Alan Milburn

Politically...

This is a huge issue for the government, okay?

And this has been set up, this review, to be cross-government.

So sure, I'm working with Pat McFadden, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, but I'm working with Bridget Phillips and the Education Secretary, Wes Breachman, the Health Secretary.

You know, if this has got cross-government buy-in, Rachel Reeves, Keir Starmer, all these people, and the reason that I'm optimistic about that is, let's be sort of blunt about it, this has hardly been a government at times that has had...

A big cause around which it's obvious that it is rallying and which is a cause that aligns with where public opinion is and public concerns and indeed I would argue public fears are about this next generation.

Yeah.

This is that area.

And that's why I believe this is going to become a massive issue, not just for the country, but a massive issue for the government.

And when I make recommendations to the government, I can tell you now they are going to be challenging recommendations because we can't keep going on like this.

The system isn't working, okay?

Now, I'm not a government minister, so I'm not making the decisions in the end.

Well, we'll see.

But I mean, the point is, we're not going to look as far as I'm concerned, there's no point in doing this.

If, if, if I feel like I can't say what I want to say, and I am going to say what I want to say, and some of it is probably pretty obvious from this discussion, that things aren't working and the need to change.

So and the government's got an incentive to change things.

Let's remember, this is a government that was elected on a one word slogan.

What was it?

Change.

Well, you know, it's a good idea to practice what you preach.