European Council

Lord Cryer Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We will keep pushing forward the growth agenda, based on completing the single market in digital, services and energy. It is also important to recognise that the budget, even with the reductions I propose, would still be a growth budget, because it would transfer funds from agriculture into growth areas such as supporting research and investment, from which Britain is quite well placed to benefit.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister believe that the rising tide of unemployment and poverty across western Europe is a price worth paying in order to save the euro?

[The Prime Minister]

The rising tide of unemployment across Europe is clearly a tragedy, but we need to look across Europe and ask why some countries are doing so much better than others at tackling unemployment, and particularly youth unemployment. Youth unemployment is far lower in, for instance, Holland and Germany than in Spain, Italy and—yes—the UK. There is more to learn about welfare reform, apprenticeships and education standards. We can apply those lessons here to ensure that we keep unemployment falling.