We Need Action To Battle Unemployment

It is pretty hard to understate the devastating impact that unemployment has on individuals, families and communities. The North East has suffered more than most from this terrible recession.

Unemployment in North Durham has gone up by 101 per cent over the past year. Some 1,316 more people are unemployed than was the case at this time last year. That is 1,316 more families suffering the terrible impact of unemployment. That is 1,316 more people who have been badly let down by this Government and their inability to take swift and decisive action to turn the situation around.

People I speak to in North Durham are all of the mind that much more needs to be done. To take just one example, it frankly isn't good enough that somebody who is unemployed has to go through hoops of Job Centre bureaucracy just to have a decent conversation with an advisor.

Unemployment is the worst of all economic evils. We must do all that we can to turn around the rise in unemployment in the North East. And we must take this action quickly.