HC Deb 11 December 1996 vol 287 cc263-4
3. Mr. Fabricant

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the report of the International Labour Organisation concerning levels of unemployment; and if she will make a statement. [7053]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. James Paice)

We welcome the fact that the ILO agrees that the United Kingdom is the only major industrialised country with falling unemployment, and that our job assistance and advice service is working well.

Mr. Fabricant

Is it not ironic that the Labour party has been saying for years that we have been lying about the fall in our unemployment figures, but the ILO has now vindicated what we have been saying for the past few years? Has not the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also been saying that this is because the social chapter has been creating unemployment in Europe? Does that perhaps explain why today's Daily Mail says that the Leader of the Opposition is now going to ditch the social chapter?

Mr. Paice

I am sure that my hon. Friend is not alone in being interested in that article. [Interruption.] I am sure that others are interested—not least the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett), who has just said from a sedentary position that even he was interested. That just shows that, yet again, he is not being consulted on these matters. If it is indeed true that the Leader of the Opposition intends to ditch his commitment to the social chapter, that just proves yet again that he is prepared to change his mind on any issue in his desperate search for power.

Mr. MacShane

May I tear the Minister away from the Daily Mail and its fantasies? He has praised the ILO report. Will he now tell the House that the British Government, who founded the ILO, will abide by its conventions and implement its recommendations in all regards?

Mr. Paice

We judge each case on its merits.

Mr. Tredinnick

Does my hon. Friend agree that the best possible Christmas present for my Leicestershire constituents is the news that unemployment is down to under 3 per cent. and the number of vacancies has risen by nearly 100 in a year? Does that not vindicate not only the policy of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, but the labour force survey and its recent findings?

Mr. Paice

I am sure that my hon. Friend knows best what it is right for his constituents to receive for Christmas, not just this year but next year and in the years ahead. When he talks to his constituents, he will doubtless bear it in mind that the United Kingdom—with no social chapter and no minimum wage—has more people in work and fewer out of work than any of the other major European countries.

Mr. Hain

Why does the Minister not come clean and admit that the unemployment figures hide the Government's shameful jobs record? Is he aware that his ministerial colleague the Economic Secretary admitted that since 1979, when the Tories came to power, Britain has fallen to 17th in the international jobs league, far behind all our major competitor countries? For millions of people, employment in Britain is now poor, nasty, brutish and short. The nation is haunted by job insecurity and even if Conservative Members will not admit that, they will find it out for themselves at the next general election.

Mr. Paice

The hon. Gentleman forgot one thing—the fact that 768,000 extra jobs have been created since the last recession.

Mr. Congdon

Is it not good news that the unemployment rate in this country has fallen by more than 900,000 since its peak, in sharp contrast to the higher and increasing unemployment rates among our major competitors such as France and Germany? Does that not clearly show the dinosaurs in the Opposition that it would be absolutely crazy for this country to introduce socialist measures such as the minimum wage and the social chapter?

Mr. Paice

My hon. Friend is entirely right. Every survey and study shows that Britain's unemployment record is an example to the rest of Europe. Countries that are not at the top of the jobs league and European business men also realise that our labour market is the best.