Burnham‑On‑Sea MP Ashley Fox has called for action to save summer jobs across the Burnham‑On‑Sea and Highbridge constituency, saying young people need fewer barriers and more chances to take their first step into work.
He has backed new Conservative plans to give young people greater flexibility over shift patterns and breaks, and to simplify restrictions on evening working, while ensuring education remains protected. The proposals form part of the party’s wider campaign to save the summer job, launched earlier this year with pledges to scrap red‑tape permits for employing young people, lift the two‑hour Sunday working limit for under‑16s, and allow them to work until 9pm if they choose.
Ashley Fox says Labour’s Employment Rights Act is adding pressure on seasonal businesses and making it harder for them to recruit. The Conservatives say they will scrap what they describe as job‑destroying measures, abolish business rates for 250,000 retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, and introduce their Cheap Power Plan to cut business electricity bills by 20 per cent.
The issue of youth unemployment was highlighted in a report by former Labour Minister Alan Milburn, who said early employment helps young people build confidence, learn workplace habits and show employers what they can do. His report noted a fall in the number of 16‑ to 17‑year‑olds doing any work, dropping from 35% in 2006 to 19% today.
The Conservatives say outdated regulations inherited from the European Union place unnecessary restrictions on young people’s ability to work and can now be removed. Under the plans, 16‑ and 17‑year‑olds and employers would have more flexibility over when breaks are taken, allowing them at any point during a shift. Young people in full‑time education or training would be able to work until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays during term time, and without restriction during holidays. The current requirement for 48 consecutive hours off work in any seven‑day period would be reduced to 24 hours.
Ashley Fox, Member of Parliament for Bridgwater, said his own first job was working as a waiter in a tea shop and that he knows the confidence and experience a summer job can give a young person. He says local businesses must be supported to offer those opportunities.
“We must make it easier for our local businesses to give young people that vital first step onto the career ladder,” he said. “That’s why we need more flexibility for young people about when they can work and take breaks, and why scrapping needless red tape and permits is so important.”
