KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Kendall adjusted the £187 million TechFirst AI training scheme so that 40% of the one million children it aims to reach will be in disadvantaged schools.
- Two new summer skills camps, 60 places in the north-west and 20 in the north-east initially, will target young people not in education, employment or training, with plans to scale nationally.
- Kendall declined to be drawn on the government’s consultation on banning social media for under-16s but confirmed an announcement is expected soon.
- The Commons science committee this week called for the government to cancel its Palantir contract on NHS digitisation, Kendall said the decision rests with the new health secretary, James Murray.
With London Tech Week opening on 8 June and public concern over AI-driven job losses rising, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall used a Whitehall interview to contrast Labour’s approach with what she called the Conservative record of leaving workers to cope alone.
“We’ve got to make sure AI enhances work: that we help people through the jobs transition, and we’re not like the Tories, who just leave people to cope on their own,” she told The Guardian.
The remarks came as IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva warned AI could be “a tsunami hitting the labour market, with the young worst affected”.
Against rising UK AI investment, the government’s strategy faces pressure to prove it benefits workers most exposed to disruption.
What Labour Is Actually Announcing for Disadvantaged Young People
The most concrete commitments in Kendall’s Guardian interview target the NEET cohort directly. Two summer skills camps, 60 places in the North West and 20 in the North East, will be delivered with businesses to create pathways into apprenticeships.
The North East scheme is linked to plans for an AI Growth Zone and funded through Labour’s Youth Guarantee, supporting young people out of work for 18 months or more. Both programmes are expected to scale nationally.
Kendall also confirmed the £187 million TechFirst AI training scheme has been revised so 40% of its one million target pupils come from disadvantaged schools, addressing concerns that AI skills funding was concentrating in already well-served areas.
With UK cyber security vulnerabilities disproportionately affecting smaller firms in those regions, the focus on early digital literacy carries both economic and strategic weight.
Children Online, Palantir, and the Wider Refusal to Be Passive
Kendall declined to set a date for the government’s social media announcement for under-16s, but said the consultation goes beyond a simple age ban.
“We’re not just looking at social media for under-16s, yes or no. We’re looking at issues like ‘stranger pairing’ and livestreaming in gaming. We are looking at AI chatbots. We’re looking at better age-verification measures,” she said.
On the Palantir NHS digitisation contract, criticised by the Commons science committee, she said any break-clause decision rests with the new health secretary, James Murray.
On US regulatory pressure over UK tech platforms, she added: “The choice isn’t between having AI or trying to stop it. The choice is between shaping it to work for us or being left at its mercy and its whim.”
Ahead of London Tech Week, Kendall moved to define Labour’s AI stance amid political scrutiny over leadership direction and policy control.
Source: Labour will make AI ‘work for the workers’, says Liz Kendall
