CHANCELLOR Philip Hammond has been widely criticised after claiming that “there are no unemployed people”.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show ahead of his Budget on Wednesday, Hammond painted an incredibly rosy picture of Britain’s economy, that opposition politicians said showed how just out of touch and deluded the government is.
Hammond’s comment came as he denied that his plan to put driverless cars on UK roads by 2021 would put taxi and truck drivers out of work.
“I remember 20 years ago we were worrying about what was going to happen to the million shorthand typists in Britain as the personal computer took over,” the Chancellor told Marr. “Well, nobody has a shorthand typist these days.
And he added: “Where are all these unemployed people? There are no unemployed people.
“We’ve created 3.5million new jobs since 2010. This economy has become a jobs factory, constantly reinventing itself, constantly creating new jobs and careers,” he said.
Marr asked if the Chancellor had forgotten about the 1.42 million people identified as unemployed in the most recent jobless statistics which showed the count was at 1.42m between July and September this year.
“No, they haven’t been forgotten by this government,” replied Hammond. “It was the last Labour government that abandoned the unemployed, ignored them, dumped them on welfare.”
Only later, speaking on ITV’s Peston On Sunday programme, did Hammond retract his comment, saying “Of course I didn’t mean that [there is no unemployment].
“There’s 1.4 million unemployed people in this country and that’s 1.4 million too many. But we have record low levels of unemployment, it hasn’t been this low since the 1970s.
“But the point I was making to your former colleague Andrew Marr is that previous waves of technological change have not resulted in millions of people being long-term unemployed.
“They have been re-absorbed into the workforce.”
That, however, was too late.
John McDonnell, the Labour shadow chancellor, said: “The chancellor thinks there are no unemployed people in this country. Completely out of touch.”
Labour’s shadow cabinet secretary Jon Trickett said Hammond was “living on another planet”.
“The Tories have become even more out of touch and are now so inwards looking that they have no clue of the experiences of ordinary people suffering from seven years of Tory austerity,” he said.
LibDem leader Vince Cable added: “As Chancellor, Philip Hammond needs to be on top of the numbers and, as he should know very well, there are actually 1.425 million people unemployed.
“Worse, a large number of them are second or third generation out of work, suggesting that all that a large number of people are inheriting in Britain today is poverty.”
Labour MP Laura Pidcock tweeted: “Did @PhilipHammondUK really just say that there are no unemployed people? Yes, he did.
“If ever there was a symbol of a more out of touch government, that is surely it. 1.42 million written off by the Chancellor & that doesn’t even include those hidden by official statistics”.
Meanwhile, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford urged Hammond to ditch the “failed Tory dogma” when he delivers his budget this week.
Blackford said the Chancellor should take the “opportunity to address some of the running sores which are so damaging to our economy and our society” when Hammond stands up in the Commons to deliver the budget on Wednesday.
“He must take the chance to provide clarity for business – and central to that is keeping the UK in the single market,” the SNP MP said.
“He must take action to support young people who – thanks to this government – are the first in modern times to be worse off than their parents, with measures such as a real living wage.
“But he must also take action to boost incomes across society – after a decade of stagnant wages, insecure jobs, and Tory cuts to social security that have pushed many families into poverty, debt and crisis. Most pressingly, the UK Government must pause the botched roll-out of Universal Credit. Finally, the Tories long ago lost the argument on charging VAT to Scotland’s police and fire services – within even many voices in their own ranks now accepting that this is unjustifiable. Mr Hammond must now finally right this wrong.
Blackford added: “Put bluntly, this Chancellor must bring forward a budget that puts people and prosperity first – not failed Tory party dogma.”
Last week Theresa May gave the biggest indication yet that Hammond may U-turn on the VAT charges for Scotland’s police and fire services.
May hinted at the move during Prime Minister’s Questions, but left the SNP stunned when she said any change of heart from the Treasury would be because of representations from Scotland’s Tory MPs.
The 12 new MPs had made “very constructive representations,” on the issue, the Prime Minister claimed.
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