Alan Milburn

If

These young people aren't working.

The chances are that they're at home, in the family home.

They don't leave.

That has consequences for family dynamics, but it also has consequences for family income.

You know, strain on the bank of mum and dad becomes even bigger over time.

So, look, there's many reasons to be concerned about it.

So those are some of the things that we're finding out.

It is starting at a really, really young age.

And, you know, I think I want to avoid the blame game, but if there is a blame game, blaming young people is just such an easy, lazy, and in my view, wrong assumption.

Okay.

When I was talking, I was up in Newcastle a month ago and actually where I grew up in Benwell, which, you know, on the West end of Newcastle, which is a very good area.

And I was talking to a group of young people there.

And, you know, one of the lads was telling me he'd applied for 200 jobs.

He'd applied for 200 jobs and he hadn't had, by the way,

He hadn't had a job interview.

He hadn't had any feedback.

And worse than that, he hadn't had a single response.

So this is not lack of effort on his part.

He's trying.