Welfare status quo ‘not ambitious enough’ for young people as McFadden admits Government must do more to create opportunities
Findings are available in the analysis below.2 findings
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article reports McFadden asking colleagues to vote for the plan and saying people with lifelong conditions will be protected, but never says that Labour MPs on the left fear young people already on support, including disabled people who cannot work, may lose money. Without it a reader does not know why colleagues need persuading.
LBC reports Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden's interview on expanding the Jobs Guarantee scheme ahead of Alan Milburn's youth unemployment review, and attributes his claims to him. LBC fills the piece with the minister's account and ends on his word that the plan is not simply a bid to cut welfare spending. It names no critic, though the Daily Mail reported the same weekend that the Conservatives attacked the scheme and that some on Labour's left fear young people on support, including disabled people who cannot work, may lose money.
One side gets the space
Minor
“He added that the Government’s approach was not simply a bid to cut welfare spending, but an attempt to put “work, participation more broadly, and opportunity” at the heart of the system.”
Why this matters
LBC ends the article on McFadden's own account that the approach is "not simply a bid to cut welfare spending", after a piece made up entirely of his quotes and the Government's announcement.
The impression it gives
A reader comes away thinking the plan is uncontroversial and that nobody has questioned whether it is about cutting benefits.
The context
The same weekend the Daily Mail reported deep unease on Labour's left that young people on state support may lose money, including disabled people who cannot work, and Conservative spokesperson Helen Whately called the scheme a response to symptoms rather than causes. The Mail also reported that McFadden would not commit to bringing down the welfare bill by the next election. The article names no critic at all.
The article reports McFadden asking colleagues to vote for the plan and saying people with lifelong conditions will be protected, but never says that Labour MPs on the left fear young people already on support, including disabled people who cannot work, may lose money. Without it a reader does not know why colleagues need persuading.
“stopped short of committing to every recommendation before the full report is published”
LBC keeps the limit on the minister's commitment rather than presenting the Milburn review as already Government policy.
“The Cabinet minister said the review would examine a shift from benefit spending towards “opportunity spending””
The Government's framing of benefit spending as "opportunity spending" is attributed to the minister and kept in quotation marks, not adopted in LBC's own voice.