New UK budget: Burnham's first stress test

New budget in Great Britain Burnham's first stress test As of: 10/28/2026 • 10:03 a.m

With skillful communication, the new Prime Minister Burnham has so far been able to score points with the British. But now he has to show his colors. The first budget will show what the government wants to spend money on. There isn't much there.

When Andy Burnham stood in front of the black door of 10 Downing Street on July 20th and gave his inaugural speech without a lectern and without a manuscript, he promised the greatest restructuring of Great Britain in 40 years: more power for the regions, more public control over central areas of life after decades of privatization and, above all, a better life and more opportunities for the people in the country, especially for young Brits.

After a summer of successful communication, good poll numbers and high expectations, Burnham's Finance Minister John Healey now has to show when presenting his budget what Labor can actually afford - and how it will succeed.

The wish list is long: the international markets want stability, the people in the country want relief instead of tax increases given the long-standing high cost of living, and Great Britain must invest more in armaments and defense in order to fulfill its NATO obligations.

Healey probably knows better than anyone how difficult this is. He was defense minister under Burnham's predecessor Keir Starmer and resigned because he was not satisfied with defense spending - which contributed significantly to Starmer's downfall at the hands of Burnham. Now Healey, as finance minister, has to find the money himself.

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The scope for this is limited: high interest costs and rising energy prices are putting a strain on government finances. Burnham has also announced that he will continue to stick to the 2024 election program with which Labor won an absolute majority around two years ago. Increases in income tax, social security contributions or VAT are therefore virtually impossible and would probably be poorly received by most Brits.

Hovering ominously above all these economic policy calculations and considerations is another figure that particularly worries the Labor government and now the entire country - as a social and economic problem. Almost a million young Brits aged between 16 and 24 have neither a job nor an apprenticeship. That's 13 percent, almost one in eight people in this age group - figures that are well above the European average.

They, Prime Minister Burnham and Finance Minister Healey, appear calm as they chat on the sofa. But the comfort is likely to be over with the introduction of the new household.

The reasons are varied: fewer entry-level jobs, especially in the difficult overall economic situation, the lack of a structured training system, but also a high level of health, especially psychological, problems among young people.

At Labor's party conference in September, Prime Minister Burnham blamed the Conservatives' austerity policies: During their 14 years in power, they had slashed youth services and made access to psychological support for children and young people significantly more difficult. He also held out the prospect of a structured training system based on the German model, but many details are still unclear.

More than a year ago, the Starmer government commissioned a comprehensive investigation report led by former Labor health minister Alan Milburn. The report with reform recommendations should only be published after the budget.

An interim report by Milburn published in the summer puts the annual costs of youth unemployment at almost 150 billion euros per year, on the one hand because of lost tax revenue, but also because of the costs of social benefits.

“The decoupling of young people from the labor market and education is increasingly becoming a strategic economic risk for Great Britain,” says the interim report. "We cannot complain about labor shortages, low growth, rising social spending and pressure on public services while allowing the potential of almost a million young people to remain untapped."

According to official government figures, more than half of these people have now even stopped actively looking for work or training.

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It is already becoming apparent: Milburn wants to recommend that the government make it more difficult for young people to access social benefits. The country wants and needs to create incentives so that they can get out of unemployment and free themselves from this "elephant trap," said Milburn in an interview with The Times newspaper.

NEET is the somewhat awkward acronym used in the UK to describe this crisis. It stands for: “Not in Education, Employment or Training.” British politicians and national media talk about NEETs when they talk about young people who are unemployed.

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Rushid Afzali, 19 years old from Liverpool in northern England, hates this label. "It stigmatizes an entire generation, as if we don't try, as if everyone has themselves to blame. But that's not true," he says. "Many younger people don't get any opportunities or support, that's unfair."

He also had great problems finding a job after school. He now works for the organization Be Free, which looks after the mental health of young people and supports them in their job search, for example with mentoring. Rushid sees a systematic failure of politics, society and the labor market.

Rushid has also been supporting Liam, also 19, for a few weeks now. Since he finished school three years ago, he has written around 600 applications, so far without success. His dream job is to become a firefighter. "Not finding anything gets you down. You start to doubt yourself and wonder if you're the problem," says Liam, who still lives with his parents.

Many of his friends feel the same way. “Actually, only those whose parents know someone found something,” says Liam. His father, who works as a bricklayer, has not been able to help him find a job. Unlike many other young people without a job or training place, Liam has not yet applied for social benefits. The fact that he has now found Rushid and the Be Free organization gives him new hope.

Liam is also quite happy with Burnham's first few months as the new Prime Minister. “I often see videos of him on Instagram and Tiktok and like me he comes from the north of England,” he says and then adds: “But now he has to help us young Brits.”

This topic in the program: NDR Info | News | Oct 28, 2026 | 05:15 am