Oral Answers to Questions

Andy McDonald Excerpts

Monday 4th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Kate Osborne (Jarrow) (Lab)]

2. What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its policies on reducing regional inequalities in employment.

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)]

7. What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its policies on reducing regional inequalities in employment.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mel Stride]

I have no problem at all with defending the Government’s record on employment. There are now nearly 4 million more people in employment than there were in 2010, including about 2 million more women, and unemployment across the country, including in the north, is at a near-historic low.

[Andy McDonald]

In his blog today on ConservativeHome, Lord Ashcroft says:

“On the cost of living, two thirds of voters...thought the Government could do more to help but was choosing not to.”

Given the regional disparity in earnings, does the Secretary of State accept that the roll-out of fair pay agreements providing sectoral minimum terms, as outlined in Labour’s “A New Deal for Working People”, would not only boost the economy but address the blight of in-work poverty and insecure work that is having an impact on so many households in my constituency and throughout the country?

[Mel Stride]

The hon. Gentleman raises the issue of support during the cost of living squeeze that we are experiencing. My Department has been responsible for distributing millions of payments to the most vulnerable people, including £900 in total to 8 million low-income households, £150 to 6 million disabled people and the £300 payment to pensioners. On the question of work, we put up the national living wage by over 9% to £10.42 this April.