Christopher Pincher Speaks up for Local Jobs in the Commons

Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth, spoke up for the importance of work during an Opposition Day debate in the House of Commons on the performance of the Department for Work & Pensions.

He said the debate reflected “the state of mind” of the Labour Party because nowhere in their motion did they mention jobs. Mr Pincher pointed out that since 2014 the unemployment rate in Tamworth has fallen to just 755 or 1.6% of the working population.

He said, “Nowhere in the motion does it mention work, the engine of growth in our country. It is also the best mechanism to raise people up out of dependency and despair, on to the road to achieving their aspirations.

“In 2005, when Labour last won a general election in Tamworth, my constituency was bedevilled by dependency. Because the Labour Government failed to reform welfare and relied too much on public sector work and the financial services industry-and because they spent more than they earned-unemployment was twice the rate that it is today.

“Those were meant to be Labour’s good times. Fast forward a couple of years to the bad times and unemployment had risen to 8%. Firms were going to the wall, jobs were being lost and down the Tamworth road or the Glascote road, house after house bore repossession notices.

“Under Labour, people were not simply losing their jobs: they were losing their homes as well. That is the grisly welfare and work legacy that Labour bequeathed to us in 2010.”

After the debate Mr Pincher added, “Since 2010 Jaguar Land Rover have recruited in Tamworth and John Lewis have set up in Tamworth. Now we have BMW coming to town and Tamworth has become the automotive hub of our county with a state of the art automotive centre planned for the Torc Vocational Centre. Skilled professional jobs are coming to Tamworth which is good news.”

“That is why we need to press on with our reforms to the welfare system so it always pays to work and continue to invest in apprenticeships whilst getting taxes and regulation off the backs of local businesses so they can continue to expand.

“Sadly Labour has still not learned the lesson of their last government where an over reliance on public sector jobs (important as they are) and the financial services sector, together with a “spend, spend, spend” mentality led to an almighty crash. We cannot risk them doing that again.”