Sir Keir Starmer has declared Britain “simply isn’t working” as he unveiled plans to bring more people into work and slash the country’s spiralling benefits bill.
The prime minister is planning to replace the network of Jobcentres with a new National Jobs and Careers Service, while more NHS staff will be sent to areas with higher rates of joblessness.
Young people will be offered additional employment and training opportunities, including with the Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel Four, while extra powers will be handed to mayors to develop their own employment plans.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will announce the plans on Tuesday as part of wide-ranging reforms designed to tackle economic inactivity and deliver the Government’s promise to bring more than two million people back into work.
She said: “To get Britain growing, we need to get Britain working again. Our reforms will break down barriers to opportunity, help people to get into work and on at work, allow local leaders to boost jobs and growth, and give our children and young people the best opportunities to get on in life.
08:35 , Joe Middleton
Employment minister Alison McGovern has said that post-pandemic recovery in employment numbers “didn’t happen in Britain”.
She told Times Radio that a “one-size fits all” approach to the issue will not help because “problems are so different depending on where you live”.
Ms McGovern told the station: “If you look at those international statistics, what you see is that post-pandemic almost all of the countries around the world except us recovered in employment terms. The employment rate did increase, people did go back to work.
“That didn’t happen in Britain, something is different, and the level of sickness that we’re experiencing as a country is really high.”
She also said there are other issues such as “really bad” waiting lists in the NHS and “long-term differences in our economy depending on where you live”.
“Some places in our country just have significantly higher rates of inactivity and unemployment, and that’s why we know that we need to change the system, because one size fits all won’t help our country when our problems are so different, depending on where you live,” she added.
08:30 , Joe Middleton
Employment minister Alison McGovern declined to put a figure on how much the government will reduce the welfare bill by.
Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday morning, she said that “I’m not going to put a figure on it”.
She added: “Today we’re publishing the framework for reforms in this White Paper, we now need to do a lot of work to bring forward those reforms.”
07:59 , Tom Barnes
Good morning and welcome to our live politics coverage for Tuesday November 26.
Keir Starmer has declared Britain “simply isn’t working” as he unveiled plans to bring more people into work and slash the country’s spiralling benefits bill.
The prime minister is planning to replace the network of Jobcentres with a new National Jobs and Careers Service, while more NHS staff will be sent to areas with higher rates of joblessness.
Young people will be offered additional employment and training opportunities, including with the Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel Four, while extra powers will be handed to mayors to develop their own employment plans.
The reforms, to be unveiled by work and pensions sectretary Liz Kendall today, will also see an expansion of mental health support and efforts to tackle obesity.
You can read our full story on what measures are set to be announced here:
Starmer says Britain ‘simply isn’t working’ and unveils plan to slash benefits bill
