Labour Party Conference 2026: Burnham Promises Pathways from 14 and Apprenticeships at 18

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has set out plans to rebuild comprehensive education with parity between academic and technical routes, alongside a guaranteed youth offer running from age 14 to 18, in his first Labour Party Conference speech since taking office.

Speaking in Liverpool, Burnham said young people had seen their support “stripped away” at the point growing up became harder in the social media age, pointing to youth services being practically abolished in the 2010s, cuts to children’s mental health services and families left to battle for SEND support. He said too many had been failed by “a school system built for some, not all, overly focused on the university route and not enough on technical education.”

He put the number of young people not working or learning at almost a million and rejected the idea that the rise in late teens and early twenties on benefits was the fault of young people themselves. “Conference, it’s not their fault. It’s ours,” he said.

Burnham said the government would change both the education and welfare systems, with Education Secretary Lucy Powell leading work on a new system of comprehensive education. The offer he outlined includes good quality pathways for all from 14, a 45 day work placement between the ages of 16 and 18, an apprenticeship at 18, and an end to long waits for mental health support.

The final report of Alan Milburn’s review is still awaited, but Burnham said the direction of reform was already settled. He told delegates the opportunities would be funded upfront through “a fundamental rethink of the welfare system”, and that young people would be required to take up the support offered to them, with in work support guaranteed.

“Either we invest in our young people. Or we pay for failure through the benefits system,” he said. “Truthfully, we can’t afford to do both. My choice is to invest in them.”

He described the approach as one based on social security rather than crude cuts, arguing that investing in people’s success would leave the country more resilient and reduce the welfare bill over time.

Elsewhere in the speech, Burnham committed to building a National Care Service to be introduced in the next Parliament, offering recognition to care workers he said had been “invisible to the political class”. He also pledged to reform government procurement to back British business and said the UK would put AI at the centre of its G20 presidency next year.