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Opposition day on Tuesday, 7 October 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Grayling. The answering member was James Purnell.

Unemployment in the UK

Unemployment in the UK. Eighteenth opposition day debate (part 2). Main question negatived on division (300 to 205). Amendment agreed to on division (293 to 203).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
480 c196-247 
Session
2007-08
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 480 c196 (Link to this contribution) I have to inform the House that Mr. Speaker has selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Mini...
Albert Owen | 480 c203 (Link to this contribution) Does not the hon. Gentleman find it ironic, as I do, that all those tax incentives are in the Republ...
Show all contributions (100)
Lord Grayling | 480 c203 (Link to this contribution) We clearly need to achieve economic stability in this country and in other parts of the world. There...
Paul Rowen | 480 c203 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the hon. Gentleman's proposals with some interest. Will he tell the House what he...
Lord Grayling | 480 c203-4 (Link to this contribution) There are two key elements to my argument today, and the chapter 11 proposals would have no cost imp...
James Purnell | 480 c204-5 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, To leave out from 'House' to end and to add instead thereof:"““notes the global econo...
Lord Grayling | 480 c205 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State's point about carers is right, but will he confirm that he is now proposing t...
James Purnell | 480 c205-6 (Link to this contribution) Yes. That is exactly what we are proposing. We want to simplify the benefits system, which is someth...
Lord Grayling | 480 c203 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an extremely fair point. We feel strongly about that issue, and that is why...
James Purnell | 480 c206 (Link to this contribution) We are not going to change the conditionality regime for carers. Is the hon. Gentleman saying that h...
Ian Taylor | 480 c202 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to my hon. Friend for intervening twice. The simple fact is that anyone who was selling ...
Lord Grayling | 480 c202 (Link to this contribution) I am very surprised that any Labour MP would want to draw attention to that issue today given the fa...
Rob Marris | 480 c202 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's party has had a Damascene conversion on unemployment, and I welcome that. I als...
Lord Grayling | 480 c201-2 (Link to this contribution) It sounds a tad implausible, but I am sure that it will lead to lively debate in Scotland. Sadly, I ...
Ian Davidson | 480 c201 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware that none of this would be necessary under the plans recently announced ...
Lord Grayling | 480 c201 (Link to this contribution) Right now the priority in this country should be to protect jobs. We are not talking about an exact ...
Terry Rooney | 480 c201 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman does his homework, because he is quite bright. Does he not realise...
Lord Grayling | 480 c201 (Link to this contribution) The experience in the US suggests that such tax changes might not be necessary. We are not in a posi...
Sammy Wilson | 480 c202-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's point about corporation tax, which has been mentioned and which particularly af...
Lord Grayling | 480 c197-9 (Link to this contribution) It is only understandable that Labour Members will not like being told the truth about the Governmen...
Brian H Donohoe | 480 c197 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman really think that this debate is of value to the British people? Talking dow...
Lord Grayling | 480 c199-200 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman does not appear to believe that, given the financial and cost-of-...
David Wright | 480 c199 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that local authorities provide a lot of employment. Can he predict what...
Lord Grayling | 480 c196-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will find that the headline figures on employment levels that the Government and ...
Lord Grayling | 480 c197 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point, and he speaks out clearly in defence of the interests of th...
Philip Davies | 480 c197 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend rightly said that people are concerned for their jobs, and nowhere is that more the c...
Ian Taylor | 480 c200 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making an important point, and I hope that it will not be lost in party political ...
Lord Grayling | 480 c200 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point well. In the next few weeks, we must all be careful not to use rhetor...
Stewart Hosie | 480 c200 (Link to this contribution) If companies had a stay of execution and the chance to seek private finance, would the hon. Gentlema...
Lord Grayling | 480 c196 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House notes with concern the recent increases in unemployment, and the wide...
Chris Ruane | 480 c196 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned employment levels, so may I inform him that in 1997 the employment leve...
Speaker | 480 c196 (Link to this contribution) I have to inform the House that Mr. Speaker has selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Mini...
Stephen Crabb | 480 c224-7 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Livingston (Mr. Devine), whose contribution was impas...
Jim Devine | 480 c224 (Link to this contribution) I was about to come to that point. We should remember this financial experiment and its consequence...
Stephen Crabb | 480 c227 (Link to this contribution) No one is questioning the headline unemployment figures; there is no point in trying to score points...
Albert Owen | 480 c227 (Link to this contribution) It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Mr. Crabb) because I do not a...
Albert Owen | 480 c227 (Link to this contribution) With respect, before being elected to the House, I was a manager in a centre for the unemployed in A...
Albert Owen | 480 c227-9 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way at present, as the hon. Gentleman has just come in and we are nearing the end of...
Peter Bone | 480 c224 (Link to this contribution) I am very interested in the hon. Gentleman's powerful speech, but I would like to bring us back to t...
Jim Devine | 480 c224 (Link to this contribution) I will deal with the current unemployment levels in my constituency at the end of my contribution. ...
David Anderson | 480 c224 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the real difference between then and now—it is right to look back—is ...
Nigel Griffiths | 480 c220 (Link to this contribution) The Conservatives are not brave about many things, but they are certainly brave in tabling today's m...
Roger Gale | 480 c217-20 (Link to this contribution) I do not have time. On ““BBC News”” tonight it was said that retail and manufacturing had fallen an...
Robert Flello | 480 c217 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Roger Gale | 480 c217 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) began his speech by marvelling, so...
Jim Devine | 480 c222-4 (Link to this contribution) I once had the great privilege of working for a very clever psychiatrist, who told me never to liste...
Douglas Carswell | 480 c221-2 (Link to this contribution) I will be as brief as I can. I am very concerned about unemployment, especially in Harwich and Clact...
Nigel Griffiths | 480 c220-1 (Link to this contribution) He certainly did say that. Those are their values, not ours. It was their choice, not ours. It was ...
Speaker | 480 c215 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, may I inform the House that a 12-minute limit has been placed...
Gerald Kaufman | 480 c215-7 (Link to this contribution) I marvel that the Conservative party can even stage a debate on unemployment, and I marvel that the ...
Robert Flello | 480 c238 (Link to this contribution) What would my hon. Friend say to the former miner whom I met only last Thursday? That former miner m...
Tony McNulty | 480 c237-8 (Link to this contribution) The jokes might be fun, but they are made at the expense of the Opposition, because at this time of ...
Tony McNulty | 480 c238-9 (Link to this contribution) I would say to him that there is a package available to him now that was not there in the '80s. The...
Rob Marris | 480 c235-6 (Link to this contribution) I will be brief. I assure the hon. Gentleman that the Minister of State, Department for Business, En...
Alan Duncan | 480 c236-7 (Link to this contribution) Yes, but he is not in the Cabinet, as I have said. I fear that the prospects for employment are gri...
Tony McNulty | 480 c237 (Link to this contribution) This should have been a serious debate.
Alan Duncan | 480 c235 (Link to this contribution) Very briefly, if the hon. Gentleman is extremely quick.
Rob Marris | 480 c235 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Alan Duncan | 480 c234-5 (Link to this contribution) Our debate this evening takes place against the backdrop of increasingly serious economic difficulty...
Ian Davidson | 480 c233-4 (Link to this contribution) That is a much better way of putting it. I thank my colleague for that intervention. We need to sim...
Ian Davidson | 480 c232-3 (Link to this contribution) In the first 10 years of this Labour Government, unemployment in my constituency came down by 50 per...
Peter Bone | 480 c230-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen). Although I did not agre...
David Leslie Taylor | 480 c229 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) echoed a remark by the hon. Member for Harwich (Mr....
Albert Owen | 480 c230 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend who has been in and out of the debate, unlike the hon. Member for Mo...
David TC Davies | 480 c229 (Link to this contribution) One of the reasons for that is the cost of the renewables obligation commitments, which is being put...
Albert Owen | 480 c229 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has just come into the Chamber and has not listened to both sides of the debate o...
James Purnell | 480 c207 (Link to this contribution) I cannot quite promise to do it tomorrow, but my hon. Friend will be glad to know that the flexible ...
Lord Grayling | 480 c207 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
James Purnell | 480 c207 (Link to this contribution) I have given way to the hon. Gentleman enough already. [Hon. Members: ““Oh!””] Very well, I give way...
James Purnell | 480 c206 (Link to this contribution) No, it is not true. I think that ““eccentric”” is the most parliamentary way that I can put it.
James Purnell | 480 c206 (Link to this contribution) Basically, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I think that that shows that the hon. Gentleman agrees that the 5 mil...
Tobias Ellwood | 480 c206 (Link to this contribution) May I take the Secretary of State back to his statement that only 50 per cent. rather than 80 per ce...
Ian Davidson | 480 c207 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a point about conditionality. Does my right hon. Friend agree that simply asking peop...
Jenny Willott | 480 c214 (Link to this contribution) I would rather finish. When we are considering unemployment and how to support people back into work...
Jenny Willott | 480 c214 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we need to encourage people to put more effort into the process...
Paul Rowen | 480 c214 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way a second time. Does she not agree that, rather than d...
Jenny Willott | 480 c214 (Link to this contribution) It is certainly true that the problems that many people faced in trying to find jobs in the past few...
Jenny Willott | 480 c212-3 (Link to this contribution) I share my hon. Friend's concerns. There are areas in the Welsh valleys, very close to my constituen...
Rob Marris | 480 c213 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that it is also a little rich for Conservative Front Benchers to criticise ...
Jenny Willott | 480 c213-4 (Link to this contribution) Governments are known for changing figures to best suit themselves. No Government are immune from th...
Robert Flello | 480 c214 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady talks about conditionality and coercion, but the point is actually the effort that is ...
Paul Rowen | 480 c211-2 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend is aware that there is a part of my constituency where three quarters ...
Ian Davidson | 480 c211 (Link to this contribution) May I seek clarification as to whether the Liberal party agrees that in these circumstances we need ...
Jenny Willott | 480 c211 (Link to this contribution) That could be a foolhardy move at this point in time. When a number of businesses are struggling, it...
James Purnell | 480 c210 (Link to this contribution) It is similar. We have a different approach because we have a different legal system but the hon. Ge...
Jenny Willott | 480 c210-1 (Link to this contribution) I join the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) in welcoming the new faces on the Treasu...
James Purnell | 480 c208-10 (Link to this contribution) I should of course be very happy to meet my hon. Friend, but the closures have been proposed because...
Peter Bone | 480 c210 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with interest to the Secretary of State on this point. I am quite sure that chapter 1...
Albert Owen | 480 c208 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is right to praise the role played for many years by Jobcentre Plus and the j...
Lord Grayling | 480 c207 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman really believe that Jobcentre Plus offers the scale of back-to-work su...
Lord Grayling | 480 c206 (Link to this contribution) So can I take it that the Secretary of State does not believe that there are many people among those...
Lord Grayling | 480 c202 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point succinctly. There will come a time when all the events that have take...
James Purnell | 480 c206-7 (Link to this contribution) Are the Opposition saying that they do not want any migrants to come to this country? Is that the po...
James Purnell | 480 c208 (Link to this contribution) Jobcentre Plus is better than what is offered in America. I visited back-to-work centres in New York...
Subjects
Employment Financial services Employment schemes Economic situation Redundancy Social security benefits Unemployment
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk