Healey defends benefit sanctions for unemployed young people who refuse work or training
John Healey has defended benefit sanctions for unemployed young people, saying those who refuse jobs or training should lose welfare support as part of a New Deal-style system.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
John Healey has defended the principle that unemployed young people can lose welfare support if they refuse to take up opportunities such as apprenticeships or training. In a wide-ranging broadcast interview, he said there was both an economic must and a moral duty to tackle the nearly one million people who are not in education, employment or training.
He dismissed the idea that young people could stay on benefit without conditions. Asked whether those who do not take up apprenticeships would face sanctions, he pointed to Labour's New Deal for Young People under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as a successful model that offered a future rather than writing people off on welfare. He said he did not want to write off this generation as he said the last Conservative government did. He added that he saw hope and potential in young people, not despair, and wanted to turn generation jeopardy into generation hope.
He also said Alan Milburn's review had yet to report and would set out recommendations covering the range of issues needed for a new system. He was asked whether Labour MPs who had effectively blocked Rachel Reeves' welfare reforms would rebel again. He said there was a strong Labour case and a strong moral case, as well as an economic must, to deal with wasted potential, wasted opportunity and thwarted ambition.
On the economy, Healey said Britain was harder today because of global shocks including conflict in the Middle East, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, trade tensions, rising oil and diesel prices and higher interest rates. He said fiscal discipline would underpin every government promise and that the UK was rebuilding international confidence after the Truss mini-budget. He declined to be drawn on tax rises before the 28 October budget, but said he wanted a breathing space budget that recognised business costs and living costs while backing British business and growth.
He was also asked about Heathrow expansion. He said a consultation was under way and no planning application was in play, but there was a strong economic case for airport expansion and Heathrow needed to be settled one way or the other. Healey used a miner's lamp from Cortonwood Colliery, where the 1984 miners' strike began, in his conference speech. He said the miners carried the lamp for colleagues and future generations, and that the government's job now was to light the way, offer hope and generate new jobs in coal mining communities.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | ITV |
|---|---|
| John Healey confirmed that young people who refuse opportunities such as apprenticeships could lose some welfare entitlement, following Labour's New Deal for Young People model. | |
| John Healey said Alan Milburn has yet to report and will set out recommendations for a new welfare system. | |
| John Healey said nearly a million young people are not in education, training or employment, calling it an economic must and a moral duty to address. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The interview focused on welfare conditionality for young people, with repeated pressure on whether benefit entitlements would be withdrawn if apprenticeships or training were refused. It also widened into Labour internal politics, the fiscal backdrop, tax speculation and Heathrow expansion, with the miner's lamp used as a symbolic close.
- “there's an economic must to dealing with nearly a million youngsters that aren't in education or in training or in employment. But there's a moral duty”
- “I do not want to write off, as the last Conservative government did, this generation of young people.”
- “When I do the budget, I will be looking to do a breathing space budget”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.