Blair-era minister Alan Milburn urges Burnham to cut welfare to fund job support as Neets hit record one million

A record 1 million 18- to 24-year-olds are now not in education, employment or training, and 60% of them have never had a job. Milburn calls it a 'youth detachment' problem, not a passing jobs blip. 'We've got to have a different conversation about the welfare system,' he said. His call risks opening a bitter Labour row before Chancellor John Healey's first budget.

Milburn says the benefits system 'just isn't working for young people'.

Andy Burnham has branded the crisis a 'moral failure' and vowed to end it.