Labour has been slammed for splashing taxpayers’ cash on celebrity podcast adverts to promote its job help website as youth unemployment hits record highs. Radio 1 DJ Jordan North and the etiquette expert William Hanson were paid to plug the Department for Work and Pensions’ job search tips on their podcast Help I Sexted My Boss.

The pair told listeners “support is out there” and directed young people to the DWP’s job help website for “tips to improve your job search” and “access to government support”. But furious critics savaged the move as a waste of money, demanding Labour make it easier for businesses to hire workers instead of paying for “expensive celebrity podcast adverts”.

Conservative Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: “Labour’s growth strategy is a myth. After killing jobs across the country and youth employment hits record highs, the Government seems to think the solution is advertising job advice on podcasts.”

She added: “Every Labour Government has left unemployment higher than it found it, and this one is no different. We need serious solutions, and we never get them.”

Youth unemployment in the UK recently hit 16.1%, the highest in over a decade and even more than at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Whately warned: “Britain cannot grow with a Government that taxes work and smothers enterprise.

“Labour have hiked taxes by £60billion, pushing the tax burden to a record high. Higher taxes squeeze businesses, squeezed businesses stop hiring, rising unemployment weakens the economy further.

“Only the Conservatives are offering a serious alternative that backs work, rewards ambition, and gets Britain working again.”

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Callum Price, director of communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “It’s right that the DWP are trying to get people back into work, but instead of spending taxpayers’ money on expensive celebrity podcast adverts, the Government should make it easier, cheaper, and less risky for businesses to hire people – or at least stop making it harder and more expensive.

“That would be a more effective and cheaper way of getting people into work and the economy growing.”

On the podcast, North said: “When it comes to the job market, it’s very tough for young people.”

Hanson added there were “so many reasons why searching for a job can feel anxiety-inducing”.

A DWP spokesperson defended the campaign, saying: “Tackling youth unemployment is a priority for this Government, and it’s essential we let young people know about the support available to them by using the channels they use and trust.”

They added: “We are providing this support through £1.5billion in investment, enabling businesses to hire young people by fully funding apprenticeships for SMEs, creating 50,000 additional apprenticeships in priority growth sectors and rolling out our Youth Guarantee so every young person has the chance to earn or learn.

“In addition, former health secretary Alan Milburn is conducting a major review to look at the barriers preventing young people finding work.”