“Organisations like yours’ are incredibly important”. That’s what Ed Miliband told Rathbone at a Sheffield forum as he vowed to cut youth joblessness in the FIRST HOUR of his Government.

Urged by guests to show fiery Yorkshire fight, the MP for Doncaster North was certainly not short on passion when it came to young people and the need to insure we never have “another lost generation like we had in the 1980’s.”

He also countered Rathbone spokesman Peter Gibson’s question on how exactly he was going to reduce youth joblessness with this repost: “What we do is put a tax on the banker’s bonuses and we would use that money to say to employers ‘we’ll pay the wages for 25 hours a week for every young person unemployed for more than 12 months.’ We’ll pay the wages, you supply the training.”

Karis Ming and Ed Miliband MP

The Labour leader also listened to Rathbone volunteer Karis Ming as she explained how she hadn’t found work since finishing a spell on the Future Jobs Fund at the Salvation Army. He underlined how vital he thought voluntary sector organisations – with a particular mention for Rathbone – were.

Hosted by BBC Radio Sheffield’s Toby Foster and broadcast a couple of days later, the debate was lively and free-ranging. Topics ranged from policing to pensions and smoking in pubs; with homelessness and the role of midwives also on the agenda. Tuition fees were foremost too with the public’s disillusionment with main stream politics following behind. Said the Labour Leader: “Voting’s not difficult. Politicians should be reminding people – it makes a difference.”

Keen to underline his desire NOT to make promises he couldn’t keep, Mr Miliband nonetheless outlined his desire to tackle youth unemployment first. “From day one, hour one – we will be getting young people back to work” he said.

Karis Ming concluded: “Lots of young people think politicians don’t listen and their vote doesn’t count. I really enjoyed speaking to Mr Miliband and he made me feel like my view mattered.”

Rathbone has a long tradition of working with politicians of all persuasions and prior to the last General Election in 2010 hosted candidates from the Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Scottish National, UKIP and Labour parties.