Milburn Review: Interim Report

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Helen Whately]

I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for granting the urgent question. It is a shame that the Minister had to be dragged here. Last week, the Secretary of State was only too eager to talk about this report on the telly. Where is he today? Why so quiet now? I think we all know.

The Secretary of State has been caught out telling the devastating truth about Labour MPs:

“who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others”?

That is what Labour MPs really think, and that is what the Government have done. They have put up people’s taxes, spent more on benefits and left hard-working people with less to live off.

Once again, Labour’s shenanigans are getting in the way of something we really should be talking about. Every morning, a million young people wake up in Britain with nothing to do and nowhere to go. This is a disaster for our country, our economy and, worst of all, for all those young people: Labour’s lost generation. The Minister said that it started under us—yes, the numbers did start going up from the pandemic, so this was not a surprise for Ministers—yet here we are after almost two years of Labour in office and it still has no plan. All it has done is make the situation worse, and of course commission this big report.

I welcome Alan Milburn’s contribution—it is a serious analysis—but Milburn himself says it is just a diagnosis; there are no solutions, actual answers or policies. In fact, he even tells us that the things the Government have been doing—their “piecemeal” programmes—are not going to work. He also says that after six months of inactivity, young people are far less likely ever to work. This is urgent, but where is Labour’s urgency?

This is not the first time Labour has let down young people: the number of NEETs soared to 17% after Labour’s last stint in government. The Conservatives turned that around to less than 10% in 2019. Of course, covid undermined that progress, but the Labour Government have turned a post-pandemic problem into a crisis by taxing jobs, tying up businesses in red tape, making it riskier and more expensive to hire a young person, and destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs in retail and hospitality. Like many young people, one of my first jobs was working in a local pub, but Labour has pulled the plug on that opportunity for this generation.

Whenever we do get to hear Labour’s plans, we know what they will be: spending more money and taxing people more to pay for it. That is the wrong answer. The answer is jobs, to back businesses, to cut taxes, to get rid of red tape, to get government out of the way and to reform welfare—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. You get two minutes. [Interruption.] Yes, it is two minutes, and it has always been two minutes. I have not changed the rules. When I grant an urgent question, please stick within the rules. That helps me, because we have said that we will try to adhere to that.

[Andrew Western]

That was a predictable set of questions from the hon. Lady, who has the audacity to label the NEETs of this country “Labour’s lost generation” when the number of NEETs increased by 250,000 in the Conservatives’ last few years in office. She tells us that there were no solutions in this report—that is hardly a surprise for anybody paying attention, given that it is an interim report, with further recommendations to follow.

The hon. Lady mentioned national insurance contributions. What does Alan Milburn actually say in his report? Let me direct the House’s attention to paragraph 268, which says

“the UK’s NEET crisis is much more long-term and deep-seated than any decisions taken in the last few years.”

Specifically on NICs, paragraph 266 says,

“it is worth remembering that those under 21 remain exempt from employer NICs and, as the review has already highlighted, the increase in youth inactivity long precedes any recent changes”. [Interruption.]

The hon. Lady chirps that I am in denial—this is the Conservatives’ record, their problem, and a mess that we will solve.

On that very point, there was no explanation—[Interruption.]

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[Mr Speaker]

Order. Please, the urgent question has been granted, and I do not need Opposition Front Benchers thinking that they can shout the Minister down.

[Andrew Western]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Of course, there was no explanation or apology from the hon. Lady for the fact that her party left almost 1 million young people not in education, employment or training. That was a predictable omission, but an unacceptable one none the less, because discussing the rise in NEETs in recent years without discussing the actions of the past Conservative Government is rather like staging “Hamlet” without the Prince of Denmark.

On the Secretary of State’s comments, what he has said has been the same ever since he was appointed. He has said that we have to change the question and the system from “What benefits are you entitled to?” to “How do we help you change your life?” That is what matters and it is exactly what this Government are doing: fixing the broken welfare system that we inherited from the Conservative party, rebalancing universal credit, implementing right to try, tackling the Conservatives’ backlog on access to work, and, of course, providing our £2.5 billion investment in the youth guarantee. That is the welfare reform that this Government are delivering, with opportunity and work, especially for young people, at its heart, and the guarantee of a safety net for those who need it.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

I welcome Alan Milburn’s report. The Select Committee is in the concluding stages of its own youth employment, education and training inquiry. We take account particularly of the drivers, and the Minister is right. As the millennium cohort study has shown, more than half of NEETs have experienced adverse and persistent child poverty and family adversity over the last 15 years, which has contributed to the current level. I really think that the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately), should recognise that and apologise.

Is the Minister as concerned as me that we must not forget that, in addition to young people, hundreds of thousands of disabled people have had a lack of opportunity, and they have not had the profile that our young people are getting? They also need to be considered alongside young people, particularly in relation to employment support.

[Andrew Western]

I thank my hon. Friend not just for her question but for the work that the Select Committee has done on its inquiry. Indeed, I know that Alan Milburn was before her Committee recently, speaking to the work that he is doing. She is absolutely right to call for a focus on disabled people too. Our Connect to Work agenda provides significant support. There is, of course, always more that we can do, but on this—as with those not in employment, education or training aged 16 to 24—we are determined to act, we have a programme to do so, and we take this extremely seriously.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We need to speed up if we are going to get a lot of these Members in. Emma Lewell will be a good example.

[Emma Lewell (South Shields) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker—I will do my best.

I have listened carefully to my hon. Friend’s responses, but youth unemployment in South Shields continues to be higher than the national average. Hospitality is the absolute lifeblood of my small tourist town, and it typically employs our younger constituents. The local industry is telling me clearly that a perfect storm of taxes and now the impending tourist tax is directly impacting its ability to stay afloat, let alone employ staff—

[Mr Speaker]

You’ve failed.

[Emma Lewell]

Please will my hon. Friend look at and speak to his colleagues about a VAT cut for the sector?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Please help me to get your colleagues in, because we are really struggling for time.

[Andrew Western]

The hon. Lady will be aware that business rates are a question for the Treasury, but we are looking at a range of interventions through the youth guarantee and other interventions that I have already outlined that will help to provide more opportunities for young people, including in work experience, in first jobs and in training and apprenticeships.

[Chris Webb (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

The reality is that a generation was lost and forgotten about under the previous Government, with NEETs increasing by 40% in Blackpool. Now, 3,000 young people are not in education, training or employment—double the national average and among the highest. Despite local initiatives, such as the Platform and the job fairs that I put on with the DWP, there is a lack of opportunity. If the Minister agrees that geography still shapes destiny, can he set out—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call the Minister.

[Andrew Western]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the work he does through jobs fairs and so on, and I suggest that we meet to discuss it further.

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[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I was disappointed earlier to hear the condition of anxiety being downplayed, and we must accept that it can be absolutely debilitating. To solve the problems presented in the Milburn report, we will have to break down silos within Government, and work with the devolved Governments. I would be grateful if the Minister could outline his approach to doing that. Also, there is a tendency—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think the Minister has the question to answer.

[Andrew Western]

As I said in response to an earlier question about conversations with the Welsh Government, I am due to meet my Scottish counterpart next week. Such conversations take place regularly and routinely, and we will ensure that there is a joined-up approach so that everybody across these isles can benefit from the changes.