Blog Posts Tagged ‘Brown’
Politics of recession comes to dominate the political field
In light of the worsening global economic crisis, it is unsurprising that unemployment is rising. What is surprising however is the rate of the increase. Unemployment increased by 164,000 in 3 months or rather more sensationally 1.25 jobs a minute. That brings unemployment to 5.7% up from 5.2% in the last quarter the overall statistic is still not terrible but it is the highest seen in over 8 years. What is more concerning however is that the number of vacancies is also falling which increases the likelihood of the job losses turning into long-term unemployment.
The Question we must surely ask ourselves is whether the problem will get worse. The consensus amongst economists is that it will. Some economists are saying that unemployment will reach 2 million by Christmas and one forecast by, Capital Economics predicts that unemployment will reach 3 million by Christmas 2010.
Looking at the political reaction to this we can see that Commons Leader Harriet Harman told the Commons the Government was “very, very much concerned.” Brown reacted by promising to safeguard existing jobs saying, “Unemployment and redundancies are something that we wish to avoid wherever possible,”
The Opposition unsurprisingly has been quick to comment. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling said the UK was now seeing the consequences of “the economic mismanagement of the last 10 years”. The conservatives are evidently sticking to the theme of “not mending the roof while the sun was shining” -George Osborne in regards to public sector borrowing. The conservatives added that “many people will suffer as a result.”
The Lib Dems on the other hand have said “The effects of the banking crisis have filtered down to the real economy and are affecting people across the county.” The Lib Dems now advise “Now the banking rescue package has been agreed, the government must turn its attention to unemployment and inflation. Real families across Britain are suffering, not just those working in the Square Mile.”
It is undeniable that unemployment is once again firmly on the political agenda. I believe that this represents one of the most profound changes to the political landscape in the last few years. The dominance of Cameron and the Conservatives has been checked by these new issues and Brown received a bounce in the polls (However the Guardian still maintain that he is 12 points behind). It seems that the economic crisis has increased the appeal of a safe pair of hands and Brown has 11 years of experience. The PM has also received a lot of good press by coordinating the international reaction to the crisis.
I believe that the issues surrounding recession (growth, inflation, unemployment) will cme to dominate the political agenda very soon the question posed seems to be can Brown turn things around or will Cameron’s political nimbleness allow him the grasp this new opportunity and finally finish new Labour.
