Alastair Campbell launches youth wellbeing manifesto
Alastair Campbell has launched a manifesto calling for young people's wellbeing and mental health to be at the heart of policymaking, with six policy asks for parties to adopt.
How it was covered
- BBC Two was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on Campbell's six wellbeing policy asks and the cost and employment debate.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC One, Channel 4, GB News, ITV and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
BBC Two's Politics Live reported that Alastair Campbell was launching a manifesto calling for the wellbeing and mental health of young people to be put at the heart of policymaking. Campbell said the campaign was backed by former cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell and Richard Layard, and had a young team to take it forward. He said it contained six specific policy asks that the campaign wanted all parties to adopt at the next election.
BBC Two reported that Campbell argued young people face challenges earlier generations did not, including the cost of education, the climate crisis, cost-of-living issues and AI taking jobs. He said young people complain they never get replies to job applications.
BBC Two reported that one policy ask was to treat wellbeing as an explicit measured goal in schools, with data on how schools perform. Campbell said another was to make life skills a proper teaching skill rather than a nice-to-have add-on. He said teachers feel pressure from an exams and Ofsted focus and would welcome schools being about more than exams.
BBC Two reported that Campbell said Gus O'Donnell's costings were compelling and could save money over time. He said the plans needed upfront investment, including more spending on youth work and youth clubs after local authority cuts. He argued the public finances debate too often skews towards older voters, and said 16 and 17 year olds will vote at the next election.
BBC Two reported that Alan Milburn, who is reviewing young people not in education, employment or training, spoke at the launch. Campbell said he expected Milburn's review to contain radical proposals requiring upfront investment.
BBC Two reported that Craig Mackinlay said he probably agreed with Campbell for the first time. Mackinlay said Covid had been catastrophic for mental health issues and that in his day there were lots of Saturday jobs, which built discipline and teamwork. He also called the Employment Rights Act an absolute horror story for youth employment.
BBC Two reported that Nesil Caliskan said communities had suffered from 10 to 15 years of Conservative government cuts to services that support young people. She said the country cannot afford not to act.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Campbell said Alan Milburn's review is expected to propose radical changes requiring upfront investment. | |
| Campbell said the campaign has six policy asks for parties' next election manifestos, including treating wellbeing as a measured goal in schools. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The segment focused on Campbell's new manifesto and its six policy asks, especially measuring wellbeing in schools and making life skills a teaching skill. It pressed him on cost and whether the Treasury would fund upfront investment, and widened into NEETs and youth employment policy. The panel exchange included partial agreement from Craig Mackinlay on Covid's mental health impact and criticism of the Employment Rights Act.
- “I think what we want is for the wellbeing and mental health of young people to be at the heart of policymaking.”
- “we've got six specific policy asks that we want to try to get into all the manifestos of all the parties at the next election.”
- “COVID was catastrophic for mental health issues.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.