Alison McGovern: Minister is wrong about jobless in Wirral

Feb 15 2012 Bromborough and Bebington News

I WAS worried to read Tory Work & Pensions minister Maria Miller MP’s remarks about unemployment after her visit to the Wirral, saying that the unemployment locally was caused by a ‘lack of appetite to work’, rather than a shortage of jobs.

This hasn't been my experience.

Maria Miller's words are at odds with facts on this issue – there are currently 8686 unemployed people on the Wirral chasing just 802 jobs.

I have met lots of people in despair at finding a job locally. These aren’t people who don’t want to work – they are desperate to do so.

Figures like this are repeated across the country, particularly in major urban areas. Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment has soared under the Conservative-led government.

The UK is fast approaching the three million mark for unemployment, with over one million young people out of work. We haven’t seen unemployment this high since 1994.

Maria Miller is simply wrong to blame the unemployed.

The speed and scale of the government’s cuts has led to huge job losses both in the public sector, and in the private sector as consumer confidence and orders dry up. And so long as the government has no real plan for growth, unemployment will continue to rise.

Labour has set out a five point plan for jobs and growth, including a tax on bank bonuses to fund 100,000 jobs in the construction sector, bringing forward investment projects and a one year national insurance break for small firms taking on new employees.

Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, is fast becoming a national tragedy. We need action, not blame games, from ministers.