ANALYSIS

RISHI Sunak will today seek to show that the Tories have learned the painful lessons of the 1980s when youth unemployment became a national scandal.

Despite the economic successes of the Margaret Thatcher era, her party has long suffered from memories of the lost generation of youngsters who felt condemned to a life on the dole.

Ministers know that nightmare is a real threat given the shattering impact the coronavirus lockdown has had on the economy.

While older people are most at risk from the virus, it is the younger generation that could suffer most from the economic consequences. The health emergency has already forced Mr Sunak into taking interventionist measures at odds with Tory instincts in more normal times.

And to try to avoid a fresh surge in youth unemployment, he will do so again today by allowing the state to subsidise six-month work placements for workers aged under 25. Ministers see today’s mini-Budget as the second phase in a threestage recovery from the coronavirus slump.

The first phase involved massive state intervention to support businesses forced to cease trading during lockdown.

Today’s measures will be about providing support so those firms can have the confidence to keep staff on their books and start trading again.

Phase three will come in the autumn with a full-scale Budget and Spending Review designed to set the course for a long-term recovery.

By then, Tory MPs will want the Government to be moving away from hugely expensive subsidies for companies towards an economy based on free enterprise rather than state handouts.

Mr Sunak is also expected to make clear that employers who accepted millions of pounds of funding under the Government’s furlough scheme have a responsibility to avoid mass job cuts as the funding is withdrawn.

A true “One Nation” Tory government will want everyone to play their part in the recovery in the same way that the country pulled together during the peak of the coronavirus crisis.