Worst jobless records under Labour term

Mar 19 2009 By Adrian Pearson, The Journal

The Redcar MP, Solicitor General, said the Government’s fiscal stimulus package was beginning to work and the situation in the UK was not "anything like as bad" as in other industrialised countries.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne said the comments "beggar belief," and accused the Government of failing to "face up to the reality" of the crisis.

North East manufacturers last night repeated claims that Government measures introduced to lessen the impact of the recession have not had the desired impact.

Tony Sarginson, external affairs advisor for manufacturers’ organisation EEF North East, said: "The acceleration in job cuts in manufacturing, reported today, marks the continuation of a worrying trend. Companies are doing their utmost to hold on to skills in the face of significant production cuts and few signs that demand will pick up. But, without targeted intervention from Government, the spate of recent announcements on job cuts is unlikely to end soon."

Mr Page added: "One North East is investing £46m over the next two years into frontline business support and is working closely with employers to help staff affected by redundancy to find new jobs and opportunities.

"Last month, North East job centres were notified of nearly 20,000 vacancies, and as of this morning there are 3,300 job vacancies advertised in job centres, which experts tell us represents about a third of the total job vacancies in the region.

"While no one underestimates the scale of the challenge ahead, back in 1986 there were 200,000 people claiming unemployment benefit with the unemployment rate peaking at 13.5% in 1993."

Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May accused the Government of "sleepwalking" through what she called the "unemployment crisis".

"This is a grim milestone that no-one wanted to reach," she said.