Opposition Day — Concern about Coalition's Emergency Budget — 7 Jul 2010 at 18:44

The majority of MPs voted to reject a motion put forward by the Labour opposition which expressed concern about potential negative consequences of the coalition's emergency budget.

The text of the rejected opposition motion read:

"That this House:

• notes with grave concern that the emergency budget will increase unemployment;
• calls on the Government to publish the HM Treasury analysis of jobs that will be lost in the public and private sector;
• condemns the Government's decision to axe the Future Jobs Fund, the Youth Guarantee and the Jobseeker's Guarantee, scrapping hundreds of thousands of jobs and training places for the unemployed;
• further notes that the Government is cutting employment support to help people into jobs at a time when growth is still fragile;
• regrets that the role of the voluntary sector in helping people into work is at risk;
• further notes that the current claimant count is half the level it was in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of the support and investment the previous Government provided for jobs and getting people back to work;
• further notes the cost to communities and the economy of long-term unemployment; and
• condemns the Government's decision to abolish regional development agencies with potentially damaging consequences for regional economies at a time when the recovery is not yet assured."

The vote was on if the original words (above) ought "stand part" of the motion. Following the vote MPs replaced the above text with a government amendment which stated:

"That this House:

• welcomes the emergency budget which will tackle the unprecedented legacy of debt over the next five years by reducing borrowing from a projected £149 billion this year to just £20 billion in 2015- 16;
• notes the Office for Budget Responsibility's projection that unemployment will fall in every year of this Parliament as a result of the Government's policies to stimulate private sector employment by reversing the damaging increase planned for employer national insurance contributions, introducing a £1 billion Regional Growth Fund, reducing the corporation and small profits tax rates and increasing the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, resulting in the creation of a projected two million new private sector jobs by 2015-16;
• further welcomes moves to implement a single work programme that will provide personalised support to help people move into sustained employment, to introduce a £1,000 increase in income tax personal allowances which will incentivise work, to reform the benefits system to ensure that work pays and to provide 50,000 new apprenticeships and 10,000 new university places for young people, thus stimulating growth, delivering jobs and creating a fairer society for all."

Debate in Parliament | Source |