IF you can work you must work, Labour’s welfare chief Liz Kendall pledged today as she announced measures to push people off welfare and into employment.

The package announced by the Work and Pensions Secretary to boost employment was mainly carrot, with the stick coming next year in the form of a benefits review.

Ms Kendall pledged a shake-up of the government jobcentres, rebadged as a National Jobs and Careers Service, and a “new youth guarantee” to ensure that all young people are in employment, education or training — at present up to a million are not.