Minister of State for Shura Council and Parliament Affairs Abdulaziz Al Fadhel asked parliament to postpone the vote until next week for further review.

However, he was cut short by parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani, who said that when parliament agrees to discuss the issue then the government has no right to postpone. Parliament’s services committee vice-chairman Dr Abdali Hassan claimed that there were 1,200 unemployed graduates.

"Some have been unemployed for five years or more and this is very disturbing, because they have no future, despite promises," he said.

"The government should be helping us solve this problem rather than slow us down."

Parliament’s legislative and legal affairs committee vice-chairman Shaikh Jassim Al Saeedi said that the allowance was not enough, but better than nothing.

"Many families have sold their land and other belongings to educate their children and now their children don’t have jobs to support them.

"This why many around the age of 25 sit near the cold stores, smoking cigarettes and thinking about their bleak future." Al Wefaq’s MP Shaikh Hamza Al Dairy said that the government employment projects were not a success.

"There are a lot of money being spent on institutes to train Bahrainis, but yet no one has graduated," he said.

"To be frank, most of the unemployed want to be teachers and had applied five years ago when the Education Ministry promised them jobs within a month, but the time has passed and nothing has been done."

MPs agreed to vote for the proposal instead it of referring it to the relevant committee for further review.