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Economic Downturn (Unemployment)

May I thank hon. Members for a highly informative and thought-provoking debate? Interesting things have been mentioned, which certainly challenge me in trying to answer the questions. The hon. Member for Cotswold quite rightly raised the important issue of unemployment, citing the percentage increase of unemployment rates. In fact, in terms of percentage rates, the south-west region has the lowest unemployment of any region in the UK, although I accept that variant figures show a larger increase than other regions. While never being complacent, we must be careful when looking at the statistics. For example, if we look at the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, his unemployment rate is 2.2 per cent., something that most other Members would be very happy to have in their constituencies, although I accept that the variance has gone up by 179 per cent., so there has been a large increase. Similarly, the hon. Member for Torbay has a 4.4 per cent. unemployment rate.