Monday’s report by Unison paints a stark picture, confirming the decimation of youth services under this Tory government. Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that between 2016 and 2019, nearly 900 youth-worker jobs will have been cut and at least 160 youth centres will have closed their doors. This means a total loss of more than 4,500 youth-work jobs and 760 youth centres since 2012.

This is having a devastating impact on the youth sector workforce and the communities it serves. According to survey data compiled by Unison, cuts mean that 70% of youth workers are going beyond their contracted hours, and 73% say local residents don’t receive the help and support they need at the right time.

The landscape for delivering youth services has changed significantly over the past decade. Before the Tories came to power, the British Youth Service was a unique public service built by young people, the main youth workers’ unions and local authorities. It had provided open-access support, guidance and informal education to young people for generations. Young people did not have to get involved with the youth service, but millions did. They established a voluntary relationship with their youth workers based on principles of personal and social development. Youth workers were a professional workforce, with national collective bargaining and access to professional training courses. But this all changed when the Tories came to power in 2010 and slashed local authority budgets. Funding disappeared, youth workers lost their jobs and youth centres everywhere closed. In many ways it is the first public service to have been dismantled.

It is testament to our voluntary sector that provision has not completely collapsed under the weight of these cuts. Voluntary organisations stepped in to fill the void left by local authorities and created innovative models to deliver excellent services for young people in some areas. Labour councils have also sought to protect services in their communities, and have innovated where funds have been cut to still deliver a youth provision. For example, Barking and Dagenham is soon opening London’s first “youth zone”, which will offer a range of first-class facilities to thousands of young people. However, with the government planning to cut yet more from local government, it is going to be an ever greater challenge for local authorities to innovate to provide these services. The longer this continues, the more difficult it will be to rebuild.

The consequences of these cuts for our young people have been devastating. Many no longer have access to youth workers – someone they can talk to outside school and home environments to get the support they need. Someone who could spot the emergence of antisocial behaviour, potential harm and divisive ideologies, and address such issues before they became social problems. Young people no longer have access to youth centres – somewhere to go where they can feel safe and that they belong, somewhere they feel that they have some ownership and control. Around 85% of a young person’s waking hours are spent outside formal education. Our responsibility as policymakers does not stop at the school gates.

The Labour party is committed to rebuilding our communities and guaranteeing high-quality youth services in every local authority. We want every young person to have access to services – such as youth clubs, youth centres and counselling – so they have somewhere to go and someone to talk to. This will of course require resources and Labour is committed to creating a sustainable funding model to reverse Tory cuts. As with our last manifesto, we will be clear and transparent about how this will be funded.

However, this is not just about returning to the glory days of the past. We want to rebuild a youth service for the modern age – one that brings together fragmented services and celebrates diversity of provision. Labour is currently consulting on proposals for local authorities to establish a local youth service partnership – made up of young people, parents, professionals, councillors and voluntary sector organisations – just like a school governing body. This would be responsible for providing strategic leadership, assessing provision in that area and publishing a local youth strategy.

We must have youth services that can respond to the unique challenges facing young people today. Chronic levels of loneliness, rising mental health problems, increased national violent crime are all issues this government has failed to address.

Austerity is a political choice not an economic necessity. Our nation is the fifth richest in the world, and while axing millions from services for young people, the Tories will have handed out £110bn in corporation tax giveaways by the end of this parliament. We cannot sit back and allow the Tories to fail our young people any longer.

• Cat Smith is Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood with portfolio for youth affairs