5M BRITONS HAVE NEVER WORKED UNDER LABOUR

NEARLY two million people in Britain have never had a job and a further three million have not worked since Labour came to power, shock figures revealed last night.


In the worst unemployment black spots, as many as a quarter of all adults have not held down a job since 1996.

The disturbing figures, released by the Tories yesterday, were obtained from analysis of a recent population survey.

They show that a total of about five million have been out of work for over a decade.

The Conservatives warned that the statistics confirmed Britain was burdened by hidden pockets of severe long-term unemployment years before the current recession.

And while they backed support for people made redundant in the downturn, they accused Labour of fostering a culture of worklessness and benefits dependency in the most impoverished areas.

Frontbencher Theresa May released the figures yesterday, ahead of a keynote speech tomorrow attacking Labour’s welfare system.

She will tell the Westminster-based think-tank Policy Exchange: “These people have been hidden by Labour for the past 10 years. They have built a wall between the working and the workless, hoping to keep their failures out of sight.” the worst long-term unemployment black spot is Newham in East London...

In neighbouring Tower Hamlets and in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, about 24 per cent of the population have not worked since before 1996...

The figures, based on the 2001 population census for England and Wales, show that the worst long-term unemployment black spot is Newham in East London.

A total of 43,850 people there – about one in four adults – have not worked since 1997 and more than 2,400, or about one in 100, have never worked in their lives.

In neighbouring Tower Hamlets and in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, about 24 per cent of the population have not worked since before 1996.

Other areas blighted by high levels of long-term unemployment include Liverpool, Manchester and Middlesbrough.

In her speech tomorrow Ms May will say: “Unemployment did not disappear during the boom years. It was merely disguised, renamed, and hidden away.”

She will add: “Many of those covered in these statistics will not appear in the unemployment figures at all. No doubt the figures will cover some of the 800,000 people who have been on incapacity benefits for over 10 years.

“They will include lone parents which the state has told not to bother trying to work until their youngest child was 16. They will include some of the record numbers not in education, employment or training, who often don’t appear in the benefit figures.”

The Tory figures show that 1,851,841 people had been “economically inactive” all their lives at the time of the 2001 census and 5,931,880 had not worked since before 1996.

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s absolutely right that we have a safety net to help people who fall on hard times, but the Government have allowed welfare to become a life choice rather than a last resort.

“We have families where generations have been unemployed – small wonder there is so much social breakdown.”

Earlier this month, figures published by Policy Exchange showed that six million people in Britain are living on jobless benefits. continues here

Related Posts by Categories