Streeting suggests NI cut and North Sea drilling

Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has suggested cutting employers' National Insurance (NI) could be a way to incentivise businesses to hire more young people.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, he also said some new North Sea drilling for oil and gas should be allowed as it would raise more tax.

Since quitting the cabinet just over a fortnight ago, Streeting has been distancing himself from policies pursued by Sir Keir Starmer's government.

The former minister, who says he will challenge Sir Keir in any Labour leadership contest, has already said the UK's future lies "one day back in the European Union", and called for what he described as a "wealth tax".

Now Streeting has floated the idea of a "targeted" cut to National Insurance to tackle youth joblessness.

It follows the publication this week of the review by Alan Milburn into the rising number of young people not in education, employment or training, known as NEETS .

"We have to make it easier for business to employ young people and for businesses to take that risk on someone," Streeting told the Sunday Times.

"I think we should be thinking actively about how to incentivise, whether that's through targeted reduction in employers' National Insurance or other kinds of recruitment and retention incentives," he said.