There was a time when Nick Clegg was the most agile and persistent defender of the coalition’s deficit reduction programme. But now — although he’s
still got it in him — he is more often wheeled out to announce some spending wheeze or other. A couple of weeks ago, it was the next instalment of the government’s regional growth fund. Today, it’s a £1 billion scheme, spread out over three years, to encourage companies to take on young people.
This latest scheme is one of those that looks very neat on paper. Put aside questions about how it will be funded, and what we have is a plan whereby £2,275 will be paid to companies for each young recruit they bring on. It means that, in effect, the state will cover half of the youth minimum wage for a six-month period. It shows just how concerned — and rightly — the government are about youth unemployment, a major focus of next week’s budget/growth double-header. And it will, according to the official synopsis, ‘provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24 year olds.’
Or at least that’s the plan. But, as any fule kno, neatness on paper rarely translates to neatness off it. In particular, we ought to scratch that 410,000 figure in our notebooks, for future reference. If it comes off, then great. But, for the time being, it looks suspiciously like one of those old Brown tricks: boast about what a scheme will achieve in advance, and keep schtum when it doesn’t.
Besides, Clegg’s announcement will dismay those Tories — not insignificant in number — who agree with The Spectator’s Newcomer of the Year, Dominic Raab, when he suggests that suspending the minimum wage for young people would be a better,
more decisive measure. Stir in the Deputy PM’s supplementary hint that any tax hikes ‘should of course come from those with the broadest shoulders… and you will see more of that in the
future’, and you can expect extra grumbling about how much yellow ink has bled into the text of next week’s Autumn Statement.
UPDATE: Some sharp thoughts on all this from Chris Dillow here.
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