The unemployed should be forced to take a job after no more than two years on the dole to end stop them spending a 'lifetime on benefits', Labour will say today.

Rachel Reeves is challenging David Cameron to back Labour's plan for a jobs guarantee to limit Jobseekers Allowance to a year for under 25s and two years for older workers.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the shadow work and pensions secretary warned the country cannot afford leaving people 'stuck on benefits for years on end'.

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Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves is challenging David Cameron to back Labour's plan for a jobs guarantee to limit Jobseekers Allowance to a year for under 25s and two years for older workers

Latest figures show the number of people claiming JSA stood at 867,700 in December, down from 1.6million in 2011 but still 90,000 higher than the pre-crash trough in February 2008.

However, there are 133,200 people aged 25 and over who have been claiming JSA for two years or more, and 30,000 people aged 18-24 have been on JSA for over a year.

Under Labour's plan, the government would force those on the scheme to take a job working 25 hours a week, paid at the minimum wage, for six months.

The party hopes that four in five people would be kept on by employers in the job after six months.

It would be paid for using £1.9billion raised through a levy on bankers' bonuses, although the Tories claim it would cost £2.5billion.

There are 133,200 people aged 25 and over who have been claiming JSA for two years or more, and 30,000 people aged 18-24 have been on JSA for over a year

MPs will debate and vote on the proposal in a debate in the Commons today.

In a letter sent to Mr Cameron, seen by MailOnline, Miss Reeves calls on the government to back the idea.

She writes: 'Abandoning people to a lifetime on benefits is not only bad for individuals and their families, but bad for the economy, and bad for the taxpayer who foots the bill.

'With youth unemployment up over the past quarter, the need to tackle this issue and get people off benefits and into work is even more urgent.'

Abandoning people to a lifetime on benefits is not only bad for individuals and their families, but bad for the economy, and bad for the taxpayer who foots the bill

She tells Mr Cameron: 'It's time to put an end to your government's rules which allow jobseekers to spend a lifetime on benefits without being offered a day's paid work.'

She says the figures show that the number of over-25s on benefits for more than two years has risen by 224 per cent since 2010.

'By a one-off repeat of the tax on banker's bonuses and restricting pension tax relief on incomes over £150,000, the Government could fully fund a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee to ensure that anyone 25 and over receiving JSA for two years and over, and anyone under 25 who has been receiving JSA for over a year, would be offered a paid job that they will have to take or face losing benefits.

'This is a tough but fair contract, because as a country we simply cannot afford to continue wasting the potential of so many, leaving them stuck on benefits for years on end.'

But a Tory party source said: 'Labour's sums don't add up. They are proposing yet more unfunded spending, meaning more borrowing and more taxes to pay for it. And Labour's bank tax is a short-term political gimmick that they want to spend at least ten times over.

'It's the same old Labour. Ed Miliband has no economic plan. Labour would put the recovery at risk, put jobs at risk and hardworking people would pay the price with a less secure future.'

Tory leader David Cameron has promised to end jobless benefits for the under-21 as part of an ambition for full employment

Mr Cameron has set out a Tory ambition for 'full employment', claiming it means 'more of our fellow men and women with the security of a regular wage; it means you, your family and your children having a job and getting on in life'.

The Conservatives have committed to banning under-21s from claiming benefits, with requirement that they are 'earning or learning'.

'No longer will you have the option of leaving school and going straight into a life on benefits', Mr Cameron said last year.

In her letter to Mr Cameron, Ms Reeves says: 'You recently set out your aim for Britain to become a nation of 'full employment', but despite recent welcome falls in overall unemployment the number of people out of work (25 and over) and claiming benefits for over two years is 224 per cent higher than in 2010.