Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Pat McFadden, delivered a speech at Labour Party Conference 2026 yesterday.
You can find the full transcript here and a summary below.
Summary
- McFadden thanked his ministerial team at the Department for Work and Pensions and said Labour’s priority was to give young people hope and opportunity.
- He said the welfare state should continue to provide help to those who needed it while changing to put work and opportunity at its heart. He wanted the system to ask how it could help people live fuller lives, as well as what benefits they were entitled to.
- The Minister highlighted a £575 rise in the new state pension and said the Pensions Commission would report next year on how to secure dignity in retirement for future pensioners.
- He said almost 1m young people were not in education, employment or training. He criticised a system that, he said, spent £25 on inactivity for every £1 spent on helping people into work.
- McFadden argued that reducing the welfare bill meant giving people access to education, training and decent jobs. He said the Government owed people a future as well as an income, and called on businesses, unions and wider society to contribute.
- He outlined the Youth Guarantee, including £2.5bn of investment, £3,000 for businesses offering a young person their first job, 50,000 additional youth apprenticeship starts and 300,000 more work experience places. He said the Jobs Guarantee would offer long-term unemployed young people a paid job.
- Describing young people he had met after they started jobs through the scheme, he said work had increased their confidence and hope. He argued that work also provided pride, purpose and a sense of identity.
- The Minister rejected descriptions of Britain as “broken” and criticism of young people as unwilling to work. He pointed to young workers, apprentices and young people with learning disabilities whom he had met as examples of their ambition.
- He announced that, from April 2027, young disabled people would be able to access the Jobs Guarantee after three months. It would provide six months of paid work at guaranteed living wage rates, with support to stay in work.
- McFadden said the change was urgent because of the human consequences of long periods out of work. He stated that young people claiming sickness benefits at age 20 were more likely still to be claiming them at 30 than to have held a steady job in the intervening years, and that under-25s receiving the health element of Universal Credit were less likely to find work than recipients over 55.
- He said people who could never work should always have security and dignity, while those who could work should receive support to do so. He said the forthcoming Milburn and Timms reviews would inform decisions on a welfare system focused on opportunity.
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Minister for Women and Equalities, Bridget Phillipson, delivered her speech at Labour Party Conference 2026 yesterday.
You can find the full transcript here and a summary below.
Summary
- Phillipson said her roles as Party Chair and Minister for Women and Equalities brought together Labour’s work to win elections and its aim of creating a fairer society.
- She argued that Labour’s election victory, its approach to the public finances and its investment decisions had made the changes of the past two years possible. She thanked Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves for their roles.
- The Minister highlighted the Employment Rights Act, saying it strengthened workers’ voices, ended exploitation and improved parental leave. She also said renters’ rights legislation protected families from no-fault evictions, unscrupulous landlords and housing insecurity.
- She described tackling child poverty as a personal priority and a moral mission for Labour. She said free school meals had been extended to all families on Universal Credit and the two-child limit had ended, lifting around 150,000 children out of poverty.
- Phillipson pointed to cuts in electricity bills, capped bus fares and progress towards ending rough sleeping as further examples of the Government’s work.
- Looking ahead, she said the next election would be a choice between hope and fear. She criticised Reform’s approach to rights and policymaking, and criticised the Conservatives over their positions on maternity pay and Muslims at prayer and their defence of Liz Truss’s budget.
- The Minister urged the party to use the conference to build a fairer, more united country and put care for communities at the centre of politics.
With thanks to our monitoring service Dods for the details above.