Unemployment in the UK

Part of Opposition Day — [18th Allotted Day] – in the House of Commons at 8:48 pm on 7 October 2008.

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Photo of Douglas Carswell Douglas Carswell Conservative, Harwich 8:48, 7 October 2008

I will be as brief as I can. I am very concerned about unemployment, especially in Harwich and Clacton in my constituency. In August, male unemployment stood at about 6 per cent. and it is rising. Even before the full impact of the debt-fuelled recession is felt, unemployment in my constituency is high. I am concerned about unemployment and its grim consequences for my constituents.

Like many seaside towns, Clacton, Walton-on-the-Naze and Harwich have all suffered economically in recent years, and we have yet to see much of a vision on how to regenerate such resorts. Unemployment nationally is rising by something like 1,000 a day, and many of those folks are my constituents. Indeed, unemployment in Clacton could be increased by 50 in the next few weeks, by the Government's decision to close the Revenue and Customs office. The raw data on unemployment hide other facts that should concern us. Almost one in five people of working age are classed as economically inactive. Despite all the Government's boastful claims, the rate of economic activity today is virtually unchanged from what it was a decade ago.

I am concerned that many of those who are not formally regarded as unemployed are being let down. They are not being helped back into work and, with a looming debt-created recession, they will find it even harder. I am especially concerned about long-term youth unemployment in Clacton. Far too many young folk in Clacton are not in employment, education or training and, to be frank, the new deal does not really do much for them. Rather than recognising the problem, the Government are, I fear, just cooking the statistics. Young people claiming jobseeker's allowance for six months, for example, are automatically referred on to the new deal. If they fail to get a job on the new deal, they can be moved off jobseeker's allowance, on to the so-called training allowance. They disappear from the official statistics, but believe me, they do not go away—they are there in Clacton. I want to know what the Government will do to help.

I am concerned about how rising unemployment will affect those on incapacity benefit. Some 2.6 million people are claiming incapacity benefit, which is three times more than the number on jobseeker's allowance. I fear that incapacity benefit could end up being used as a way of trying to force unemployed people off jobseeker's allowance—indeed, some say that that is already the case—which could make it much tougher for those who genuinely need incapacity benefit to receive it. If incapacity benefit becomes a substitute system of jobseeker's allowance, that will not help anyone.

Finally, some eight out of 10 jobs created have gone to immigrant workers. I have always strongly disapproved of the phrase "British jobs for British workers". It is a phrase that the Prime Minister used, which was extremely ill judged. The phrase had some unsavoury tones of economic nationalism and, as a free-market liberal, I found it offensive. The phrase is one that I would have expected to hear in the 1930s, not in Britain today. However, the new jobs created have disproportionately tended to go to people who were not born in the UK. I suspect that that is a fairly damning verdict on the Government's education policy. They have simply failed to ensure that we have an education system that delivers the level of skills needed.

The Government have had a decade of extraordinary growth. The sun has shone. However, they have failed to reform welfare to help people into work. They have failed to listen even to voices on their side, such as that of Mr. Field, and to implement some of the proposals that he has made over the years. The Government have failed to produce an education system capable of providing people with the necessary skills to take the jobs that are available. With the Government having failed while the sun was shining, to coin a phrase, we now face a serious problem of unemployment, as the economy goes from boom into bust.

The tone of Labour Members in this debate has all too often been one of indignant outrage that the Conservative party should dare even to talk about unemployment. Their indignant outrage is matched only by their references to the past—to history. That shows that after a decade of being in government, Labour Members are out of touch. The rising tide of unemployment that we now face has increased and will increase on their watch.