Carpetright chief executive, Lord Harris of Peckham, has called on the Government to do more to provide jobs for young people following the London riots.

Harris, whose Carpetright shop in Tottenham was destroyed on Saturday, said part of the cause for the violent scenes in London had been caused by youth unemployment.

He told The Telegraph: “If you get someone working, they are less trouble. When you get a lot of children, and these were mostly children, who have nothing to do, who can’t find jobs, their only way of living is probably thieving and getting money off [benefits].”

He said of the Government: “I hope they will try, after this, to do more to help young people of this country. I’m trying to do it by giving them a better education and I only hope that the Government actually find jobs available for these people.”

Lord Harris has been one of the biggest supporters of city academies and one of the first businessmen to give financial backing to Prime Minister David Cameron.

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