BORIS JOHNSON thinks the government’s notorious work experience programme – in which companies get free labour from the unemployed and the unemployed get their benefits cut if they quit – should be extended.
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The London Mayor said companies taking advantage of the scheme should be “championed, they should be extolled, for taking on young people” and added that they should “step up their efforts”.
In contrast to Johnson’s views, those very companies he “extolls” have now given the work experience scheme the thumbs down, one after another pulling out or slamming the ‘slave labour’ programme, following a rising tide of public anger at the obvious exploitation involved.
“Given the recent concerns expressed by the public we have decided to no longer have any involvement in the programme,” said a spokesperson for Burger King on the weekend, for example.
Polls have shown that Johnson is regarded by many as out of touch and he has already been dubbed the ‘Mayor of the 1%’.
Now he appears not to get the difference between paid apprenticeships and forced labour, as he lumps together his own scheme for young Londoners, where people are paid at least the minimum wage, and the national scheme, where Tesco and co. have their shelves stacked for free.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s main challenger in May’s Mayoral election has delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street promising to make the job of Mayor his only one should he win the vote. Johnson has been criticised for working at the Daily Telegraph while holding office.
“One clear way to restore faith in politics in London is to tighten up the framework for the Mayor’s role so that it is clear that the Mayor only ever has one employer,” said Ken Livingstone.
