This week, Rushanara Ali MP for Bethnal Green and Bow spoke in the House of Commons in a debate on the Finance Bill. Rushanara focused on the rising levels of youth unemployment in her constituency and the UK as well as the Government's failure to take action to address this.   She also spoke in support of a Labour amendment to introduce a tax on bankers' bonuses to fund a "Real Jobs Guarantee" to help young people who have been long-term unemployed into work.

Rushanara said: 

"I call on the Government to pay attention, to listen not just to my party, but to the millions of young people who want a job and an opportunity to make a contribution to this country. We have a plan that could help get them get into real work and would reward those who work hard, a plan that is costed and paid for by asking some of the wealthiest in our society to contribute just a little more.

With the economy back in a double-dip recession and economic confidence so low that investment growth has virtually ground to a halt, job opportunities for these young people desperate to find work will not appear without help. I hope the Government will see sense and give young people in Britain the much-needed support that they deserve."�

Along with many of her fellow Labour MPs, Rushanara called attention to the Government's failure to act on youth unemployment which has increased 100% in a year.  She also spoke about the impact this, and the Government's failed economic policies were having on social mobility.

Britain is now bottom of the pile for social mobility, and that is due to this Government's failures. The top 1% of our society now control a greater share of the national income than at any time since the 1930s. Despite these crippling inequalities, this Government's priority has been to give tax breaks to millionaires while building their austerity programme on the backs of some of the poorest in this country."

The full speech is available here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120703/debtext/120703-0003.htm#120703140000033.