The Economy
Debate between James Morris and Chris Leslie(9 years, 7 months ago)
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Chris Leslie
I would like to make a little progress, because I know that a lot of Members want to speak.
The problem with this Chancellor and the promises that he made back in 2010 is that he has failed abysmally to complete the deal and ensure that he delivers on those promises. It is not just about the record on the national health service or even on immigration, where the Government have failed to meet their target of reducing net migration to tens of thousands. They have failed to deliver a recovery shared by all, they have failed to eliminate the deficit, as they promised to do, and they have failed to detoxify their reputation on the NHS. The real question is whether the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, after nearly five years, are prepared to start taking some responsibility for the situation.
Chris Leslie
Will they do what I suspect the hon. Gentleman is about to do and blame Europe? They love to blame Europe, in particular, but they have also blamed the weather and even the royal wedding. Who is the hon. Gentleman going to blame?
James Morris
Is the hon. Gentleman seriously arguing that the challenges we are addressing through our long-term economic plan have nothing to do with the fact that we had the deepest economic recession since the second world war—a recession over which his Government presided—which led to thousands of people being made unemployed, hundreds of businesses going bust and an absolutely devastating long-term effect on many people’s lives? Does he not take any responsibility for that?
Chris Leslie
Government Members want to airbrush the fact that there was a banking crisis, and a global banking crisis—[Interruption.] They do not like the fact that there was a banking crisis. They want to pretend that it was everybody else’s fault—there they go again.
I must tell the hon. Member for Halesowen and Rowley Regis (James Morris) that he has been in government—perhaps he has not been a Minister, but he has supported the Government—for nearly five years. The Government must start taking some responsibility for the state of the economy.
Cost of Living
Debate between James Morris and Chris Leslie(10 years, 7 months ago)
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Chris Leslie
Absolutely. This is an unprecedented period—we can characterise it as record breaking—during which wages have not been able to keep pace with the costs our constituents are facing.
Chris Leslie
That is precisely what baffles Government Members so much: they cannot understand the ingratitude of the British people, who somehow seem not to recognise the work that the Government are supposedly doing. The reality is that these are the pressure points—the points of stress and anxiety—faced by so many people up and down this country.
Chris Leslie
The hon. Gentleman has been very persistent, so I will give way.
James Morris
It has taken the hon. Gentleman 20-odd minutes to talk about one of the keys to solving the cost of living crisis, which is the creation of new jobs. I presume he welcomes the 11% fall in unemployment in his constituency during the past year, with a 15% fall in youth unemployment. Is that not absolutely key to our recovery and to solving the cost of living crisis that he has taken so long to talk about?
Chris Leslie
The hon. Gentleman, whose name is sometimes mixed up with that of others, should do better than to pick on my constituency of Nottingham East, where unemployment has been a persistent and long-running problem. Of course there have been fluctuations in the past few months, but I must tell him that the number of young people out of work for more than a year on jobseeker’s allowance has rocketed astronomically in this country: it is up 127% since the last general election. The number of long-term unemployed, who have been out of work for two years or more—we must turn our attention to that persistent problem—has gone up 374% since the last general election.