Mandelson accused of insult to North-east
BUSINESS Secretary Peter Mandelson has been accused of insulting the North-east for failing to be fully aware of problems facing the region’s economy.
Lord Bates, formerly the MP for Langbaurgh and now the Conservative Party’s deputy chairman, has hit out at Lord Mandelson following comments about the region’s unemployment levels.
Earlier this week new figures showed the North-east has the highest rate of unemployment at 9.8%. The region’s jobless figures climbed 7,000 to 126,000 between September and November last year.
In a House of Lords debate Lord Bates said: “Unemployment in the North-east of England is now the highest in the country with one in 10 out of work and youth unemployment having risen 122% year on year.”
He said the figures did not take into account the impact of the Corus crisis - and he asked Lord Mandelson what efforts would his department take “to make sure that scarce resources are targeted where the need is greatest”.
Lord Mandelson replied by saying “What we have seen in the North-east of England is indeed a reduction of unemployment - but not on the same scale and not at the same rate as in other regions in the country.”
Commenting on the ministerial ‘gaff’, Lord Bates said: “This is an insult to the unemployed of the North-east.
“If the Cabinet minister responsible for spearheading the Government’s efforts to tackle the impact of the recession on the economy is deluding himself that unemployment in the region is falling what hope is there that we will get the help we so urgently need.
“This demonstrates that the Government are detached from reality.
“The truth is that whilst some areas of the country such as London and the South-east may be recovering from the recession, the tragedy is that the North-east is still heading into it and the impact of job losses at Corus, tax rises and public expenditure cuts already in the pipeline will only increase that pain.
“It would appear that Lord Mandelson has misled the House of Lords on this important matter and that is a very serious matter which I hope he will be taking an early opportunity to return to the house to apologise.”
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