Benefits cuts are looming. And Labour MPs are already threatening to rebel

Résumé détaillé

Next week, the Labour Government will face a reckoning over how it plans to bring down the soaring benefits bill for young people. And even before Alan Milburn’s long-awaited…

Next week, the Labour Government will face a reckoning over how it plans to bring down the soaring benefits bill for young people. And even before Alan Milburn’s long-awaited report into youth worklessness is published, the prospect is making some Labour MPs jumpy.

The review – due as soon as next Tuesday – is likely to tell Andy Burnham he needs to find billions of pounds more to fund employment schemes to help the roughly one million young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) to secure jobs.

Countries such as the Netherlands or Denmark with better records on youth participation spend three or four times as much proportionally as the £3.7bn a year that Britain gives to employment support. That could mean the Prime Minister is asked to find many billions upfront as the price of bringing down the welfare bill in the long term.

Milburn’s report is likely to be wide-ranging, calling for earlier careers conversations in schools, with teachers helping pupils plan from the age of 14. It could also include a national framework to offer every young person a job, training place or apprenticeship with a condition that they engage with the support. Funding changes are likely too: combined authorities and councils, including those led by mayors, might get upfront Treasury funding to tackle local youth unemployment.

But while an even higher benefits bill – even if just for the short term, to encourage young people into work – is already causing conniptions among right-leaning voters, that’s not what is worrying some of the Labour MPs who rebelled against Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to bring down the cost last year.

For those erstwhile Labour rebels, two new red lines are emerging. One is about making the receipt of health-related and disability-related welfare benefits conditional on young people engaging with employment, training, or functional support. This raises the prospect of some young people having their benefits cut under sanctions if they refuse.

The…

“I’m…

O…

Début de l'article, extrait de i News. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.