Why are young people bearing the brunt of the cuts?

Last week, the Tories gathered in Battersea for their annual white tie fundraising bash.  Despite attempts by the party to cover up what was taking place inside, it was revealed the next day in the press that rich donors paid tens of thousands of pounds to get their children into internships at top city financial firms. In the same week Unite released a damning report revealing the extent to which youth services around the country are to be cut by the Tory led coalition government.

The contrast between the realities for the privileged rich and the underprivileged poor couldn’t be more drastic. Young people in this country already face record levels of unemployment due to the economic downturn caused by the global financial crisis (youth and graduate unemployment was at a record low in 2005, and started rising sharply around the start of the financial crisis). Coalition cuts have further piled the misery on. Unite estimate that one in four of England’s youth services face cuts of between 21-30%, meaning that youth clubs and centres will face closure, and 3,000 full time youth workers will lose their jobs. Those from rich backgrounds have little need for youth centres so this will not affect them. Even those youth services that chime with David Cameron’s Big Society (whatever it is) won’t be immune; cuts to the funding for the Youth Action Network means that at least 400,000 young people will be unable to continue their volunteering

Young people wishing to stay in education face a similiarly bleak outlook. The scrapping of the Educational Maintanence Allowance (something both the Tories and the Lib Dems campaigned on keeping), which provided financial assistance for students from poor families to help with travel and books, will mean thousands will be unable to afford to stay in college. And the tripling of tuition fees, while simultaneously savaging the university teaching budget, will without doubt put many from poor backgrounds off going to university (the fact that debt repayments are to be stretched out over a longer period does nothing to reassure poor student faced with up to £27000 worth of debts just from tuition fees alone, and that’s before interest). Students with wealthy parents will be able to pay their fees up front, avoiding interest payments and likely receiving a discount for doing so, meaning poorer students will actually end up paying more than wealthier students

These are incredibly short sighted policies from the government. Educating our young is an investment in the future – it may save you a little in the short term but in the long run it’ll cost the country dear. An educated workforce attracts investment to the country and lead to increased social mobility, which is why Labour worked hard to increase the number of young people attending university. On average graduates also pay up to £50,000 more in taxes than non graduates, so financially this is not a viable policy. Students from deprived areas, disproportionately ethnic minorities, who may not be able to afford to stay in college, will face a future with little chance of employment, with no youth centres or youth workers to keep them out of trouble. For many of this lost generation, they will have little option but to turn to either benefits or crime, both of which are costly for the state.

All this comes at a time when the banks who were the primary cause of the global economic crisis are being let off with a slap on the wrists. The systematic creation of an underclass of under educated, under employed young people whilst bankers are collecting billions of pounds in bonuses, and corporations and the super rich are avoiding countless billions in taxes is heartbreaking. Is this what Cameron had in mind when he said we’re all in it together?