Alan Milburn rejects tax cut for youth jobs – POLITICO

LIVERPOOL, England — Chancellor John Healey doesn’t have the cash to scrap employer national insurance contributions for young people, the U.K. government’s youth employment adviser Alan Milburn said Tuesday.

Speaking in the POLITICO pub at the Labour Party conference, the former Cabinet minister rejected a call from MPs on parliament’s work and pensions committee to cut employer national insurance contributions for under 25s in a bid to tackle mass youth unemployment.

“The problem is it’ll cost you £5.1 billion,” Milburn said when asked about the proposal to cut the tax on earnings paid by workers and employers. “If somebody’s got £5.1 billion pounds, it isn’t John Healey, so we’ve got a problem.” It would “not be an effective use of public money” because of the “deadweight cost,” he added.