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Economic Downturn (Unemployment)

On the subject of employment figures and the point that the hon. Gentleman was making about redundancies, we have all had people come to us in our constituencies who have businesses that are going under and who have had to lay people off. Particularly in the south-west—in Devon and Somerset—a large number of people are self-employed and do not register on the unemployment figures because they are still technically trading, although they have no business. The actual figures on low economic activity and those who are effectively not working are much greater than the official figures. Will the hon. Gentleman reflect on that, and will the Minister also reflect on it in terms of how the Government should respond to the economic downturn?