The kids (and young adults) aren’t alright: Alan Milburn speaks about the publication of the eponymous Milburn Report on Young People and Work © PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Et tu, Tony? Keir Starmer’s beleaguered premiership took another blow this week, although not in the form of a ministerial walkout or a remonstrance by disgruntled backbenchers. Instead, former Prime Minister Tony Blair thrust himself back into the spotlight with an attack on both the PM and those vying to replace him. The crux of his argument was simple: it is policy, not politics, that is needed to fix both the country and his party. For Blair, questions over Starmer’s charisma and communication style, or how well he lives up to ‘Labour values’ are not simply, as his allies would have it, distractions from the job of governing, but rather secondary to the lack of ‘an idea, a project, a governing purpose, an analysis of what is wrong and a plan to put it right.’ In short, he argued that the Government didn’t have a ‘coherent plan for the country’. Ouch. Blair also hit out at Andy Burnham, warning that he had overlooked the successes of New Labour (and Margaret Thatcher) in his attacks on “40 years of neoliberalism.” Beginning a round of rebuttals, Starmer put forward the case for the defence on his Substack. He argued that although ‘Tony Blair might not like my plan’, the country had tangibly improved since the last general election. Both Burnham and Wes Streeting also dismissed Blair’s criticism, accusing him of ignoring the role of inequality as the driving force behind Britain’s political woes. With the by-election in Makerfield intended as a proving ground for Burnham’s likely leadership bid, a victory on 18th June might quieten his critics, including Blair; and with a string of social media controversies dominating the news for Reform UK candidate Robert Kenyon this week, that is looking all the more likely. However, Blair's intervention may show Burnham that Labour's most electorally successful living leader isn't one to hold his tongue when he disapproves of the party's current management, and you displease him at your peril.
Elsewhere, the Government’s ambitions of reaching ‘NEET-zero’ took a turn for the worse this week, after what the Prime Minister described as a “sobering” report from former Health Minister Alan Milburn, who was commissioned to investigate why so many young people are not in employment, education or training. Milburn’s report painted a bleak picture of a generation caught in what he called a “perfect storm” of economic stagnation, post-Covid disruption and faultiness across the education, welfare and health systems. The report found that between January and March 2026, over 1 million young people were classed as NEET, a staggering 13.5% of all young people in the UK. The Opposition didn’t hold back on its criticism, with Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately arguing that the Government had “made it harder for a young person to take their first step into work.” With the PM’s future already looking bleak, critics will continue to argue that his government’s economic policies have deepened the crisis, even if much of the damage long predates Starmer’s arrival into Downing Street.
£125 billion – Cumulative annual cost to the country of almost 1 million NEET young people, according to the Milburn Review.
60% – Proportion of young NEETs who have never had a job… up from 40% in 2005.
10% – Increase in the number of 16- to 24-year-old NEETs over the past year.
35.1°C – Hottest May temperature on record, recorded at Kew Gardens on Tuesday.
3.5% – Additional proportion of the UK’s GDP the government takes in tax compared to 25 years ago… an extra £110bn per year.
€90 billion – EU loan to Ukraine ratified by the European Parliament this week, to enable the country to continue its fight against Russia.
40% – Number of births in the UK in 2025 where one or more parent was born abroad, the highest on record (27% of births were to parents who were both born abroad).
360 – Days since the Strategic Defence Review 2025 announced that a Defence Investment Plan would be completed in Autumn 2025…
6 – Number of games consoles former SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell (husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon) bought with embezzled funds, as well as numerous games including Grand Theft Auto (you couldn’t make it up…)
Peter Murrell, the estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon and former Chief Executive of the SNP, has pleaded guilty to embezzling £400,000 from the party. Murrell admitted that between 2010 and 2023, he used party funds to purchase luxury items, including a £124,550 motorhome, a £3,231 coffee machine, and a Lalique Feuilles salt-and-pepper set, which retails for more than £2,000 (!!!). Sturgeon, who was First Minister at the time, said during her first public appearance since Murrell pleaded guilty that she was having “probably the worst week” of her life and that she was “deceived, betrayed and lied to” by Murrell.
The timing could hardly have been worse for the SNP, as First Minister John Swinney, fresh from his electoral victory, delivered a statement in the Scottish Parliament calling on Downing Street to agree to a second Scottish independence referendum. Pro-union MSPs instead used the opportunity to raise concerns about Peter Murrell and the SNP’s financial management. Despite UK Government opposition to any further referendums, Swinney is nevertheless expected to raise the issue when he meets with Keir Starmer ahead of a meeting between the leaders of the UK’s four nations.
The Prime Minister hosted his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in London this week, with the pair signing a new Security and Defence Partnership seeking to protect British borders, tackle organised crime and bolster their collective defences. The agreement will allow forces to combine expertise and industrial capability to lead the development and manufacturing next-generation complex weapons, including new air defence effectors and the co-production of a next-generation medium-range air defence missile. The two leaders also sought to accelerate cooperation to disrupt malicious attempts by hostile state actors, and discussed boosting border security through a new Joint Action Plan on Irregular Migration.
Keir Starmer met with families and campaigners whose children died because of harms linked to social media use, where he vowed to take “decisive” action to tackle its impact. While many of the parents who attended the meeting were sceptical that meaningful change would occur, Starmer stressed the importance of acting, saying that any measures introduced must be a “game changer”. Also taking part in the national discussion were potential future Labour leadership contenders Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting, with the latter arguing that major tech companies have employed tactics similar to those once used by the tobacco industry in designing addictive online platforms.
A new UK-France agreement was signed at the G7 Digital and Technology Ministerial Summit, which will unlock new treatments, enable earlier diagnoses for safer pregnancies and deliver more personalised care. The collaboration aims to make it easier for British and French institutions to cooperate on biomedical research, including sharing research expertise and working together on joint funding bids. With Tech Sec Liz Kendall in attendance, she also unveiled nearly £900,000 of funding to boost the partnership between the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, which hosts Isambard AI, and France’s computing centre GENCI.
The Housing Committee published its report providing pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, calling on the Government to: introduce the ground rent cap of £250 by late 2027; shorten the transitional period for 40 years to zero ground rent to 20 years; include provisions for an independent regulator that could sanction rogue property agents with penalties and remove their licence to operate; and make conversion to commonhold the default outcome of a collective enfranchisement.
300,000 new work experience and training placements are to be created in sectors including construction, health and social care and hospitality, as the Government accelerates its Youth Guarantee to give every young person the chance to earn or learn. The placements will be made up of work experience and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes.
Councils are set to be prevented from making risky investments, as MHCLG announced new powers to prevent excessive borrowing, risky investments and poor financial decisions in local government – by tracking every council’s investments, debt and revenue in a bid to spot financial risk before it becomes a crisis.
Following the withdrawal of the Green Party’s original candidate Chris Kennedy last week, who stepped down citing family issues after reports he had interacted with social media content alleging the attack on Jewish community ambulances was a ‘false flag’, Manchester City councillor Sarah Wakefield has been selected as the party’s new candidate in Makerfield. Wakefield’s appointment, however, has already attracted negative attention due to her role as Executive Director of Eating Better, a charity which has previously shared material arguing that British farming reflects racist power structures and ‘white supremacist tendencies’, while calling for the ‘decolonisation’ of the food system.
Two new PPS appointments were made this week, with Baggy Shanker joining the Ministry of Defence team and Andrew Lewin appointed as a PPS at the Department for Business and Trade.
Baroness Grender has become the Lib Dem’s Transport Spokesperson in the Lords, in addition to her role as Environment Spokesperson. Previous Transport portfolio holder Baroness Pidgeon is now the party’s Health Spokesperson.
Ben Alexander has been confirmed as the new Chair of the Planning Inspectorate Advisory Board, with his appointment commencing on 1 July 2026 for a four-year term. A one-year extension to the terms of two existing board members, Adrian Penfold and Oliver Munn, has also been confirmed, extending their tenure to September 2027.
Greece is getting a new UK Ambassador, following the appointment of Stephen Lillie to the Hellenic Republic, succeeding Matthew James Lodge, who is moving on secondment to another Whitehall Department. Lillie is expected to take up his appointment during September 2026.
Adrian Bird is the new Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee and head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation, replacing Madeleine Alessandri who is stepping down after three years in the role.
Jason Bonander started his new role as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer this week.
Nigel Topping, Tania Songini and Marianne Økland have each been reappointed as Non-Executive Directors of the National Wealth Fund, set to serve a further four-year term, two-year term, and one-year term respectively.
MHCLG has named Bill Butler as the Government’s preferred candidate to be appointed as Chair of the Local Audit Office, who, subject to Parliamentary hearing, will serve for a five-year term.
Meanwhile the MoJ have selected Lynne Berry as the preferred candidate for the role of Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission.
With the Government drifting towards a partial Bri-turn, the public are becoming ever more Europhile, according to YouGov’s polling. 56% support the UK rejoining the EU, to 35% opposed, and a massive 70% support a closer relationship without rejoining, compared to just 17% who are opposed. Even among Leave voters, 61% support a closer relationship. The Government knows what it is doing; an overwhelming 79% of Labour voters support rejoining (as do 14% of Reform supporters, oddly).
Young British workers are being rapidly out-hired, reports the Centre for Social Justice. Alongside the Milburn Review’s findings, it claims that payroll analysis shows that the number of non-EU workers aged under 25 has risen by 355% since January 2020, compared to just 0.3% for young British workers – apparently equal to 27 young non-EU migrant workers hired for every additional young British employee.
A new system of ‘portable benefits’ needs to be developed to deal with AI-driven changes in the workplace and provide ‘flexicurity’, argues the IPPR’s report. Released after Blair’s column which calls for the integration of AI nationwide, it suggests that a worker support levy, a digital ‘portable benefits wallet’ and accredited worker-power organisations would ‘ensure that the gains of AI are broadly shared, its risks are collectively managed, and the dignity of work is preserved for the decades ahead.’
A new party on the scene was always going to involve some loss of institutional experience, but Reform UK’s sweep of the local elections has delivered some truly hilarious results. In Kirklees, the council has now failed twice to elect a leader, with the first attempt going viral when Reform’s leadership candidate listed the things she “didn’t understand” about local governance, including “the constitution”, “standing orders”, “amendments.” To be fair to her, she did accept that “ignorance is not a defence” – although it does beg the question why one would run for election.
She wasn’t the only Reform member without a clue; this week also saw Zia Yusuf take chunks out of Robert Jenrick after Jenrick said that foreign nationals living in social housing wouldn’t automatically be deported. Yusuf then, very publicly, declared this was ‘not Reform policy’ and that ‘if a foreign national lives in social housing at taxpayer expense’ they will be removed. With Jenrick seemingly having leap-frogged Yusuf to de-facto number 2 in the party, it’s hard to see the relationship improving anytime soon…
With a by-election and potential challenge for leadership of the country looming, you’d think Question Time would find itself booked and busy, but apparently not. In a bizarre choice, last night’s special episode on AI opened with AI-rendered historical figures including Mahatma Gandhi, Frida Kahlo, Che Guevara and Emmeline Pankhurst giving their opinion on the technology. The lineup was followed by a standard selection of attendees including Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones and Shadow Science Secretary Julia Lopez, who (hopefully) are somewhat more informed about the technology than the Mahatma.
