Tom Blenkinsop
Main Page: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)Department Debates - View all Tom Blenkinsop's debates with the Leader of the House
(13 years, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberI 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.
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?
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.