Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to George Osborne’s speech, said:

“Full employment is the right aspiration but George Osborne has announced no new policies today to help people into work.

“While he has been Chancellor the number of young people stuck on the dole for more than 12 months has almost doubled and the number of people who want to work full-time but have had to take part-time jobs is at record levels.

“We need Labour’s Compulsory Jobs Guarantee to get young people and the long-term unemployed off benefits and into paid work. Labour would also make work pay by expanding free childcare for working parents, incentivising the living wage and introducing a lower 10p starting rate of tax.”

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