Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Blenkinsop and Esther McVey

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tom Blenkinsop]

Over the past two years, long-term unemployment among young women increased by 412% on Teesside, with 640 women aged 24 and under claiming jobseeker’s allowance for more than 12 months. Does the Minister agree with figures from the Office for National Statistics which show that under this Government, long-term youth unemployment among women on Teesside has skyrocketed, and what will she do about it?

[Esther McVey]

I believe that is only part of the story, and in the past, false breaks in unemployment statistics—particularly under the new deal—skewed figures. The Work programme has removed that anomaly, providing a true reflection of the facts. Youth unemployment is down, and the Government are doing significant things to help with 250,000 more work experience places, 160,000 more wage incentives, and 20,000 more apprenticeship grants. We are doing as much as we possibly can and, as I said, unemployment is significantly down under this Government.

Regional Growth Fund

Debate between Tom Blenkinsop and Esther McVey

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Esther McVey (Wirral West) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith) on bringing this timely debate to Westminster Hall. However, having listened to what has gone on, I think that we need to put the debate in context, so here goes. We have to look at the time when the coalition Government took office. We had the biggest deficit ever in peacetime history. We were paying £120 million in interest per day. Labour did too little, too late, and left us with a busted flush. The UK economy has grown by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

If, as the hon. Lady says, the economy was in such a bad situation when the coalition Government came to power, why did the Chancellor of the Exchequer predicate the deficit reduction plan on 3% growth? To date in 2011, we have growth of less than 1%, which has led to extra borrowing of £46 billion plus.

[Esther McVey]

No, the hon. Gentleman will find that his party left the economy in so bad a situation that we not only had to say, “You will live within your means and spend what you have,” but we had to provide a growth structure so that we could rebalance the economy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Esther McVey]

Not yet. Let me proceed to put the debate in context. Hon. Members talked about the regional development agencies. I will talk favourably about the Northwest Development Agency because the staff there are superb. I have worked with many of them and have a lot of time for them. However, let me give the statistics. From 1990 to 1999, annual growth was 1.7% in the north-west and 2.3% in the south-east—a gap of 0.6%. Between 2000 and 2008, average growth was 1.5% in the north-west and 2.1% in the south-east. We kept that gap of 0.6%, despite spending £3.7 billion over a decade.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Esther McVey]

No, I will not. Therefore, we now have to ask how we will spend money better, how we will live within our means and how we will rebalance the economy. I talk as someone who had her own business for the last 14 years. I have set businesses up and sold them. I also set up the biggest business network for women in the north-west, involving more than 9,000 business ladies. I therefore like to see myself not only as a business woman, but as a pragmatist who knows that we can spend only what we have. That is what the coalition Government were facing.

I hope that I have set the debate in context. The regional growth fund was set up to create a fairer and more balanced economy, in which we are not so dependent on a narrow range of economic sectors and in which new business and economic opportunities are evenly shared across the regions and across industries. That is what we set out to achieve.