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Employment

My hon. Friend is right, of course. What he will see from this Government is real action, as I said. What we saw from the Conservative Front Bench was a scheme, to which the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell referred, which fell apart within a day of being announced. The Institute for Employment Studies said that the scheme was almost 100 per cent. dead-weight, and the Federation of Small Businesses said that it would be a disincentive to hiring people who have recently become unemployed. It is because the Conservatives were not prepared to spend money in the downturn that they had to squeeze the scheme to the point of pretending that it did not cost any money. That is the difference between us. We are prepared to take action. They are not prepared to do anything to help people.