Youth Unemployment

Andrew Lewin Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Lewin (Welwyn Hatfield) (Lab)]

I am pleased to have an opportunity to talk about young people, how we invest in their future, extend opportunities and do all in our power to leave nobody behind, but in order to have a serious debate about the prospects of young people in work, we need to look back at the unique set of circumstances that people in their late teens and early 20s have faced growing up. They are the first generation to grow up in Brexit Britain. They had no say in the decision to leave and to devastate the trading relationship with our single largest trading partner. Their opportunities to work, study and travel in the EU were taken away by the Conservative party at great cost to them and to the economy.

This is a cohort of young people who were teenagers during the pandemic, patiently abiding by lockdown to protect their families, but with months, if not years, outside of the classroom. To be clear, I supported the public health measures, but the chaotic way that school closures were overseen was indefensible. The most fateful days were 4 and 5 January 2021. On 4 January, these young people were marched back into school, and on 5 January, they were sent home again—here today and gone tomorrow, much like the Conservative MPs that we have seen defecting to Reform.

Brexit, the chaotic Conservative management of the pandemic and Liz Truss blowing up the economy: that was the legacy left for young people by the previous Government. This Government are resolved to turning that around, and we understand that good prospects for young people must start with a strong economic foundation.

Since Labour came to office, the Bank of England has made the decision to cut interest rates six times. GDP growth last year was ahead of forecasts, and there are 500,000 more people in the labour market today than there were in July 2024. There are good reasons to be positive about the economy in 2026, but I absolutely recognise that we cannot be complacent. I know how difficult it can be for young people. Yes, that is because of the Conservative inheritance, but it is also because of the structural changes we are seeing: there can be intense competition for entry-level jobs; there is anxiety about the impact of artificial intelligence; and there are still too many people in insecure work.

If a strong economy is the first pillar of success, the second is to have a Government who are willing to intervene to help young people. This comes through investment in skills, access to training and, where needed, support so that young people can be placed in their first role. It is vital to invest in further education and higher education. In the community I represent, I am proud that Welwyn Garden City is home to Oaklands college and that Hatfield is home to the University of Hertfordshire. Our ambition should be for at least two thirds of young people to go to college, start an apprenticeship or attend university, and across Welwyn Hatfield I believe that that number could be higher still.

The vast majority of young people still move quickly into work after education, but the jobs guarantee is a serious intervention to provide some people with the additional support that they need. The offer from the Government is clear: if a person is aged 18 to 21, is in receipt of universal credit and has been searching for work for 18 months or more, they will be offered paid employment for six months. The full scheme will cost the Government £820 million, but this is an active choice we are making to invest in young people, and it is a down payment on their future success.

It is also right that we passed the Employment Rights Act 2025. Thanks to the actions of this Labour Government, this generation of young people will no longer have to endure exploitative zero-hours contracts and will have the right to guaranteed shifts. They will also have day one rights to paternity leave, and no longer will people be excluded from statutory sick pay because their pay is too low.

The last Conservative Government were not prepared to intervene to support young people. The Conservatives and their friends in Reform voted against stronger rights at work for young people, and the Liberal Democrats bravely abstained. Only Labour understands that for young people to succeed we need a strong economy, continued investment in education and a willingness to intervene when the market alone does not provide the right opportunities. Young people backed Labour at the last election, and with the Employment Rights Act, the jobs guarantee and a rise in the living wage, we are backing them to succeed in the economy that we are turning around.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Western]

I certainly would. I also note that the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Dame Harriett Baldwin), having complained about the increase in the minimum wage in her closing contribution, failed to say what level the Conservative party think it is acceptable to reset that at. I personally could not look young people in the eye and justify such a cut to their wages, but the Conservatives seem happy to do so.

The shadow Minister also pointed to the lack of a plan of action, but that was set out comprehensively by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment, underpinned by the £1.5 billion for the youth guarantee and growth and skills levy funding increase, but not limited to those interventions alone. The attacks on the national minimum wage increase are frankly a smokescreen for a party whose policies targeted young people for 14 years and would very clearly continue to do so now.

I cannot resist remarking that I thought it more likely for the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) to be in the young person category than in the 40-plus category. I note that he has had a change of employment status, because he was on the Front Bench on Monday but has returned to his previous position in the Parliamentary Private Secretary pigeonhole—there is a thriving labour market on the Conservative Benches, if nowhere else. He pointed to youth unemployment rising, homeownership falling and NEETs being on the up. That is a brave take given that every single one of those facts was true in July 2024. He then asked—again, this is daring, but I know that he is daring if nothing else—what that had done to the voting intentions of young people in relation to the Labour party. If I were a Conservative Member of this place—I have no intention of being one, and I do not know how much longer he intends to be one—I would not point to any other party’s polling among 18 to 24-year olds, because theirs is truly dire given the appalling legacy that they left behind.

[Andrew Lewin]

Speaking of daring, the Leader of the Opposition said today that the Conservatives do not want any more centrist ideas. What does the Minister make of that and their future with young people?

[Andrew Western]

If that is the position of the Leader of the Opposition, Conservative Members may need to find a new home other than Reform—[Interruption.] I am not sure where that comment came from, but I think it might have been my hon. Friend the Member for Bury South (Christian Wakeford), who knows a little about political journeys and will allow me to leave it there.

I, too, am concerned about the spiralling welfare bill and the rise in youth unemployment, about which we have heard a lot today, but the shadow Minister refused to set out what the Conservatives would do. If that is the best that they can offer on one of the few days a year on which they have control of the Order Paper—no idea, no clue and no plan beyond highlighting multiple problems in our society, which we inherited directly from them, as the facts show—I think they will have rather more Opposition days before they come back to the Government side of the House.

Question put (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the original words stand part of the Question.