Economic Policy
Debate between Ian Lavery and George Osborne(11 years, 9 months ago)
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Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has quite simply lost all credibility as an individual and all credibility as a Chancellor. What will he do to regain the confidence of the general public? Hundreds of thousands of people have lost greatly as a result of the failure of his economic policies.
Mr Osborne
Actually, the unemployment rate is lower today than when we came into office, and there are 1 million more people with jobs in the private sector than there were two years ago. Families want to know that the Government are determined to tackle the nation’s problems, to keep rates low, and to ensure that we provide the right environment for business. They have our assurance that we will do that.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Ian Lavery and George Osborne(11 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Osborne
Unemployment rocketed because of the disastrous economic policies of the Labour party, and the deficit rocketed too. The good news is that 1 million jobs have been created and that the deficit has come down by 25%. Perhaps one day we will get an economic policy from the Labour party and we can make comparisons with what it would do in office. Until then, the hon. Gentleman should get behind the measures to clear up the mess that he left behind.
Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)
2. How many households no longer eligible for child benefit have opted not to receive it.
Autumn Statement
Debate between Ian Lavery and George Osborne(11 years, 11 months ago)
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Mr Osborne
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is precisely what the Labour party offers: more borrowing, more debt, and a return to the mess it left this country in. People are not going to trust Labour with the public finances again, and they are particularly not going to trust the shadow Chancellor again.
Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)
In my constituency, 15.9% of young people aged between 18 and 24 are unemployed. That is twice the national average. What is in the autumn statement for them?
Mr Osborne
First, of course any young person who cannot get a job is a matter of regret, but youth unemployment has fallen this year. Our welfare to work schemes are helping to get people back to work, and our work experience scheme in particular is doing a great job of getting people into work, so I would ask those young people to go to their jobcentre and see the schemes that are available. As I have said, 1.2 million jobs have been created in the private sector over the past couple of years, in what are very difficult circumstances. I hope that, with the measures we announced today, business will be able to create some more jobs.