Graham Stuart

Graham Stuart

Conservative — Beverley and Holderness

Speaking in the House of Commons on 11 November 2026

Debate

Employers

Contribution

The situation is affecting all young people, is it not? I have used this quote in the Chamber before, but it is worth repeating, even for the tiny number of Labour MPs who were prepared to come here, to vaguely try to support the Government. Ronald Reagan said about the left: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it.” Labour taxed it with a jobs tax; then it regulated it with the Employment Rights Act 2025 until it stopped moving. Then young people were not getting employed anymore. Labour said, “Yippee!” Labour MPs were literally going around the TV studios saying, “Look at us—there is a jobs guarantee.” They have taxed it; they have regulated it until no one is getting employed; and now they will say, “We will subsidise it.” They have absolutely no conception of how private enterprise works, or how the economy works. They are letting the country down, and they increasingly know it, albeit that they do not say so in the Chamber quite yet.

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