WORKING CLASS COMMUNITIES WOULD BEAR THE BRUNT OF A TORY GOVERNMENT

As the jobless total has increased, the Labour government has invested £5bn to support people losing their jobs. By contrast the Conservative Party wants to cut spending on this issue even though we’re in the middle of a recession. The Labour government is actually saving jobs, which in turn cuts the costs of unemployment.

The former member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, Professor David Blanchflower, poured scorn on the Conservatives’ stance. He says their plans would lead to unemployment reaching 5 million. That would mean much higher costs in unemployment benefit, not to mention the social consequences of mass unemployment.

The Director-General of the CBI, Richard Lambert, agrees. He says…”the economy is too fragile right now for massive cuts in public spending”.

But the Tories aren’t listening. Their plans would see the ‘Future Jobs Fund’ being scrapped, even though it’s created 150,000 jobs across the country, including Derby.

The ‘Young Person’s Guarantee’ of work or training would also be jettisoned.

The ‘New Deal for Lone Parents’ that helps lone parents move into work would be abandoned as would the ‘Access to Work’ scheme that assists disabled workers obtain or remain in employment.

I ask people to compare Labour’s response to this recession to that of the Conservative government in the 1980s where whole swathes of the country were laid waste.

It’s no coincidence that despite the recession and the big increase in student numbers, the proportion of workless households is still lower today than in 1997. It’s as a direct consequence of the policy decisions of this Labour government that’s minimised the impact of the recession on ordinary people.

History tells us that if the Conservatives win the next general election, it will be ordinary working class people who will bear the brunt of their cuts. The choice couldn’t be starker.