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Finance Bill

The hon. Gentleman is drawing false parallels—perhaps understandably, to assert his case—but I certainly do not understand his comment that I support high unemployment. Obviously we want to generate employment and get people into work. One of the problems at present is the structure of the system, which means that labour is immobile. Too many people are trapped by social immobility, without the skills or opportunity to realise their potential to change their lives and make the most of their assets. I am passionately against that and it is highly unfortunate in many ways that growth in our economy has had to be driven by the importation of labour and that people do not have the opportunity to obtain skills, as Lord Leitch found in his report. There is a structural problem in our economy and it is not in the hon. Gentleman’s interest to suggest otherwise. We need urgently to deal with those skills issues to ensure that people can realise their potential and get into the employment that is denied them at present.