Labour not doing enough to stem unemployment

LibDems Peter Black AM and Jenny Willott MP have warned that JobCentres are buckling under the weight of increasing unemployment. Peter said that "the government is relying too much on hard-pressed staff to clear up some of the mess their economic policies have helped create."

While the government closed traditional employment offices (Cymmer, Glynneath, Pontardawe and Ystradgynlais in Neath Port Talbot alone), the much-vaunted New Deal continues to make a net loss to the taxpayer of between £40 and £1100, even after the gain in tax and benefits is taken account of.

It should be remembered that these schemes were launched in the early days of this Labour government. Producing job creation schemes at a time of virtually full employment and then cutting DWP staff when mass unemployment threatens is of a piece with selling gold reserves when the pound is at its highest and trying to borrow ones way out of economic difficulties which were created by excessive borrowing.