Employment: Youth unemployment report chief urges Andy Burnham to slash welfare to help more people into work

He said: “Over the medium term, it is entirely possible that you can reduce the benefits bill, but in order to do that, you’ve got to provide the support for young people.

“You’ve got to increase the opportunities that are available for young people and then provide the support for them to enable them to grab those opportunities.”

Writing in the Times on Monday, Andy Burnham promised to take Mr Milburn’s recommendations seriously, calling the number of NEETs”an economic catastrophe and a moral failure”.

Pledging to guarantee young people support “up front”, he added: “We face a choice. We either invest in the success of our young people or pay for failure through the benefits system. We cannot afford to do both.”