No, let’s rephrase that. They’re causing a jobs bloodbath. All three Labour frontbenchers are pursuing policies that are actively destroying employment. Hundreds of thousands of roles have already vanished, and many more are under threat. It’s as if this terrible trio is locked in a grim contest to see who can kill most jobs.
That’s the only rational explanation. Because surely they can’t all be naïve enough to think this is a good time to squeeze employers even harder, can they?
Unemployment surged to a four-year high of 4.7% in May, and the worst may still lie ahead as experts say jobless totals could hit the highest level in years.
Artificial intelligence is sweeping through the workplace, obliterating entry-level graduate jobs. Given the scale of the threat, Labour should be doing everything possible to support the labour market. Instead, Reeves, Miliband and Rayner and hammering it again and again.
Chancellor Reeves has been the most wreckless. In her desperate hunt for revenue, she imposed a £25billion employers’ national insurance hike. That was the worst possible tax at the worst possible time.
It’s a tax on jobs, plain and simple. And to make matters worse, she hiked the minimum wage too.
Higher pay for low earners is welcome, but hitting businesses with a massive tax bill on top of that is economic vandalism. The Office for Budget Responsibility warned her. She pressed ahead anyway.
Now the results are in. Since Reeves’s March Budget, 276,000 jobs have disappeared, with another 100,000 expected to go before the year is out. Hospitality has been hammered, with bars, cafés and restaurants cutting staff to survive. Another 370 pubs are set to close this year.
But Reeves isn’t acting alone. Ed Miliband’s green crusade is wrecking jobs too. Blocking new North Sea oil and gas exploration has already destroyed more than 13,000 Scottish jobs.
Miliband’s refusal to pursue a pragmatic energy transition is also pushing up electricity bills and forcing UK manufacturers to shut down or move overseas where energy is cheaper.
Not to be outdone, Deputy PM Angela Rayner is joining the assault. Her new Employment Rights Bill will heap another £5billion in costs onto already struggling businesses, making them even more reluctant to take on staff.
Nearly a million young people are currently out of education, work or training, and Rayner’s scheme will make employers even less likely to take a chance on them.
Of course we need to protect workers from bad bosses. But not by driving good employers out of business.
This is a perfect storm of bad policy, hitting the most vulnerable hardest. Instead of helping young people into work, Labour is pushing them further to the margins.
Reeves, Miliband and Rayner promised to make work pay. Instead, they’ve made hiring a liability. Their jobs massacre is turning into an act of economic self-harm, and the bodies are piling up.
I’ve previously dubbed Reeves, Miliband and Rayner the UK’s very own economic suicide squad. They’re still active today and nothing will stop them. There is mounting evidence of the damage done, and they don’t seem to care. The sooner they are sent to the Job Centre themselves, the better.