Last week Alan Milburn, chair of the government’s commission on social mobility and child poverty, delivered his final report before the general election showing that the under-30s risk being priced out of society, while this week Unicef published figures revealing that the number of children in poverty in the United Kingdom has risen to over a quarter. No one can be in any doubt: it is not a good time to be young in Britain.
Yet, oddly, the reaction in Westminster to these reports has been muted to say the least, especially when you consider just how bleak the outlook is for young people. According to Milburn’s report:
Their wages are falling and, relative to a decade ago, their job prospects are diminishing. Youth unemployment is still higher than before the recession and by the time of the next election around half a million young people will still be without work – enough to fill Wembley Stadium five times over.
The sheer scale of this crisis cannot be understated. It used to be considered a cliché for a politician to say that ‘those who work hard and do the right thing will be rewarded’, such was the obviousness of their statement. Today that confidence looks misplaced.
For the current generation of young people it certainly has not turned out that way so far. Today’s under-30s are better educated than ever. They have studied longer and harder than their parents and many have thousands of pounds worth of debt to prove it. They have done what was asked of them. Yet most have not received the opportunities they were promised in return.
Instead they now face being the first generation for over a century to be worse off than their parents and their life chances remain inexorably linked to their circumstances – poor children are four times more likely to become poor adults.
It is to his credit that Ed Miliband was one of the first politicians to be alive to this problem. In the early years of his leadership he often talked of restoring the ‘promise of Britain’. A clunky phrase, perhaps, but I am minded to award points for effort. However, like so much of Labour’s time in opposition this promising idea failed to be sustained by a concrete policy offer. It is time to correct that failing.
This is not a call to retreat into some leftwing comfort zone. Decent pay. Home-ownership. Starting a family. These are mainstream aspirations shared by people in every part of the UK. The current failure to address them represents a failure of mainstream politics and it is hardly surprising that voters are increasingly turning to fringe parties as a result.
Yet it does not have to be this way. As with every crisis there is opportunity. The chance to tear down the established order and reshape the world around us. These are moments in which progressive parties should thrive, yet in the past they have too often conspired to waste. We must not allow ourselves to do so again. If we do it will likely not only cost us the next election but future ones as well. After all, it is hard to see how a more divided and individualistic society benefits us in the long term.
Meeting this challenge requires adopting a new approach to politics and governing. It calls for a vision of state not just as a transactional provider of services, but as an enabling force which breaks down barriers and helps all in society achieve their potential.
Throughout his leadership Miliband has made it clear that he wants to present the British people with an optimistic and hopeful vision of what the country could be like. Often big visions like this require big crisis in order for them to capture the mood of the public. Now Miliband has such a crisis, it is time for him to seize it.
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Rich Durber is a former speechwriter for a shadow minister and writes a fortnightly column for Progress. He tweets @richdurber