can’t find a job.

“Instead, they are starting their adult lives sometimes facing an uncertain future on benefits, which makes it difficult to get housing as well.”

He said the UK coalition government had axed the Future Jobs programme introduced by the last Labour government and aimed specifically at young people.

“It should act now to put an alternative in its place, however late, so that young people out of work are not just abandoned to a life on benefits,” he said.