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The Economy and Welfare Reform

I will make a little progress with my speech and give way later. At a time when the rest of the developed world are reducing taxes and burdens to compete with the emerging giants of India and China, this country is going in the wrong direction. That is the competitive challenge. There is a public services challenge, too. The Chancellor admitted last week that low skills are what he called the ““Achilles heel”” of our economy. One fifth of job vacancies are unfilled because of a shortage of skills, yet colleges are warning this week that 200,000 places on adult education and training courses could be cut from September. Does the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas) support that cut?