Unemployment has been creeping up every month since Labour came into office in July 2024.  Today’s unemployment rate of 5.2% is the highest it has been for five years, when Britain was still in the Covid pandemic.  This consistent upward trend reminds me that every Labour Government there has ever been, left office with higher unemployment than when it started.

Sadly, I fear unemployment will continue to rise.  We have now seen 134,000 payrolled jobs disappear and it’s a direct result of government policy.   The entire Labour Cabinet have no real business experience, and it shows.  Not understanding the consequences, they view businesses and jobs as opportunities to levy taxes, not opportunities for people and our country.  

Businesses are continuing to struggle with Labour’s hike on Employers National Insurance, that not only whacked up the amount payable, but which slashed the starting rate at when it is paid.  This has disproportionately hit younger people starting out in the world of work on lower incomes, with their jobs disappearing faster.  I find it alarming that the unemployment rate for 16–24-year-olds has risen to 16.1%, the highest rate in over ten years.  This is almost one in every six young people. 

Labour’s job tax has been in less than one whole year, but it is having potentially long-term consequences for many of today’s young people.  Labour has made hiring young people a liability for many businesses, especially in the hospitality and retail industries.

While Labour fail, don’t be fooled by the joker out there that claims to have easy answers.  Reform would be even worse in managing the economy, offering fantasy economics that if ever applied would only cause mayhem.  Typical of a party only interested in campaign slogans,  Reform’s sums never add up.    

The Conservatives have a real plan to break the vicious cycle of more spending, more borrowing, and more taxes.  While Labour and Reform seek to increase the size of the state, my party is serious about getting spending under control with a fully costed plan to save £47 billion, enabling tax cuts to make working pay again.

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

25th February 2026