Rising star Rishi steps up to rescue young workers

HARD to believe that just a few months ago not many people outside the Westminster bubble had heard of Rishi Sunak. But now the man whose astronomical rise saw him become the second most powerful politician in the land has turned into one of the heroes of the coronavirus effort and is widely spoken of as the next Prime Minister.

Today we will again see why this assessment is being made of the Chancellor when he delivers his New Deal statement to the Commons.

What is already clear though is that Mr Sunak intends to prioritise protecting young workers. The £2billion Kickstart scheme will make sure we do not have hundreds of thousands of young people on the dole as a result of an economic crisis caused by coronavirus. It means we will not have a lost generation in the workplace and Britain’s emerging talent has a chance to blossom and thrive.

After the financial crash in 2008 we saw in Europe how vast swathes of the continent’s young people were left jobless and without hope. Youth unemployment in the past decade there has led to long-term damage to the EU economy for which it hoped Britain would pick up the bill.

It is imperative this mistake is not made in Britain in 2020 because if we are to build for a future as a global player, we need to nurture and support our young workforce.

This country needs to be self-reliant and break away from the malign grip of China on production and research. For that to happen the economy, jobs and investment need an environment in which to thrive.