War declared on Neets as Labour slashes welfare

Young people face benefit cuts with ministers preparing to move thousands onto lower payments amid a growing row over youth unemployment, poverty and the future of support for under-25s

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He urged left MPs to view the changes as a “different proposition” to last year when the government abandoned planned welfare cuts in the face of rebellion.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show ahead of the publication of a major review aimed at tackling the rise in youth unemployment tomorrow, he said: “There will be people in the future who will not get what they would get today.

“When people come up for reassessment, they go on to a new system but, as I say, people are reassessed today under the current system.”

He declined to say whether the overall working-age benefits bill would be lower by the next election.

Amid questions about whether the government will be able to win the backing of its MPs over any changes it adopts, he told Sky News’ Sunday Morning show: “It’s a different proposition from last year, and I hope that Parliament views it in that light.”

Alan Milburn’s review of the so-called Neets — under-25s not in employment, education or training — is expected to recommend radical changes to reduce welfare dependency.

The former Labour minister has said some young people will receive less financial support under his proposals, which include moving them off some health-related benefits and onto a new “youth allowance” paid at the standard rate of universal credit.

Today he was asked what his response was to people who argue he could be much tougher after he admitted it would take 10 years to implement his plan on the BBC show.

He said: “I say that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

“If you are going to will the ends, you’ve got to will the means. I don’t think there’s a single person in this country who believes that it’s tolerable to have one million young people aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training.”

He added that it would take 10 years to get to a “reasonable level” of Neets, arguing that moving faster or tougher would merely result in “crude cuts” that see young people showing up elsewhere in the government ledger.

Unions welcomed plans for a jobs guarantee for young people but called today for targeted measures within further education that don’t come with cuts to other public services.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Make no mistake — a permanent legal right to a job or training would be a game-changer for young people.”

But on the coverage on the scale of support set to be recommended, including for further education, he added: “The number of young people stuck out of education, work or training is a national emergency.

“Milburn is right to say that the government response will require significant funding and support, including for further education. 

“In further education, funding needs to be targeted at the workforce, as well as provision, to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis and massive pay disparities in the sector. 

“But new support should not come at the expense of wider public services. A zero-sum approach would be wrong and counterproductive.”

Green MP Sian Berry, who is co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for poverty and inequality, accused the government of “not listening to young people about what is really stacked against their prospects.”

She added: “It is appalling that even after listening to all the evidence” that Mr Milburn has proposed continuing the policy of a smaller minimum wage for young workers.

“The system is so cruel right now to young people from the poorest families, from minoritised backgrounds and without parents to support them,” she said.

“Conditions based on so-called ‘effort,’ or cuts based on age as is being proposed, carry a real risk of discrimination and compounding these deep inequalities. 

“Meanwhile my local further education colleges, youth services and universities are all still being squeezed horribly by continued government austerity.”

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