Why has Andy Burnham delayed the publication of Alan Milburn’s review into Neets until after the Budget? The review is something the Prime Minister and his Labour colleagues cite repeatedly as evidence that they are taking the problem of youth unemployment seriously – and yet they seem not to want to take it seriously enough to actually publish the document. It’s almost as if its main purpose is to exist as a future prospect, rather than a real, physical report that would require action from ministers.

Much of politics today exists in this illusion of action trap, where the mere existence of a report, royal commission or public inquiry allows leaders to kid themselves and others........

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