The three speeches/headings immediately before

1. 1 earlier: Patrick McFadden

   I must ask the hon. Gentleman to think about his constituents and how much worse unemployment would have been for them if we had not had the fiscal stimulus, the support that I have talked about or the expansion of apprenticeships. The right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe talked about apprenticeships, but there are four times as many apprentices now as there were when he was in power. To withdraw help for the unemployed would increase the risk of that situation becoming permanent and simply repeat the experience of people who lived through the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s, and we will not go down that road. This debate is important, because our responses to the recession and its human cost are issues upon which we will be rightly be judged, and judgment is just as important in the recovery as it is at the height of the recession.

   On future industrial policy, Britain needs a Government who will support the economy's emergence from recession and help business to seize the opportunities that technological and industrial changes present—whether that is the transition to low carbon, or the advancement of digital technologies and biosciences. We have made it clear that we believe in an active role for government in helping Britain to make the most of those opportunities.

   The right hon. and learned Gentleman said that our policy was just words and branding, but that is not the case. In recent months, we have put financial backing into aerospace, wind and wave power, the scrappage scheme extension and a number of other areas. When it comes to industrial policy, however, my criticism of the Opposition is not so much that they attack big government, as that they have nothing to say at all: nothing to say about Britain's industrial future, and nothing to say about the national capabilities that they believe that we should have. The problem for them is not so much big government as no government at all, and that is not good enough. Government may not create the jobs, but it does create the environment for employment and industry to grow. If the concern is debt, the best way to pay it down is through growth, and the best way to obtain growth is to work with industry to take advantage of the opportunities of the future.

   As recovery takes hold, it is absolutely critical that we work with industry to ensure that it can take advantage of such opportunities. That is why we have put in place the strategic investment fund and allocated funding to the projects of which I speak—because we want Britain to have a recovery that makes the most of our industrial future. We believe that government has a vital role to play in that.

2. 2 earlier: Peter Bone

   There is a gulf between what the Minister is saying and what is happening in Wellingborough. Unemployment has doubled in my constituency since the Government came to power, and while I have been in the Chamber today I have received a note about another company going bust. The Minister's measures are just not working.

3. 3 earlier: Patrick McFadden

   We always said that that tax cut was a temporary one, and we gave notice of that when it was announced, so I do not think there is any surprise about that.

   Let me turn to the question of individuals, as well as the economy as a whole. When the economy has contracted as much as we have seen, when trade has fallen around the world, of course people lose their jobs. No Government can say to their people that they can be protected entirely from unemployment, given the economic circumstances that we have been through, but we will not abandon the unemployed. The Government are determined to ensure that unemployed people get the help and assistance that they need to help them find another job, and we are devoting particular effort to ensuring that we do not have a repeat of the 1980s experience, when long-term unemployment left thousands—sometimes tens of thousands—out of touch with the labour market for years, and sometimes for ever.

   So we have put in place £5 billion in total to help get people back to work over this year and next year. That involves, for example, an extension of the rapid response service even before redundancies take place; after six months unemployed, help with training; help to people to set up their own business; incentives for employers to hire people; and after 12 months a guarantee of training or employment for young people aged 18 to 24, as well as other measures, such as funding for 20,000 internships, which can be a hugely valuable bridge into work for many people.

   That activity stands in stark contrast to the way in which the Conservatives approached the issue when they were in power. And today, while we are putting in £5 billion to help the unemployed, the Conservatives—the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe repeated this during his speech—have called for £5 billion less public spending during the recession. If that is their approach, I have to ask the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) which parts of our help package for the unemployed they would withdraw. What training opportunities, what incentives to employers or other help would they abandon? Finally, for clarity, do the Opposition support the £5 billion package for the unemployed? Unemployment has risen during the recession, but we are determined to give people a second chance and to do everything that we can to stop it becoming permanent for those affected.