Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — Amendment of the Law

Part of Provisional Collection of Taxes – in the House of Commons at 4:20 pm on 20 March 2013.

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Photo of Luciana Berger Luciana Berger Shadow Minister (Energy and Climate Change) 4:20, 20 March 2013

It is incredibly insensitive that that announcement was made today. People up and down this country will rightly be shocked by it. In a moment I will reference the fact that we are seeing the gap between the richest and the poorest in our society widen. The Government should be doing everything to ensure it is closed.

I acknowledge and welcome the extra money we have heard about today for infrastructure projects, but I note that the majority of it will not be delivered until 2015-16, while work on many of the projects is not expected to begin for years. We must not forget that the Chancellor has spent £12 billion less on infrastructure over the past three years than under the plans he inherited. What is needed is a plan to get our economy growing and to create more jobs across the country right now. The fact that we have a chronic shortage of jobs was reinforced to me last week when I held a jobs fair in my constituency, which was attended by 66 companies. They ranged from local businesses such as the Liverpool Dental Spa and Davey’s Chemists to big global companies such as Nutricia Danone. On the day, more than 500 different job and apprenticeship opportunities were on offer.

My jobs fair last Friday was a great event, with more than 2,000 people coming through the door. That far exceeded my expectations; we had printed only 1,000 welcome packs. Despite what the Chancellor would have us believe, I did not meet anyone whom he would describe as a shirker. That point was also made in a letter to the Liverpool Echo this week from Bernie Hunt of Kensington Fields, a section of which I want to share with the House. Bernie said:

“What a surprise I had on March 15. I called in at the Wavertree Jobs Fair…half expecting to have the car park to myself as Mr Cameron’s Welfare State dependents were supposed to be too busy watching daytime TV recovering from the dole fuelled bender from the night before. What I actually found was those desperate for the chance of a job, or even training for a job, packing the place to the rafters.”

The fantastic turnout reinforced the fact that people who are out of work are not shirkers, but the real problem is that there are not enough jobs. Even if we filled every one of those 500 job and apprenticeship opportunities available at the jobs fair, three quarters of those who attended would still have missed out.

We have learned today that 2.52 million people are still out of work, with youth unemployment at almost 1 million again. There are still more than five people chasing every job vacancy, and even those who can find work still have to accept lower living standards.