Topical question asked in the House of Commons, by Ian Lucas (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 29 November 2007 on behalf of the Treasury.

Topical Questions

Question: Unemployment in Wrexham has fallen by more than 36 per cent. in the past 10 years, and by 3.5 per cent. in the past year. How much money has the Exchequer saved by not pursuing the Tory policy of paying the cost of wasted lives?

Answer: My hon. Friend is quite right. We are spending about £5 billion less on unemployment benefits than we were 10 years ago. One of the advantages of having a strong economy with more people in work is that money is not wasted on unemployment benefits, as it was as a result of the high levels of unemployment that we saw 10 or 15 years ago. Also, we are paying less in debt interest because the level of borrowing and debt that the Conservatives ran up meant that that was the first call on a lot of the extra money that was spent.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 468 c428
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Debts Costs Finance Social security benefits Unemployment benefits Unemployment Wrexham
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Topical question on www.publications.parliament.uk