Finance Bill

Debate between David Lammy and Andrew Bridgen

Tuesday 6th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why Members on the Government Benches should be reminded that employment in my constituency was running at 20% in the recession of the 1980s and at 28% shortly before we cane to power in 1997, and that although my constituency now has the highest unemployment rate in London, it is currently running at 9%. I say “currently” because it will surely rise as a result of this Finance Bill. The consequences—the social consequences —of what we are debating today, and what we will vote on in a few hours’ time, will be so significant that it is hard to put words to them, but they will be real and stark.

[Andrew Bridgen]

The right hon. Gentleman is speaking passionately about his opposition to unemployment. Surely he must be ashamed to be a member of a party that has formed Governments many times over the past 70 years and that, every time it has left office, has left unemployment higher than when it came to office.