Cameron renews election jobs promise of full employment
DAVID Cameron has vowed to create “full employment” in Britain if he wins the next general election, ensuring everyone who wants a job can get one.
“The ambition for full employment is that anyone who wants a job should be able to get a job, and we want to see our employment rate, which is already one of the higher ones in the advanced world, we want it to be the highest of the G7 countries.”
However, Labour dismissed the target as “empty words”. Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves responded: “The Tories’ low wage economy has left millions of people stuck on low pay, or unable to get enough work to pay the bills.”
Speaking at a factory in Ipswich, the Prime Minister announced that he wanted 50,000 more loans to be issued as part of the governments startup loan scheme, which provides advice, business loans and mentoring to startups. This will increase the number of loans issued under the scheme from 25,000 to 75,000, with £300m being made available to make this happen in the next parliament.
Cameron pledged to help small businesses, saying: “we’re the party of the roofers and the retailers; the builders and the businesswomen.”
Cameron vowed to further cut red tape, and reasserted a tougher stance on immigration. He said he would implement the “toughest possible welfare controls” on those coming to Britain from the EU.
Migrants from EU countries will not be able to claim benefits while looking for work, will have to return to the country they came from if they fail to secure employment, and will not be able to send child benefit to family members who remain abroad.
Full employment does not mean an unemployment rate of zero per cent; instead Cameron wants the UK to be the “jobs factory of Europe” where employment is above Germany’s rate of 74.2 per cent, the highest in Europe.
New research from Oxford University found the UK had added more low-skilled jobs in the economy, compared to European economies between 1996 and 2008.