"We are facing an economic disaster and a moral failure"

In an opinion piece for The Times, Burnham argued that the government should invest in helping young Britons succeed rather than paying for failures through the welfare system, the BBC reports.

“Welfare should become a last-resort safety net, not the starting point,” Burnham wrote in an article published in this morning’s edition of The Times.

The government is expected to announce plans later this week to provide young people with thousands of job opportunities. However, the Conservative Party has described the government’s youth employment strategy as a “disaster”.

According to the latest figures from the UK Office for National Statistics, nearly one million people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training. Burnham said this reflects “a generation denied the chance to succeed in life.”

“This is an economic disaster and a moral failure, and it must change,” Burnham said.

He said the crisis had been exacerbated by two years of COVID-19 lockdowns, social media platforms that undermine “self-confidence and a sense of belonging,” an education system focused almost exclusively on university attendance, a labour market offering too few opportunities, and failures by previous governments.

“Today, the welfare system assesses people, processes their payments and then says goodbye. Too often, there is no further support, no offer of skills training and no opportunity to find a job.

“The social safety net will always be there for those who are unable to work. But if someone can work with the right support, the government has a duty to do everything in its power to make that possible,” Burnham said.