The Dutch have done it again. Their youth unemployment rate? 5.2 per cent. Ours? 13 per cent. The gap is a chasm. Now a cross-party delegation of MPs is back from Amsterdam with a message for ministers: copy the Dutch. Or else.
Their secret? The ‘no dead ends’ approach. It means every educational or training path leads somewhere. No vocational cul-de-sacs. No degrees that leave graduates stacking shelves. The Dutch system links schools, employers and job centres. Tightly. Relentlessly.
Labour’s Bridget Phillipson is listening. She told colleagues the Dutch model is a ‘blueprint’. But can Whitehall replicate it? The Treasury hates ring-fenced funding. The Department for Education is a slow mover. And the Prime Minister? He is focused on the economy, but his aides admit this is ‘on the radar’.
Polling suggests youth unemployment is a ticking bomb. Voters under 30 are abandoning the Conservatives. Labour sees an opening. The Lib Dems are pushing for a ‘youth guarantee’. The Dutch have shown it works. Now the pressure is on.
Cabinet sources say the Work and Pensions Secretary is ‘looking closely’ at the model. But the word from Number 10 is cautious. They fear the cost. They fear the bureaucracy. They fear another government scheme that fails.
Yet the Dutch didn’t spend billions. They changed culture. They made employers partners, not paymasters. They made schools responsible for outcomes, not just exam results. That is the real lesson. Can British politicians stop fighting and start cooperating?
Unlikely. But the evidence is mounting. The delegation’s report lands next week. Watch for leaks. Watch for briefings. This one has legs.
