Douglas Alexander MP

Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South

Paisley Daily Express Column - 23 November 2011

UNEMPLOYMENT IS NEVER A PRICE WORTH PAYING

I paid a visit to St Andrews Academy last week. The pupils were impressive - curious, eager, and engaged. Meeting the third, fourth, fifth and sixth year pupils should have filled me with confidence about the future of our local community.

But as I drove away from the  school after the visit I wondered to myself what future these local youngsters will encounter when they finish school, college, or university.

My worry for them was deepened by another grim week of economic news last week. Youth unemployment crashed through one million across the UK.

And the affects are reaching into every community - including our own.

The latest job figures show unemployment the highest it has been for 17 years and the most women out of work since 1988.

Listening to the people who come to my surgeries desperate to find work it's clear to me the Scottish Government in Holyrood aren’t doing nearly enough for communities like ours; with unemployment in Paisley and Renfrewshire South well about the Scottish and UK averages.

The 5,000 people in Paisley and Renfrewshire South looking for a job don’t want to hear more excuses from Tory and SNP politicians: they want to see practical action.

But at the moment it seems as a community we're stuck between the Tories cutting too far and too fast and an SNP government presiding over rising unemployment and declining growth.

And if David Cameron and George Osborne could see the problem before this week, they now have one million reasons to change course.

Youth unemployment over a million might just be a statistic to them but think of all that potential wasted and all those opportunities crushed here in our community.

And worst of all this is a sacrifice without sense because the Government could be helping the economy rather than choking it off.

So this week I met with Ed Balls, Labour's Shadow Chancellor to discuss the plan he's put on the table that we think could help get our young people back to work and back to work fast.

The plan would mean a £2bn tax on bank bonuses that will both support the construction industry help provide work for young people.

It would mean cutting VAT temporarily to give immediate help to high streets like our own and struggling families; cutting VAT to 5% on home improvements; and a one-year national insurance holiday for every small firm taking on extra workers.

Instead of blaming Europe or the snow or even the Royal Wedding for these awful figures the Government should change course.

In Paisley and Renfrewshire South alone, the figures show 5,000 people unemployed and an unemployment rate of 12.3%.

There just aren't the vacancies out there to provide the work these people need.

It is in that context that

600,000 public sector jobs are being axed by governments in Edinburgh and London, and activity in small and medium sized firms relying on public sector contracts and investment dwindling.

Almost a thousand staff have already been shed by Renfrewshire Council.

Decisions like that are partly why the Fraser of Allander Institute have now downgraded their growth forecasts to 0.4% this year, and 0.9% in 2012 compared to their June forecast of 0.8% and 1.5%, respectively.

The reckless option in those circumstances is just to carry on regardless. A far better approach would be stop choking off the recovery and get a plan for growth and jobs in Scotland fast.

I remember being at school here in Renfrewshire thirty years ago when the Linwood Car Plant closed its doors for the last time.

There were people employed there who never worked again, condemned by a Government approach that believed unemployment was "a price worth paying". 

We cannot afford - in social or economic terms - to witness another lost generation here in Renfrewshire in the years ahead.

It's time for action to tackle a problem that is rapidly becoming a crisis.