Martyn Jones

Labour Party | Clwyd South

Clwyd South Sees Unemployment Sliced In Half – And It’s Still Falling…

MARTYN JONES, MP for Clwyd South is overwhelmed by an encouraging set of statistics published showing that Unemployment has halved in Clwyd South since 1997 and is currently falling by an average rate of almost 10% per year.

Britain now enjoys the lowest unemployment rate for any major industrialised nation.  This success story is taken to vanguard in Clwyd South where the unemployment rate is way below the national average.  This puts Clwyd South’s unemployment rate amongst the best in the world. 

Mr. Jones is making a conscious effort to cite such statistics in a bid to ensure that voters are aware of the dangers associated with the massive tax cuts that were proposed by the Tory party leader Michael Howard earlier this week

“I firmly believe that there is no better example of Labour’s successful economic policy that these fantastic unemployment figures published for our constituency.”

Under Tory proposals: tax cuts would equate to increases in public spending by eliminating those civil servants who make government departments work.  Mr. Jones believes this to be another example of Tory short sighted rhetoric. 

“It may look like a fantastic idea on paper, but cutting back so severely on the administrative arm of government will certainly impose on schemes such as the New Deal programme that are used to alleviate those who wish to work from their current unemployment – the very scheme that is working to create such magnificent results for Clwyd South.”

Even with such damaging administration cuts, Mr. Jones questions whether such spending plans can be fulfilled without major cuts to public services.

“These cuts would be more extreme and more damaging than anything ever attempted by Mrs Thatcher.  There is no way cuts of this magnitude could be made without hitting frontline services.

“Micheal Howard’s desperate attempts to say in one breath that they would deliver huge cuts in spending yet match Labour’s spending in health, education, defence, and overseas aid, coupled with tax cuts suggests a balance sheet that simply doesn’t add up.”

Unemployment (those claiming benefits) in 1997 stood at 1294 – this has now been sliced by 49.9% to 648 (Uneployment by constituency, 2004).  The unemployment rate in Clwyd South now stands at 2% against a national average of 2.8% (Unemplopyment by constituency, 2004).  Mr. Jones hopes that voters will not be swayed by Tory nonesense and instead adopt an objective attitude, referring to indisputable statistics such as these.

“Clwyd South is working and all evidence points to the fact that things are only getting better.”