The district’s five MPs have all thrown their weight behind the Telegraph & Argus’s new drive to get people working.

Our new Foundation For Jobs campaign aims to put the need to create new jobs, especially for young people, right at the heart of the local agenda.

More than 20,000 people in Bradford are claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance, but firms are still recruiting, so the T&A wants to do all it can to help link jobseekers with local businesses.

We are making it simpler and more cost-effective for firms to advertise their jobs to the right candidates, and to help job-hunters put themselves in front of potential employers.

We will be publishing local Job Centre vacancies for free, offering free lineage advertisements for job-hunters to market themselves to potential hirers and offering special rates to firms to encourage them to shout about their job vacancies.

All five of the district’s MPs have voiced their support for the campaign.

Philip Davies (Con, Shipley) said: “I think it’s great that the T&A is putting its money where its mouth is by foregoing income that it would normally receive in order to help people into the jobs market.”

Gerry Sutcliffe (Lab, Bradford South) said: “This is a really important campaign that the T&A has launched. Employment and skills should be number one priority for us all in Bradford.

“Long-term unemployment scars entire communities and risks wasting a whole generation of young people.”

Kris Hopkins (Con, Keighley and Ilkley) said: “The T&A has got a very high reputation and is well thought-of throughout the district, and for it to put its muscle into getting people into work is a real credit to the newspaper.”

George Galloway (Respect, Bradford West) said: “Congratulations to the T&A for such a positive initiative.

“As May’s unemployment statistics show, matters are desperate and not improving, so any campaign which seeks to create opportunities for young people is hugely positive, even if it is only to imbue confidence and belief in our coming generation that they aren’t worthless, that they can work to a future.”

And David Ward (Lib Dem, Bradford East) said: “I think it’s fantastic. Very often, it’s a question of matching people to jobs.

“I was talking to businesses at the T&A Bradford Means Business Awards and one said they had apprenticeship opportunities but weren’t filling them. It shows jobs are out there, but people need to know about them.”