YOUTH services have been cut by almost a billion pounds in the past decade of Tory rule, new research has shown.

An analysis of government spending figures by Labour has shown that the amount of funding for local authorities’ young people’s services  has taken a real-terms cut of £880 million since 2010, a drop of 70 per cent.

The research also showed that 87 per cent of councils have slashed youth funding by at least 50 per cent in those years, with 50 per cent of councils having cut spending by more than 75 per cent for every young person in their remit.