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Unemployment in the UK

Right now the priority in this country should be to protect jobs. We are not talking about an exact replication of the US system, but about taking the best from it and applying it here. If a business is in difficulties, it may be better for change to be negotiated within the business, instead of seeing the kind of failure that faces Alitalia, with tens of thousands of jobs at risk in Italy because the unions and the management could not agree on a rescue package. The point about the chapter 11 system is that it allows time for discussions on securing the future of the business. The hon. Gentleman may not appreciate the problem; at the moment, the banks can come in, literally overnight, and close a business down. The jobs go and the business is completely lost. We are arguing for a stay of execution, so that otherwise decent businesses that are experiencing hiccups have a chance to survive, especially at a time like this. Under the current regime, the danger is that that will not happen.