LIVERPOOL, England — Chancellor John Healey doesn’t have the cash to scrap employer national insurance contributions for young people, the U.K. government’s youth employment adviser Alan Milburn said Tuesday. Speaking in the POLITICO pub at the Labour Party conference, the former Cabinet minister rejected a call from MPs on parliament’s work and pensions committee to cut employer national insurance contributions for under 25s in a bid to tackle mass youth unemployment. Milburn — who published a report in May warning the number of young people not in work or education could hit 1.25 million by the early 2030s without urgent action — is currently drawing up recommendations for ministers to address the crisis.
The former health secretary — who was chair of the Social Mobility Commission between 2012 and 2017 — also warned that young people from working class backgrounds face greater barriers to opportunity today. Reflecting on his own journey from growing up on a council estate to sitting around the Cabinet table, Milburn said he has reached the “pretty depressing conclusion” that it seems “less likely rather than more likely” to happen today.
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