This paper critically examines New Labour's New Deal for Young People (NDYP) and its intended role in reducing the number of socially excluded young people classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training). It focuses on New Deal as an example of Third Way policy design aimed to address social exclusion, including the promotion of an 'evidence-based policy' which sought to impose the New Labour orthodoxy that any labour-market participation was preferable to none -- and that this, in turn, would improve the life chances of NEET young people and combat social exclusion. The paper critically considers the policy design of NDYP, and its underlying assumptions, including the importance of global economic competition as justification for a range of education and employment initiatives expected to deliver improved social inclusion and a resulting improvement in socio-economic standards. Whilst New Deal was presented as a fresh, evidence-based approach to (re)engaging NEET young people in education and work, the central argument of this paper is that New Labour's focus on social exclusion at the expense of poverty meant that its approach can, in many ways, be regarded as a missed opportunity to enact meaningful change for those most in need.