Newcastle-under-Lyme MP Adam Jogee has called for greater backing for local industry after research placed the borough among the country’s worst areas for youth job opportunities.
Responding to figures showing Newcastle had almost half the national average rate of suitable vacancies for young adults, the MP said tackling the feeling that young people must leave home to succeed was his “top priority”.
The Institute for Public Policy Research recorded 57 suitable vacancies per 1,000 residents aged 18 to 24 in Newcastle—47% below the UK average.
The borough had the lowest rate in Staffordshire, narrowly behind South Staffordshire’s 58. Stafford recorded 191, more than three times Newcastle’s figure. The measure compares job opportunities with the young adult population, rather than ranking unemployment. IPPR figures.
Mr Jogee said: “This report reflects a story that I hear and see every day and is a stark reminder of the challenges facing communities in our industrial heartlands like Newcastle-under-Lyme.
“For too long, communities like ours, with a proud industrial and coalfield heritage have been left behind.
“We need to harness the talent and skills we have here.”
He argued that stronger support for British manufacturing and locally made products should form part of the response, highlighting brickmaker Ibstock’s presence in Newcastle.
“We need to back British business, British industry and British manufacturing, and indeed British-made bricks, like those produced by Ibstock in Newcastle-under-Lyme, something I’ve consistently championed in Parliament,” he said.
“We should be buying British, building with British, and backing places like North Staffordshire to be at the forefront of the industries and innovations of the future.”
Mr Jogee pointed to what he described as a £120 million support package secured for the ceramics sector, calling it “an important step and a statement of intent” in backing a major North Staffordshire industry.
He also highlighted Newcastle College’s vocational and technical provision and Keele University’s research and innovation as foundations for attracting investment and creating employment.
“Newcastle College continues to thrive and expand its vocational and technical courses, helping more young people gain the skills local employers need,” he said.
“And with Keele University serving as a hub of innovation and research, we have the ingredients to make Newcastle-under-Lyme an attractive place to invest, grow and create jobs. But we need to ensure those strengths are fully embraced.”
The MP said the Government’s ambitions for growth must translate into opportunities that allow young people to build careers locally.
“If the Prime Minister is to deliver growth and prosperity in every postcode, that must mean tackling the sense, felt by too many young people, that they have to leave home to get on in life.
“Fixing that must be a cornerstone measure of success and is my top priority.”
