Hard work

History never repeats itself in exactly the same way, however, and the vast number of young people growing up in a home where no-one has ever worked reflects the multi-billion pound boom in welfare payments under Labour. Yesterday's figures, which also showed 600,000 young people who have never worked since leaving education, are evidence of the deep recession, flawed benefits system and severe economic imbalance left by the previous administration.

The challenge now for the coalition is to change not just the numbers, but the culture. An entire life without work, spent relying on the enforced generosity of working taxpayers, is a prospect for a small but costly minority. This cannot be allowed to happen. Ministers must build on the hit-and-miss results of Labour's New Deal and get more people into jobs, education or training. If ever there was a cause for David Cameron to prove the worth of his much-criticised Big Society, then it is this one.

It will not be easy. The last time the Conservatives were in power, the economic boom was patchy. It bolstered London and the south-east at the expense of great swathes of northern England, particularly Yorkshire. The "new" generation of Tories appear to have learnt the lesson, however, that growth means little if it excludes millions of people beyond their electoral heartland.

In 2011 businesses should be encouraged, with advice and with financial incentives if necessary, to take a chance on more young people, while those who are fit for work must be given the skills to make them worth hiring. The coalition will gain nothing by demonising the unemployed with tough rhetoric, but the country will gain nothing if Ministers ignore a massive problem. We have to get Britain working.