Business of the House

Tom Blenkinsop Excerpts
Thursday 17th March 2011

(13 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Young of Cookham Portrait Sir George Young
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I very much regret the sequence of events that the hon. Gentleman refers to, and I understand the distress that it has caused. There will be questions to Treasury Ministers on Tuesday, and he may like to raise the matter again then.

Tom Blenkinsop Portrait Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)
- Hansard - -

Unemployment is at a 17-year high and running at 14% in Middlesbrough. Growth is sluggish according to the OECD, and public sector cuts are yet to come. May I echo the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) in asking for a debate on the Floor of the House about unemployment and its consequences for communities such as mine in the north-east?

Lord Young of Cookham Portrait Sir George Young
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

As I have said before, there will be four days of debate on the Budget, and a Budget for growth has at its heart dealing with the unemployment problems to which the hon. Gentleman refers. There will be ample opportunities to discuss unemployment next week and the week after, but to put it in context, employment has also risen.