Lewis Goodall

And this report forecasts that if nothing is done...

That number could rise to 1.25 million, perhaps higher by the end of the decade.

Alan Milburn, who was a health secretary, health secretary in the Blair years, is the author of the report commissioned by the government and joins us now.

Alan, thanks so much for being with us.

It strikes me that one of the most interesting and indeed chilling things about your report and what you found is

is that it is true to say, as you say, that there has always been cyclical unemployment for young people.

And when the economy is going through a difficult patch, young people are usually the kind of canary in the coal mine for unemployment.

For obvious reasons, they're the easiest to get rid of or not hire.

But you're saying that something new is happening, something that is more structural.

Tell us what it is.

So to what extent do you think it is that, I'm sure the answer is both, but where would you apportion most of the problem?

Is it how government is dealing with it and the sort of structural things are in place in terms of how government is dealing with it?

Or is there just something more fundamental going on in the economy in terms of just the number of positions that are available?

We're seeing the kind of

In the foothills of kind of the AI changes that we're seeing, which we know even in sort of middle class professions, entry level jobs are starting to dry up.

Where is the sort of balance a problem, do you think?

There's a lot of emphasis, Alan, on the question of welfare and specifically mental health related welfare, i.e.

increasing numbers of young people, as you say, economically inactive because of their mental health.

How important and how big a part of the picture do you think that is?

Because it is something, particularly in the papers, that receives a lot of attention.