Labour Unveils £500m Youth Strategy to Support Trusted Adults and Mental Health
Labour has announced a national youth strategy backed by £500 million to provide more youth workers as trusted adults, expand apprenticeships, and conduct a mental health review led by psychologist Peter Fonagy for Wes Streeting.
The strategy seeks to address root causes of youth unhappiness, noting that one in five young people cannot identify a trusted adult outside their family, with boys more likely than girls to lack such an adult.
Research by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy highlights that young people want a trusted non-family adult, engaging activities away from their phones, secure employment, and improved mental health support.
The article argues that Keir Starmer’s TikTok presence alone will not effectively engage Generation Z. It suggests that reconciling political showmanship with substantive policy remains a work in progress, with Wes Streeting's package viewed as the most promising to connect with young people.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Social Justice, led by Miriam Cates, has called for scrapping the pension lock to reinvest savings in children, contributing to the wider intergenerational welfare debate.
Challenges for young people include disruptions to education caused by lockdowns, post-pandemic policy shifts such as higher minimum wage and employer National Insurance that complicate youth hiring, as well as reductions in social spaces due to bans on teenagers in malls and fast-food outlets. Funding cuts have also reduced arts and music provision.
The piece further notes the political volatility among youth, illustrated by figures like Bonnie Blue supporting Nigel Farage and the prevalence of "rage baiting" in online discourse.
