‘We need a Prime Minister with courage’ – Andy Burnham challenged to take ‘tough love’ approach to rescue young people from life on benefits
The scenes of unrest in France have stirred fears of similar scenes in the UK (Image: Getty)
Turmoil in France is a warning to Britain that we ignore the “youth jobs crisis” in this country at our peril, according to a key lieutenant of Kemi Badenoch. Helen Whately is fighting for an “emergency package” to get young people who are in danger of a life on benefits into the workforce. The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary fears Andy Burnham will not embrace welfare reform because he does not want to anger Labour backbenchers and bring his honeymoon crashing to an end. But she points at the unrest across the Channel as proof that Britain must not allow a social disaster to deepen.
“Looking over at France and those riots, if you have hundreds of thousands of young people who are losing hope, they’re going to get angry,” she said. “We don’t want that to happen. We’ve got to make sure that young people have hope, and can see that we’re a country that’s got a Government that’s on their side.”
In the three months to August, there were 715,000 young people aged 16 to 24 who were unemployed – 54,000 more than the previous year. And in the three months to June, 981,000 people in this age group were not in employment, education or training. Ms Whately describes this as a “disaster for the country” and the economy “but most crucially for those young people”.
Former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn is due to publish long-awaited recommendations for getting young people into work after the Budget. But Ms Whately suspects Labour will see another injection of taxpayers’ cash as the solution while she believes a tax cut for employers would make a huge difference to youngsters’ chances of getting a job.
The Conservatives want to halve employers’ National insurance for 21-24-year-olds. This tax was increased by Rachel Reeves shortly after arrived in power in what was seen by many as a manifesto breach. Arguing that this tax raid had a destructive impact on jobs, Ms Whately said: “It’s a crisis of their making. If you talk to businesses, they will tell you why they’re hiring fewer young people because of the jobs tax and the Employment Rights Act.”
Helen Whately promises ‘tough love’ to get youths off welfare and into work (Image: Humphrey Nemar)
Young people, she said, are “hit the hardest by this government”. She described how people in their 20s are “stuck at home” in a “spiral of misery” as they repeatedly apply for jobs.
“Right now you can clearly look over at France and see what happens when a generation of young people don’t see that there’s anything to hope for,” she said.
She promises a Conservative Government would show “tough love” in getting people off benefits and into employment. Under the Get to Work programme, 18-24-year-olds who lack a strong work record would be forced to attend a job centre, take part in a work readiness course or go on work experience as a condition of receiving financial support. As she puts it: “No show, no welfare.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s authority was shredded last year when he failed to get his own MPs to back his welfare reform plans, and she doubts the new prime minister has the stomach for a fight with his party.
Ms Whately, who worked for the McKinsey & Company management consultancy before entering politics, said: “Look, Andy wants to be liked… The public at large know that the welfare system is broken, and it’s not fair, and we can’t afford it, but Labour backbenchers for the most part can’t see that, and Andy Burnham wants to be popular with them. Therefore, there’s no sign of courage from him on welfare.”
Claiming he “wants to keep his honeymoon going”, she said: “We’re in serious, serious times… Businesses are desperate, because it’s so hard to make the sums add up. They’re being so cautious. It’s so hard to grow and build a business at the moment. That means fewer jobs, that means less prosperity. We have to turn this around sooner rather than later. We need a Prime Minister with courage.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “The Conservatives oversaw a shameful 250,000 rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training in the three years before the last election. We are investing £2.5billion in Youth Guarantee opportunities including subsidised work, tackling flaws in the Universal Credit system which saw too many young people written off on sickness benefits, and further reforms will follow Alan Milburn’s review.”