The government faces mounting questions over its approach to welfare reform, with critics arguing Labour has positioned itself as the party of welfare rather than work.
Alan Milburn, who served as health secretary under Tony Blair, will publish the first part of his government-commissioned review into youth unemployment this week.
Key findings emerged over the weekend, including Milburn’s assessment that the welfare state requires what he described as a “system reset” to address deep structural problems.
The government’s early attempts to reduce welfare spending collapsed after Labour MPs rejected proposals to trim £5bn from the £300bn annual bill.
That episode exposed a broader weakness in Keir Starmer’s approach, which critics say was framed as an accounting adjustment rather than a moral argument for moving people from benefits into employment.
Asked by the BBC on Sunday about Labour MPs uncomfortable with welfare reform, Milburn said: “Labour is what it says on the tin, it’s the party of work.”
The Milburn Review now joins the Mayfield Review, which examined long-term inactivity and ill-health, and will eventually sit alongside the Timms Review on the Personal Independence Payment scheme, due later this year.
Questions remain over who will occupy Downing Street once all three reports are complete, with names including Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner among those discussed as potential future leaders.
Even a new prime minister willing to make the moral case for welfare reform would still face a parliamentary Labour party that views spending reductions as a continuation of Tory austerity policies.
Labour’s early decision to raise employment taxes coincided with unemployment rising each month that followed, according to the source material’s account of economic developments under the current government.
The government has also introduced additional employment legislation, continued to increase the minimum wage, and maintained pressure on sectors that typically provide entry-level positions for younger workers.
The number of people classified as long-term unemployed has now reached its highest level since 2016, adding weight to concerns about the direction of labour market policy.
Critics argue that detailed policy reviews, however thorough, cannot substitute for a broader economic strategy that addresses the high-tax, low-growth environment currently affecting the jobs market.
The argument gaining traction among some observers is that without stronger economic foundations, even well-constructed welfare reforms will struggle to deliver meaningful improvements in employment levels.