Jobless total hits 17-year high

Unemployment reached a 17-year high today after a 118,000 increase in the jobless total, which saw a record number of young people out of work.

The figure jumped to 2.68 million in the three months to November, the worst since the summer of 1994, giving the UK a jobless rate of 8.4%.

The number of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds increased by 52,000 over the quarter to 1.04 million, the highest since records began in 1992.

And the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance in December increased by 1,200 to 1.6 million, the highest for a year after the 10th consecutive monthly rise.

Other figures showed that almost a million working days were lost in November as a result of the public sector pensions strike, the highest figure since 1989.

The Office for National Statistics reported that the number of people in full-time employment fell by 57,000 in the latest three months, but there was a 75,000 increase in part-time workers.

There was a 44,000 rise in the number of people working part-time or for themselves because they could not find a full-time job, taking the total to 1.3 million, the highest since comparable records began in 1992.

Employment increased by 18,000 to 29.12 million, while the number of people classed as economically inactive fell by 61,000 to 9.29 million, a rate of 23.1%.

The fall was mainly due to fewer women looking after a family or home, and fewer retired people under the age of 65.

Unemployment increased evenly among men and women in the latest quarter, while the number of people out of work for longer than two years increased by 1,000 to 424,000.

There was a 10,000 fall in the number out of work for more than a year to 857,000.

Average earnings increased by 1.9% in the year to November, down by 0.2 percentage points on the previous month.

John Salt, director at recruitment firm totaljobs.com, said: “Whether or not the UK is technically in recession, for those out of work the situation is already dire enough.

“Today’s figures merely confirm what our barometer has been telling us for three months now, that applications per job are at an all-time high of 23, with not enough growth in the labour market to absorb the numbers being laid off. What’s more, the signs for 2012 just aren’t good.

“The eurozone crisis threatens not only jobs reliant on exports but also in the financial services industries. With retail already struggling following a lacklustre Christmas, it is difficult to see sectors in which we’re going to see significant increases in available jobs.”

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: “This rise in unemployment was made in Downing Street. The truth is that jobs are haemorrhaging in the public and private sectors and no one in the Government seems to know what to do to stop this.

“There are parts of the country in such despair that more than a quarter of households with people of working age have no one in work.

“The number one political priority has to be securing a reduction in unemployment.”

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “The overall level of unemployment is, and will remain, a major concern for the Government.

“The latest figures reflect the current challenging economic climate but also show more women entering the workforce and more students looking to supplement their income through work.

“When you take into account our welfare reforms, the number of jobseeker allowance claimants has actually fallen.

“Despite the exceptionally difficult economic circumstances, finding work for the unemployed will remain top of the Government’s agenda.”

LEADERS UNITE ON SCOTS REFERENDUM

David Cameron and Ed Miliband joined forces today in pledging to fight to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom, as Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told Westminster politicians to "butt out" of the debate.

The leaders of both major Westminster parties called on Mr Salmond's Scottish National Party to engage in talks over the coming weeks to pave the way for a referendum on independence.

Mr Cameron said he "passionately" believed in preserving the Union, and taunted the SNP for seeking to delay a ballot, telling MPs: "Let's have the debate and let's keep our country together."

But Mr Salmond dismissed the UK Government's argument that Scotland's Parliament has no legal power to mount its own referendum on independence.

He will unveil his own proposals before the end of this month for a referendum in the autumn of 2014.

The First Minister's plans, set for publication in the week beginning January 23, look set to put Edinburgh on collision course with London.

Addressing MPs, prime minister David Cameron said he was disappointed at the constitutional dispute over the proposed referendum on Scottish independence (Pic: PA)

Mr Salmond's office said they will include a vote for 16 and 17-year-olds and may offer voters a third "devo-max" option, under which Scotland would stay in the Union but gain greater self-determination on financial issues. Both of these features were ruled out in UK Government proposals put forward by Scotland Secretary Michael Moore.

Mr Moore called on the Scottish administration to work with the UK Government over the coming weeks to agree arrangements for a "clear, legal and decisive" referendum, which could be held within 18 months.

And Mr Cameron's spokesman indicated that this could involve talks between the Prime Minister and Mr Salmond.

The spokesman said he expected negotiations over the referendum - and the independence battle itself - to involve senior politicians from all sides of the debate, including a number of Government ministers.

He did not rule out the possibility that Mr Cameron could appear alongside Mr Miliband to argue the case for the Union, after the Prime Minister said he agreed "100%" with the Labour leader on the benefits of preserving the United Kingdom.

In a rare display of unity at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Cameron said: "This is one area where (Mr Miliband) and I are going to be 100% in agreement.

"I passionately believe in the future of our United Kingdom. I passionately believe we are stronger together rather than breaking apart.

"Frankly, I am sad we are even having this debate, because I support the United Kingdom so strongly, but we have to respect the fact that Scotland voted for a separatist party at the Scottish parliamentary elections."

Mr Miliband said: "We on this side of the House believe the United Kingdom benefits the people of Scotland and the people of the rest of the United Kingdom in equal measure.

"We are stronger together and weaker apart."

Mr Cameron said he was "looking forward" to the debate, and mocked the SNP for seeking to delay the poll until 2014, telling MPs: "I sometimes think when I listen to them that it is not a referendum they want, it's a never-endum."

Asked whether the PM would be willing to share a platform with Mr Miliband, Mr Cameron's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is keen to make the case for the Union and you saw at Prime Minister's Questions that he is keen to work with the opposition on this."

Mr Salmond said the Prime Minister should "butt out" of an issue for Scottish people and said his intervention had provoked a "huge adverse reaction... to the Thatcheresque idea that Downing Street knows best".

He had "no objection" to Mr Moore's proposals for Westminster to help Holyrood stage a referendum, but said there was "plenty of legal authority" for the Scottish Government to mount its own ballot without assistance from south of the border.

Mr Salmond told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The objection, of course, is that the Prime Minister has started to put all sorts of London-based strings on."

He said: "Our conditions are quite clear: this must be a referendum built and run in Scotland, accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It has to be run fairly and transparently, of course, but we won't accept unreasonable conditions placed by London on how Scotland should run the poll."

Mr Salmond's office confirmed the Scottish Government's position that 16 and 17-year-olds on the electoral register in Scotland should be "fully entitled to vote" in any referendum. Asked if voters would be offered a third "devo-max" option, a spokesman said: "We're not for closing down choice."


© Press Association 2012

STOP FIRMS ABUSING TAX RULES: CLEGG

The Government should impose rules on big business to stop firms abusing the system to avoid tax, Nick Clegg said today.

The Deputy Prime Minister said ordinary people were frustrated by the ability of the wealthy to hire an "army" of accountants to slash their tax liability.

In a new year interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, the Liberal Democrat leader said he could not write George Osborne's 2012 budget for him, but added that he thought an anti-abuse rule was possible.

Mr Clegg said: "I think there are millions of people - and these are people who the Liberal Democrats are in politics for - who pay their taxes, who work hard, who aspire to do the right things for themselves and their families, who are quite rightly angered there is a wealthy elite of large businesses who can pay an army of tax accountants to get out of paying their fair share of tax.

"They basically see paying tax as an optional extra, they pick and choose the taxes you pay. That's why I insisted we write into the coalition agreement, as we did when we started the Government 18 months ago, that we clamp down on tax avoidance, including working up long-standing Liberal Democrat ideas - for instance, to apply a new general anti-avoidance rule.

Tax evasion costs the UK £ms

"There should be a general rule that you can't play the system, you can't abuse the system.

"We have received a report from an expert, Graham Aaronson, who has provided a report to the Treasury, that says what he calls an anti-abuse rule is feasible.

"I very much hope, and I'm not going to write George Osborne's budget, we can make progress on that in the budget. We have got to make sure the tax system is fair."

Mr Clegg highlighted achievements already made by the Liberal Democrats in Government, including the raising of the income tax allowance and the pupil premium in schools.

He said the overall goal was to rebalance the tax system away from taxation on work and earnings towards taxing unearned wealth, but refused to comment specifically about a mansion tax.

He said: "We must constantly explain to people what we are doing in this Government. Look at this debate about irresponsible capitalism, what I call crony capitalism.

"It is the Liberal Democrats who have led the debate on clamping down on bankers' bonuses, and I think we have to be just as tough this year with the bonuses coming up as were last year, if not more so.

"It is the Liberal Democrats who led calls, Vince Cable did last year at our party conference, for a new transparency and accountability on excess in executive pay, where people are being paid too much money when they fail to do well for their companies.

"Our cornerstone commitment is to make the tax system fairer by lifting the point at which you start paying income tax.

"I will continue to advocate a system as a Liberal Democrat where you have a lower burden on work and enterprise and a higher burden of tax on wealth. I think we have a tax system that is unbalanced."

Asked about the sequence of events leading up to Mr Cameron's veto at December's European summit, the Deputy Prime Minister said the prospect of Britain being left in a group of one had not been really discussed.

Mr Clegg told the Today programme: "I don't think anyone planned for the outcome that left Britain in a position of one. The dangers are obvious.

"There was no real planning or discussion about the possibility of Britain being in a corner on its own.

"The dangers are that other countries seek to do things in a way that is not particularly helpful to us as a country and when we have not got a proper influence or a good voice."

Mr Clegg said plans had been made to ensure there was a proper single market and a level playing field for financial services in Europe - but in the event "there appeared to have been no negotiation" on these issues.

The Liberal Democrat leader also said "that is history, that happened" and said the Government was still working with its European partners.

He said: "The important thing is we use our clout, and it is considerable clout, in the heart of Europe ... unless we deal with the lack of competitiveness across the European continent, we will find ourselves as a continent in a state of crisis in 10, 15 or 20 years' time.

"I don't want to get into the twists and turns of what actually happened in the dead of night (during the summit). The outcome was the outcome as I learned after the event.

"Whatever your views on Europe, and I know how imperfect it is, how frustrating it is - this is a club that took 15 years to define what chocolate is.

"I believe in our commitment to Europe because I believe it is good for jobs, but I also believe in reform for Europe. You do that by standing tall and speaking out loud and clear from the heart of Europe.

"You do that in any number of ways, across the coalition Government."

Speaking earlier on the Today programme, Mark Pack, co-editor of the blog Lib Dem Voice, said he believed his party could recover if it continues to win policy successes, such as accelerating towards the £10,000 tax allowance.

He said: "The Budget will be particularly important. We are not going to see a big giveaway Budget.

"But the influence of the Liberal Democrats is an open question.

"There have been more Liberal Democrat policies implemented in the last year than in my lifetime - and yet politically we are not benefiting.

"On the broad strategy, the party is united."


PA 2012