New plans by Ed Miliband to cut welfare for school-leavers who have no skills will save youngsters from a “lifetime on benefits”, a shadow minister said today.
Labour’s leader used a keynote speech in London to toughen his party’s social security policies by saying he would force youths to undergo training.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow work and pension minister, said: “If we don’t do this we know what lies ahead for those young people and that is a lifetime on benefits and drifting in and out of low-paid, low-skilled work.”
About 100,000 people aged 18 to 25 would be affected by the plan. They would be moved onto a “youth allowance” rather than out-of-work benefits, with the money conditional on them signing up to learn key skills. Children from wealthy families would not get the money at all.
Mr Miliband’s speech was partly overshadowed by another poll saying that voters do not see him as a Prime Minister in waiting.
A YouGov survey for Prospect magazine found him trailing Mr Cameron by 23 per cent to 33 per cent on who made the best premier.
When voters were asked to imagine his elder brother David was leader, the result was reversed, with David winning 35 per cent to 23 per cent — and former home secretary Alan Johnson told the New Statesman magazine the Labour leader was “not as able to connect [with people] as strongly” as his brother.
