Former Work and Pensions Secretary Rt Hon David Blunkett MP has condemned Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech today on the economy and worklessness – "not for its objective, but for its bare-faced cheek".
Mr Blunkett was speaking after Mr Cameron attacked the previous Labour Government for what he said were five million people who were economically inactive.
Mr Blunkett, who was Work and Pensions Secretary in 2005, said: “Is there a single one of us who does not want to get people off benefits and into work? Is there not one of us who has held any responsibility in this field who have not gone the extra mile? Have we not laid down these principles – as I certainly did in September 2005 – to achieve this goal?
“Of course we have. What we were coping with in government was the worst worklessness since the 1930s, exemplified by the mass exit from work onto what became incapacity benefit in the 1980s and early ’90s. Literally millions of people were put on the scrapheap in an attempt to try and alleviate the social unrest which took place under that Conservative Government – with riots across most cities – and to hide the true level of unemployment.
“That scandal was tackled by the Labour Government from 1997. The reduction in worklessness and the massive uplift in the percentage of the population who were economically active – one of the best rates in the world – was as a result of Labour’s policy in power.
“To now pretend that we are not one of the best nations in the world – better than anywhere else in Europe – in terms of the percentage of the population who are economically active is a deceit on the British people.
“There is no point in re-fighting the general election of May 6, but there is every point in avoiding history being rewritten, lies being told and the achievements of the Labour Government being binned.
“The people must not be misled into believing – even if they like the rhetoric – that the Conservative Party are the best force for alleviating poverty and overcoming unemployment.
“Had the Tories been in power over the last three years, all economists of any standing acknowledge that there would have been another half a million people out of work; deposits in banks would have been at risk; and growth would have plummeted as public expenditure – and, therefore, economic activity – was depressed.
“Truth as well as rhetoric must mark anything that can be described as ‘new politics’. A pretence of ‘new economics’ is part of the delusion which seems to underpin this coalition.”
ENDS
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