Party Lines: October 13th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today was of course Ed Miliband’s first PMQs as leader of the opposition, but there was plenty of other action from Labour’s front bench team, with Douglas Alexander commenting on employment figures, and Angela Eagle responding to a PwC report that suggested that one million jobs could be lost through Tory cuts.

Reacting to today’s employment figures, which saw unemployment rise while the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance rose, shadow secretary of state for work and pensions Douglas Alexander said:

“These are worrying figures reflecting the current fragility of the recovery. For the second month in a row the number of people claiming job-seekers allowance, has risen – while the number of vacancies has fallen. Until last month, claimant count had fallen every month since January of this year…The Government’s approach is predicated on an early private sector led recovery. Yet a PwC report released only this morning estimates that public sector spending cuts could reduce private sector gross output by around £46 billion per annum by 2014/15. When combined with OBR public sector job loss forecasts, PwC suggest that nearly one million could face unemployment due to public sector cuts.”

“We welcome the fact that the overall number of people who were unemployed between June and August continued the downward trend seen in previous months. But the increase in the number of people signing on in the last month, confirms that there are still too many people who cannot find work. We cannot put their hopes at risk now.”

Angela Eagle responded to today’s “worrying” PwC report, saying:

“Today’s report from PwC will be very worrying for those people already concerned about the future of their jobs and is yet another warning about the risks the Coalition Government is taking with the economy. And this isn’t just about the public sector. The report is very clear that by cutting at this reckless pace the Government will hit the private sector hard, before it is fully back on its feet. The Government should not be taking this gamble with the economy.”