Clegg voices school leaver fears

Nick Clegg says the PM's jobs initiatives have been 'pointless'

School and college leavers aged 16-24 will "bear the brunt" of Gordon Brown's "economic mismanagement", Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said.

He accused the prime minister of "pointless initiatives" and warned against a "poisonous legacy" of unemployment for the next generation.

At a one-day conference in London he also outlined plans for better college funding and to tackle student debt.

Last week Mr Brown announced a scheme to create 35,000 more apprenticeships.

But the prime minister's efforts will not create a single new permanent job, Mr Clegg added.

Today's school leavers could be the first generation in living memory "to end up worse off than their parents", he claimed.

'On the scrapheap'

According to the Lib Dem leader, two million young people who grew up under a Labour government live in poverty and are now being "hit hard by the recession".

He added: "After having already suffered under Gordon Brown's failure to sort out our education system, this generation now bears the heaviest brunt of his economic mismanagement.

"We have to make sure this recession does not leave a poisonous legacy for teenagers and young adults. We must not allow a whole generation to end up on the scrapheap of long-term unemployment."