Treasury Questions

At Treasury Questions on 29 April 2014 Valerie Vaz asked:

“According to the Office for National Statistics, unemployment in the west midlands has risen to 8.2%. Can the Chancellor explain why?”

The Chancellor replied:

“The statistics for the hon. Lady’s constituency show that unemployment is down 20%, youth unemployment is down 20% and long-term unemployment is down 20%. In the west midlands, during the boom years — the unsustainable boom — private sector employment actually fell. That points to what went wrong with the previous Government — they put all the bets on the City of London, the shadow Chancellor did not regulate it properly, it blew up and we are now retrieving the situation that he created.”