Andy Burnham should expand Labour’s guarantee of jobs for the young unemployed and then block them from benefits if they fail to take up these opportunities, an influential union chief has said.
But the Prime Minister was also warned not to backtrack on Labour’s manifesto pledge to increase the minimum wage for 18- to 20-year-olds in line with the adult rate by 2029, amid growing suggestions it could be slowed down to tackle youth unemployment.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), also rejected suggestions that people’s eligibility to claim benefits such as universal credit or the personal independence payment (PIP) should be restricted to bring the welfare bill down.
He told The i Paper that “arbitrary cuts” would face “fierce resistance” from Labour MPs, who already forced Burnham’s predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, to U-turn on plans to trim the welfare bill.
Speaking ahead of the TUC’s annual conference, which starts on Sunday, he said: “It’s really important the Government doesn’t repeat the mistakes that it went down with the last attempt to reform PIP and some of those benefits, where you just make arbitrary cost savings without thinking about the real impact on people, their ability to go out to work, the support that you need to to give them.
