PMQs: Government must target investment to create jobs today

12.01.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 24th Apr 2009

Nick Clegg criticises Prime Minister for not backing up job announcements with the necessary targeted investment

In the last Prime Minister’s Questions before the Budget announcement Nick urged the Prime Minister to target investment more effectively to create new jobs for today's unemployed.

At a time when unemployment in the UK has exceeded 2 million, the Prime Minister has announced the creation of 1 million new jobs. Nick asked the Prime Minister to identify where these jobs are coming from and prove they are more than just unsubstantiated rhetoric.

In his supplementary question Nick accused the Government of not effectively targeting its investment. Rather than using public money to create jobs now that will benefit the unemployed, the Government is investing in projects that will not have a significant effect until after the crisis has passed.

See the full exchange below:

Mr. Nick Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam) (LD): Over the last few months the Prime Minister has come up with a shopping list of announcements about creating new jobs, and he was up to it again this morning: 100,000 new jobs from big capital projects; 500,000 people in work by paying employers; 400,000 new green jobs. That is 1 million new jobs he is now promising-jobs that people desperately need when unemployment is now soaring way beyond the worst predictions. Will he tell the 2.1 million people who are now jobless exactly how many of his new jobs have been created so far?

The Prime Minister: We believe that as a result of the action that we have taken, hundreds of thousands of jobs that could have been lost are not being lost. I ask the right hon. Gentleman to wait to hear from the Chancellor, who will give him a very precise figure when he gives his Budget a few minutes from now. As for action on employment, when the right hon. Gentleman lists the various things that we have done he is making our point. This does not happen by accident-it does not happen by chance; it is because we have taken action to create jobs that more people have not lost their jobs, as has happened in other countries.

Mr. Clegg: The answer shows exactly what the problem is. What is the point of the Prime Minister's mortgage support scheme for the jobless, to which he referred, when he cannot even get the banks to join in? How many jobs is he going to create from a subsidy for cars that have not even been invented yet? These are meaningless headlines that serve as a health warning for the Budget, because this is a Prime Minister who makes promises but does not deliver and who raises hopes without giving real help. He should just come clean-he promised 1 million new jobs, so do they exist today, yes or no?

The Prime Minister: On the home owners protection scheme, I just have to correct the right hon. Gentleman. Many companies have joined that scheme and many companies are now agreeing to have similar schemes to the Government's, so the idea that we have not acted on this is wrong. First, there is protection for people who have become unemployed and it is at a far higher level than ever before. Secondly, we have agreed with the building societies and banks a moratorium on mortgage repossessions. Thirdly, we have changed the rules that govern court action so that it is a last resort. Fourthly, we have underpinned some of the major building societies so that they can keep people in their homes and people will not suffer the fate of what happened in the previous recession. As far as jobs are concerned, I ask the right hon. Gentleman to await the Chancellor's remarks, both on green technologies and cars and on employment generally. I believe that the Chancellor will answer many of the questions that the right hon. Gentleman has put.