PM: Young people trapped on welfare need to get to work

ODN

Rishi Sunak has reiterated his pledge to get people 'trapped on welfare' back into the workplace.    The prime minister's comments came during a visit to the DHL Gateway port facility on the Thames estuary. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00 [INAUDIBLE]

00:09 I have to ask, if you're surrounded by all this

00:12 incredible chocolate all day long, does it make you want it

00:17 more or want it less?

00:18 Less.

00:19 Less.

00:19 OK.

00:20 I would like it.

00:21 [INAUDIBLE]

00:23 Yeah.

00:23 I'm going to take that back to my daughter.

00:26 We've had a tough couple of years.

00:27 You know that.

00:27 You don't need me to tell you that.

00:29 It's been hard on all of you for families everywhere.

00:31 COVID, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, energy bills,

00:35 inflation.

00:36 My god, that is a lot that we've all had to deal with.

00:39 But at the start of this year, we are turning the corner.

00:43 And actually, the investment here

00:45 is a great example of exactly what is happening.

00:49 Now, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what's

00:51 at the heart of our economic plan.

00:53 And that is my fundamental belief

00:56 in the value of hard work.

00:58 We've seen an increase of 850,000 people

01:02 who are of working age who are no longer able to work because

01:06 of long-term ill health.

01:08 850,000 increase in just a few years.

01:12 Now, around half of those people have

01:14 cited dealing with anxiety, nerves, or depression.

01:18 But what should really worry us is

01:20 that the biggest percentage increase in that group

01:23 has come from young people, young people who

01:26 ought to be in the prime of their lives starting out

01:28 exciting careers, building families,

01:30 instead trapped on welfare.

01:32 You'll know that we have a complex tax system.

01:35 You pay income tax, and you pay national insurance, which

01:39 is a bit odd because national insurance is only

01:41 paid by people in work.

01:42 And I've spent all this time talking

01:44 about how important work is to me.

01:46 And I think that's unfair.

01:48 National insurance is a double tax

01:49 on work, on hardworking people.

01:52 And so we've already cut it by a third, 900-quid tax cut.

01:55 But what I'd like to do over time is just keep cutting it till it's gone.

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