Milburn's review into youth unemployment should be a wake-up call for the Labour Government. Nearly one million young people are currently not in education, employment or training, and the review warns that the situation could worsen in the years ahead.

Perhaps most importantly, the findings make clear that this is not a generation lacking ambition. The overwhelming majority of young people in this position want a job, training opportunity or education. The challenge is that those opportunities are becoming harder to find.

That is why recent revelations from the Mandelson papers were so revealing. Pat McFadden, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions expressed frustration that Labour MPs seemed obsessed with asking who could be taxed next in order to fund a ballooning welfare spending. Whether he intended to or not, he exposed a fundamental problem at the heart of Labour's thinking.

While youth inactivity continues to rise, too many Labour politicians appear focused on how to pay for a growing welfare bill rather than how to reduce it by helping more young people into work. The answer to a generation struggling to find opportunities cannot be to make it harder for businesses to create them.

Yet that is precisely what Labour has done. Their National Insurance hike on employees has increased the cost of employing staff. Businesses are facing rising costs, additional regulation and growing uncertainty.

At a time when employers should be encouraged to take a chance on someone just out of school, an apprentice or a young person looking for their first job, Labour is squeezing businesses for every penny it can find. For large corporations, those costs may be absorbed.

For a small business in South West Devon, they can be the difference between hiring and holding back. The local café considering an extra pair of hands, the independent retailer looking for weekend staff, or the family-run business thinking about taking on an apprentice will all be looking carefully at their costs.

And when businesses stop hiring, it is young people who suffer first.

Many of us remember our first job. Whether it was a Saturday job, helping out in a local shop or starting an apprenticeship, it provided valuable experience and a first step into the real world of work. Those opportunities matter. They build confidence, independence and skills that last a lifetime.

Yet Milburn's review highlights the decline in apprenticeships, fewer entry-level opportunities and growing barriers preventing young people from entering the workforce. The Conservatives believe there is a better way. Rather than taxing employers more heavily and hoping for the best, we should be creating the conditions for businesses to grow and hire.

That means lower taxes, less red tape, a welfare system that rewards work, and a renewed focus on apprenticeships and skills.Youth unemployment is not inevitable. We should never accept the idea that a generation of young people will simply remain detached from work, education or training.

Young people want opportunity. Businesses want to grow.

The role of government should be to bring those two things together, not place new obstacles in their way.

If Labour is serious about preventing a lost generation, it needs to stop asking who it can tax next and start focusing on how it can create the jobs and opportunities young people desperately want.