Engagements

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 7 January 2004.

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Photo of Tony Blair Tony Blair Prime Minister 11:30, 7 January 2004

There are three things that we can do to help those seaside towns. As my hon. Friend acknowledges, unemployment has fallen in those areas, but we still have some distance to go. The first thing is to use the neighbourhood renewal fund; the second is to use European Union structural funds; the third is to ensure that we get the right resources from the new deal for the unemployed into seaside towns where there are pockets of endemic unemployment. It is in part as a result of doing those things that the long-term unemployment in my hon. Friend's constituency has fallen by more than 90 per cent. I believe that if we continue with the policies of sound economic management and the new deal for the unemployed, we will reduce the numbers of unemployed still further.