CUTS across Dudley will leave the borough with a “lost generation” of young people, according to Brierley Hill councillor Rachel Harris.

At last night's full council meeting (Monday March 7) cllr Harris hit out over the swathe of spending cuts which will impact on services for 16 to 25-year-olds such as the loss of Dudley’s careers service Connexions and counselling provided by Stourbridge’s What? Centre.

Voting against Dudley Council’s budget, the Labour councillor also criticised decisions taken by the Coalition Government which have led to the loss of Education Maintenance Allowance, cuts to the Future Jobs Fund and fewer university places.

She said: "By the end of spring there will be one million young people aged 25 and under without a job in this country - through jobs lost in the public sector, the freeze in the private sector and a rise in the population.

“And at a time when young people are faced with such unemployment, our youth services will be non-existent.

“You're going to have a lost generation - they're going to be lost before they begin, because of neo-Thatcherism.”

Cllr Harris’s comments came as Dudley Tory councillors rubber-stamped efforts to save £35m over three years - described by former shadow finance spokesman councillor Shaukat Ali as “the most savage, ruthless, careless budget” he has ever seen.

Workers from soon-to-be-axed Connexions centres, which provide careers guidance to borough youngsters, were left “disgusted” after the spirited meeting at Dudley Council House.

One careers advisor said: “We still can’t tell young people what services are going to be delivered. There’s nothing concrete at all. This will affect every child in mainstream school.”

She said staff at Connexions, run by Prospects, have not yet been told where advice seeking teenagers should be directed when the centres in Wolverhampton Street, Dudley, and Stourbridge High Street close on March 31, nor have the 39, many of them long-serving, workers been told whether their jobs will continue.

Dudley’s cabinet member for children’s services - councillor Liz Walker - said Connexions staff supporting youngsters with learning disabilities will be transferred to the council, which aims to provide its own careers services to teens.

Cllr Walker also confirmed a number of traditional youth worker posts will go as part of cuts to the children’s services department and the Community and Home Support Service, which offers respite to parents of kids with disabilties, has also taken a hit.

Cllr Walker said: “I know it’s going to be difficult, but people can find other ways of doing the same thing.

“The services that are vital to the community are still there.

“I have tossed and turned - these are people’s lives we’re affecting and I don’t like it but we’re faced with a situation that’s not of our making.”