Economic hardship: why the Tories just don’t get it

By Hazel Blears
Millions of people in Britain are worried about the recession and way it will affect them and their families. Many thousands have lost their jobs, and many more face the prospect of redundancy.

Everyone understands that the chill winds of the global recession, started in America, are blowing into every part of Britain. People know it will be tough on every company and on every high street. And people look to their Government for strong, decisive action to protect their jobs, homes and businesses.

Strong decisive action of the kind we’ve seen in recent weeks from Labour: stabilising the banking system, protecting mortgages, investing in house-building and vital public works, helping the car industry, creating more apprenticeships and greening the economy.

I believe that there is a reason why Labour understands what needs to be done, whilst the Tories don’t get it. Why Labour does the right thing, and the Tories would do the wrong thing: making the recession deeper, longer and more painful. Why Labour Britain is working with countries across the world, while the Tories are isolated and alone, out of step with Europe and with Obama.

And that reason is that the Tory shadow cabinet has little experience of economic hardship or unemployment. When I was growing up, my father was unemployed, and blacklisted because of his union activities. My mother had to take on three part-time jobs to put food on the table. I was a councillor during the 1980s recession in Salford, which bore the brunt of the mass unemployment. I know what recession does to families, and as I look around the Cabinet table, I see colleagues who are in touch with the daily realities of hard-working families, and in some cases I see colleagues who, like me, have known real family hardship caused by unemployment. That empathy and experience gives our Labour Cabinet extra resolve and determination to do everything we can to help people through the tough times.

When I look at the Tory benches I think: they just don’t get it.