Proceeding contribution from James Purnell (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 10 March 2009. It occurred during Opposition day on Unemployment.
Unemployment
As I have said, we have announced an extra £83 million to help people who are out of work back into work—and the hon. Lady has Innovation, Universities and Skills questions every month if she wants to put that question to the relevant Minister. We can redouble our efforts, unlike the Conservative party, because we are prepared to increase our investment. We can also increase conditionality because we can increase our investment. The Conservatives would reduce that investment, cutting support and, in the end, they would cut the conditionality, which is exactly what happened when they were in power. That is why they ended up using unemployment as a tool of policy; that is why they said it was a price worth paying, because they were not prepared to pay the cost of the right policy. The right policy is to increase support for people: we are doing that and we are prepared to pay that cost; the Conservatives are not, and the people who would pay the price if the Tories ever got back into power would be the unemployed.
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 489 c181
- Session
- 2008-09
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Staff Education Business Closures Climate change Apprentices Credit Jobseeker's allowance Jobcentres Environment protection Private sector Government assistance Jobcentre Plus Economic situation Incapacity benefit Job creation Public expenditure Redundancy Working hours Standards New deal schemes Reform Unemployment Social security benefits Social security Training Young people Unemployment benefits Renewable energy
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
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