Call for General Election
Debate between John Lamont and Jim Dickson(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Jim Dickson
Not very many. Actually, Dartford is in receipt of significant additional infrastructure spending, which is putting people into work. An example of how young people are going to be in work in Dartford in the future—
Jim Dickson
I am still responding to the last intervention. Dartford is lucky that North Kent college is the recipient of one of 10 national centre of excellence awards for construction. Dartford will be the south-east centre, and that will allow young people to get into jobs as infrastructure spending takes place in the constituency.
John Lamont
The intention of my intervention was to be helpful. The unemployment rate among young people in Dartford has gone up 11% in the past year as a direct consequence of decisions that the hon. Gentleman’s Government are making. What does he say to young people who are having job opportunities taken away from them?
Jim Dickson
I say: look at the additional spending going into Dartford to create jobs, and look at the Connect to Work project, set up by the Department for Work and Pensions, which is helping young people who are a long way from the labour market into good, well-paid jobs.
We clearly have much more to do to ensure that we have the police we need in Dartford, but I am confident that people in Dartford feel safer and will continue to feel safer, as long as we do not have a general election that sees those changes lost.
Finally—this is something that I am personally proud of—hon. Members may know that I was contacted by the family of Simone White, who tragically died of methanol poisoning in Laos late last year. It has been an honour to work with Simone’s family and the families of other victims of methanol poisoning on greater awareness of the risks. This is why it is important that we have a Government who listen. I am pleased that, as a result of the families’ campaigning work, the curriculum is being changed to add the risk of poisoning from methanol abroad to teaching about the hazards people can encounter when travelling, and that the Foreign Office has worked with the families to update its advice. Those changes are a testament to the courage and campaigning of the victims’ families, as well as to a Government who listen.
Since the election, we have made progress on crucial issues, with more to come in the years ahead. I look forward to working with Dartford residents, our vibrant community groups, our faith groups and our businesses to keep driving positive changes in our area. That is what I say to people in Dartford who signed the petition.