Member News
Governments have a "moral obligation" to help those who have lost a job through no fault of their own, David Cameron has said.
Speaking at the Conservative Women's Organisation conference in Westminster, the Tory leader identified fear of redundancy as the biggest worry for many households during the economic crisis.
His comments come a day ahead of an expected Tory announcement on plans for tax cuts funded by savings in government spending.
The party has refused to confirm details of the plans, but reports have suggested they could include scrapping National Insurance contributions for new workers to encourage firms to take on staff.
Cameron said: "You don't need a long memory in this country to remember the trauma of mass unemployment.
"As a recession sets in, hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of losing their jobs, and as recessions go on, long-term unemployment soars.
"That is a tragedy for the people involved, and it's a tragedy for us, too - for all of society."
Promising that a Tory government would not "walk on by while people lose their jobs", he said the "authentic Conservative response to the pain of mass unemployment" was a mixture of "compassion with responsibility".
"Not just throwing money at the problem - because that would be irresponsible," he said.
"But not just standing by either - because that would be uncompassionate.
"We have a moral obligation to help those who have lost their job through no fault of their own, or are in danger of doing so."
Promising further details of his plan later this week, he said: "It is in no one's interests to allow long-term unemployment to take root, which is why we've got to take action now to prevent mass unemployment happening."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd