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AI minister warns UK must plan for 'unprecedented' job losses as eight million roles face risk

From the Newshound archive · first published 29 September 2026.

Kanishka Narayan, the minister who warned the Labour Party conference that AI-driven job losses could be "unprecedented" and may already be hidden in official figures.
Kanishka Narayan, the minister who warned the Labour Party conference that AI-driven job losses could be "unprecedented" and may already be hidden in official figures.
9 per cent and payrolled employees down 101,000 over the…
9 per cent and payrolled employees down 101,000 over the…

AI Minister Kanishka Narayan has warned that one in ten UK jobs is already "highly exposed" to being replaced by AI, and that the true employment toll may be far worse than official figures suggest. Speaking at a Labour conference fringe event in Liverpool, Narayan said he is making a contingency plan — covering labour policy and regulation — a top priority, because companies are cutting staff through automation without explicitly attributing it to AI. Payrolled employees have already fallen by 101,000 over the past year, with a further 26,000 drop estimated for August alone.

Think tank IPPR warns up to eight million UK jobs could be "negatively affected" in a worst-case scenario, with agentic AI potentially disrupting 60% of all workplace tasks.

Narayan cautioned that official unemployment data is underestimating AI's impact because firms are simply hiring fewer workers, not declaring redundancies — meaning the true scale is hidden.

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