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Unemployment in the UK

With respect, before being elected to the House, I was a manager in a centre for the unemployed in Anglesey, and I dealt very much at the front line with youth employment—and with many issues such as lone parents. The centre I managed offered advice, training and support for the unwaged, so I think I do have a bit of experience in this field, and I wish to develop an argument that will defend what I have to say. The centre was established in an area of very high unemployment in the 1980s, or re-established I should say, because the centre for the unemployed was originally established in the 1930s, and the sad fact is that unemployment in the 1980s under the Conservative Government mirrored that of the inter-war years of the 1930s, when we had mass male unemployment. In the 1980s, we had male unemployment in my constituency—I hope the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire is listening now—of 25 per cent. A quarter of the male population was unemployed.