Since the pre-Budget report, more than 3 million people have been moved off unemployment benefits. Across the country, a targeted effort has been made to assist those communities most hit by unemployment, including initiatives such as the working neighbourhoods fund, which is worth more than £1 billion, and the new £1 billion future jobs fund designed to create 150,000 jobs.
The campaign to end child poverty today released a report highlighting the impact of unemployment on children and families. What measures is my right hon. Friend taking to prevent unemployment from meaning poverty for children?
As I am sure my hon. Friend would agree, the best route out of poverty remains the prospect of work, which is why we have been so determined over the past year to take combined action on monetary policy and fiscal policy, which together are now supporting about 500,000 jobs. However, in addition, we realise that some communities need targeted help, which is why the future jobs fund will seek to create more than 6,000 jobs in his region. On top of that, of course, is the important role of tax credits, which are now supporting 20 million people and helping the poorest families in this country to the tune of more than £4,500 a year.
Given rising unemployment, and the fact that this country has been in recession for longer than any of its major competitors, how can Ministers still claim that we were better prepared?
The truth is that the recession is hitting different countries differently. If we look at the United States, the unemployment rate is 10 per cent; if we look at France, the unemployment rate is 10 per cent; and if we look at Germany and Japan, the fall in their respective gross domestic product is greater than ours. The fact that we have been able to put in place a fiscal stimulus worth 4 per cent. of GDP, as well as keeping interest rates low—together supporting up to 500,000 jobs—is in part because we went into this recession with the second lowest debt in the G7.
I concur with my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) that Treasury resources should be targeted at specific areas. They should also be targeted at specific projects, such as the city strategy, the future jobs fund and the fit for work programme, all of which exist in my constituency, all of which are putting people back to work and all of which are under threat from that lot over there on the Tory Benches.
My hon. Friend has put his finger on precisely the point. Over the course of this year, the Opposition have said consistently that we cannot afford a fiscal stimulus. That was repeated month on month, until the shadow Chancellor’s recent speech, when he began to nuance their position. The truth is that without the support that we have put in place over the past year, the jobs that we are now supporting, such as the 150,000 jobs supported by the future jobs fund, would be in jeopardy.
With the Government’s fiscal stimulus ending, quantitative easing ceased, the VAT cut being reversed and departmental cuts already in the pipeline, there is deep concern that this removal of assistance from the economy will force unemployment even higher. Is this therefore not the time for the Government to make the earliest possible statement that they will permit a further year’s reprofiling of capital expenditure, as the most effective way to protect and preserve jobs?
None of the measures that the hon. Gentleman mentioned has been stopped. In the pre-Budget report and in the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor was clear when he said that the measures that we have put in place have to be targeted and have to last only as long as the problem exists. That is why it is quite right that as recovery returns to our economy, some measures should be retired. However, those that are still needed, such as measures to support jobs or businesses’ cash flow, are set to continue. Also, as the hon. Gentleman knows, the Bank of England is still to reach a decision on quantitative easing.
Is my right hon. Friend aware that in west Yorkshire we are coming out of recession and doing very well, but that we still need some help from better investment in public sector jobs, to move them from the south and London up to Yorkshire?
The Government have actually moved more jobs from London out into the regions than we set targets for, but that process needs to continue, and I am determined to see that it does.