Conservative MEPs today condemned Labour's backing for the European Union's costly Youth Guarantee Scheme after reports suggested it has yet to create
a single job.

Employment spokesman Anthea McIntyre MEP said the scheme was window dressing with the taxpayers' money – yet Labour only last week voted to spend still
more on it.

She was speaking after the EU Court of Auditors published a special report on the scheme, which was launched in 2013 to tackle youth unemployment and is
expected to cost the EU nearly £10 billion from 2014 to 2020.

The report levelled several criticisms including the potential for spiralling cost, the danger of employers exploiting it for cheap labour and inadequate
monitoring of how money is spent.

Following a press briefing by the Court of Auditors, the Euractiv website reported that officials admitted that they have yet to see a single young person
who had found a job through it. It was also reported the court did not know how much of the €12.7 billion allocated had been used so far.

Yet in a roll-call vote last month on a suggestion that spending on the scheme should be boosted to €21 billion, Labour MEPs voted in favour.

Miss McIntyre, Conservative MEP for the West Midlands, said: "We said all along that this scheme was pie in the sky. You don't create jobs for young
people or anyone else by throwing huge sums of money at the problem.

"But Labour, as always, want to throw good money after bad and use even more taxpayers' money on window dressing.

"What we need is an overall economy that is functioning properly, supporting growth, innovation and job creation. The best way to achieve that is usually
to aim for less interference from governments and the EU, not more.

"Cut red tape, boost international trade, let enterprise benefit from a flexible labour market...that is the way to create jobs for young and old alike.
It is businesses that create jobs, not politicians. That way you get real jobs, not artificial ones.

"Sadly, Labour just don't get it. Their answer is always to spend more of the taxpayers' money. When will they realise that gesture politics don't
help anyone?"