‘There’s nothing kind and compassionate about continuing to hand out money to a young person.’
What should we do about the nearly one million young people not in education, employment or training?
The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately joined me on The Capitalist on the day the Conservatives unveiled their answer: a ‘Get to Work’ plan that would require under-25s claiming benefits to join an intensive programme from day one, or lose their payments.
We discussed the case for taking family finances into account when young people claim, as well as the party’s separate proposal for a prepaid benefits card for the long-term unemployed that would block spending on alcohol, tobacco and gambling. She also explained why she still sees Margaret Thatcher, not the 1970s Andy Burnham looks back to, as the model for a Conservative government.
Below, you’ll find some short excerpts from our conversation.
Marc Sidwell
Editor, CapX
Burnham’s 1970s socialism:
‘We all knew that Andy Burnham was a traditional, full-on left-wing Labour guy. But he went even further than I had expected in terms of how determined and passionate he is about taking us back to the 1970s. He really believes in full-throttle socialism. He really believes that the way forward is public ownership, bigger government, bigger state, unions, regulation. He talks about that as being the way to growth. As a Conservative, I find that extraordinary. And I don’t think the country buys into it. I’m sure Labour members will love it, and many – though not all – of his backbench MPs. But I think the country is more realistic than that.’
Labour’s lack of action on welfare:
‘We’ve got a very strange thing going on, where you get the odd quote saying they recognise there’s a problem with welfare – and then they do absolutely nothing. Andy Burnham is saying he’s going to introduce free social care, a massive spending commitment, with absolutely no plans for how he’s going to make savings from welfare and no plan for how they’re going to fund defence. That’s so extraordinary given that John Healey resigned as Defence Secretary officially on the grounds that he wasn’t happy with Keir Starmer’s commitment and the funding for defence. Now he’s actually got the power to find the money. He’s not finding it.’
Get to Work:
‘What we’re seeing is young people coming out of school, going straight onto benefits and being left there – sitting at home, maybe firing off some applications, maybe not, but not making any progress. And we’re saying that is not OK. Not for people so young, when they should be starting off in work and earning their first pay cheque. So under us, this would change. If you’re aged 18 to 24 and you haven’t been able to hold down a job, when you turn up and say you want to claim benefits, we’re going to say you have to sign on to our Get to Work programme. That’s going to be really intensive support – training, work readiness, support through applications and interviews. By participating, young people are able to claim a Get to Work allowance. But if they don’t show up, they won’t get those benefits. A really simple principle: you won’t be able to sit at home and just get the money.’
A sticking-plaster approach:
‘There are 300,000 fewer jobs under Labour, and those have particularly been in areas like hospitality, where young people often get their first chance of work. So very practically, they’ve been destroying job opportunities. Young people tell me what they really want is a real job, not just a placement. Labour are taking the money out one side and trying to put a little bit back in on the other. It’s a sticking-plaster approach to the problem. Our policy is different. From day one, we’re going to have different expectations of you. We’re not going to let you sit there and get used to claiming benefits.’
It’s not their money:
‘This is taxpayers’ hard-earned money, going to people who could be working but are not working. There is work out there. I accept that it’s harder now than it was, but there is work out there. And there are many taxpayers who are paying their taxes while they’re really struggling to pay the bills, denying themselves luxuries – or what many people would consider everyday essentials. We owe it to the taxpayer to make sure their money is looked after.’
Flowers, flares and the IMF:
‘I was a child in the 1970s. But one of the things I find extraordinary about Andy Burnham is that he’s making out the 1970s was some great era we want to return to. It was an era of strikes. It was an era of blackouts. OK, the flowers and the flares might have been great, but the economy was in a pretty bad way, and another Chancellor with the surname Healey went cap in hand to the IMF. And who turned our country around from that period? Margaret Thatcher did.’
Different choices:
‘Politics is about choices. The choice that Andy Burnham set out is that he puts social security before national security. His priority is free social care. Our choices are different. Our choices are about the economy and having a strong country.’
