The author of a Government-sanctioned report on youth unemployment has backed Sir Tony Blair’s criticism of policies he said made it harder for employers to hire young people.
Alan Milburn, who was health secretary under Sir Tony, also agreed with his former boss that “politics needs a plan”.
In a scathing attack on Labour’s policy agenda, the ex-prime minister accused Sir Keir Starmer’s Government of lacking a “coherent plan” and holding back business.
Sir Tony’s 5,700-word essay published earlier this week singled out measures including new workers’ rights laws and the above-inflation uplift to the minimum wage.
Mr Milburn on Thursday suggested ministers should reconsider these policies as he called for a “whole system reset” on education, welfare and health policy to get young people into work.
Asked whether the measures had made it difficult for business to create entry-level jobs, Mr Milburn told Times Radio: “Certainly every employer that we spoke to raised these issues as real concerns, the minimum wage.”
He said there was “no doubt that these changes have had an impact” in sectors including retail and hospitality.
“So that is something the Government really needs to think about.
“If the priority is to create young people’s jobs, then it’s got to create the right conditions for employers to do so.”
He argued reforming apprenticeships so more went to young people was a “priority” to avoid “a whole generation of young people thrown on the scrapheap”.
Mr Milburn also backed Sir Tony’s recommendation for Labour to “accept the offer” should the Conservatives suggest working together on welfare reform.
The Labour former Cabinet minister’s interim report, due to be published on Thursday, will warn one in six young people could be not in education, employment or training by 2031.
Sir Tony’s critique of Sir Keir’s Government came as the Prime Minister was under pressure in the wake of the local and devolved election mauling and as he faced a potential leadership challenge.
He argued ministers should rip up Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s net zero targets and reduce the welfare budget, which he said risked outpacing defence spending by the end of the decade.
Sir Tony, whose premiership spanned from 1997 to 2007, said if large increases in incapacity benefit along with the triple lock continued, “we’re going to create a situation where economically we’re not able to grow”.
When pressed on whether Sir Tony’s essay had been listened to, Mr Milburn told LBC Radio: “Sometimes you’ve got to repeat the message before its heard, and I think he’s right to say politics needs an agenda, politics needs a plan.
“What Tony didn’t say is that politics also needs a cause, this cause of the next generation, in my view, should be the cause for politics. Frankly, whether it’s a Labour Government, or any other government.”
Sir Tony’s essay has drawn criticism from within Labour circles, including from Sir Keir’s potential leadership challengers Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting.
Mr Burnham, who is widely expected to launch a bid for the top job if he wins next month’s Makerfield by-election, criticised the essay for not mentioning inequality.
The Greater Manchester mayor, who served in Sir Tony’s government, said the problem with Blairism was it “sometimes saw the market as always the answer”.
Mr Streeting took a similar view, with the Labour former minister arguing the “striking weakness at the heart of” the intervention was the lack of mention of inequality.
