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Unemployment still rising despite government claims that the recession is over
North East Bedfordshire MP Alistair Burt startled by figures
Unemployment has risen by 51.7 per cent in the last year in North East Beds according to new figures released this week.
MP for the area Alistair Burt said the figures made "startling reading" and showed that the economy is still struggling.
The rise in unemployment in North East Beds since 1997, is 118.1 per cent, the 15th largest in the country out of nearly 650 Parliamentary constituencies.
Mr Burt said: "The complacency of Government and Labour figures is quite startling.
"Since Labour came to office the rise of 118 per cent in unemployment stands as stark evidence of failure of both economic and employment policy.
"We should also consider that the number of those who are classed as 'economically inactive' has also risen markedly, and we have taken a worse hit than most."
The figures were unveiled in the same week that the Government announced that the UK was officially out of a recession, with a 0.1 per cent increase in gross domestic product recorded in the last quarter of 2009.
Mr Burt added: "The failure to get money from state-funded banks to small business, which will be the engine of our recovery, has helped depress the employment figures, and this miserable situation seems accepted far too easily by Government and its supporters."
Richard Ellis, East of England Development Agency chair, said: "While we welcome the news that we are finally out of recession there is still a long way to go and still a lot of work to do.
"Recovery will be slow and the coming months will be tough for some people and businesses. We are focused on creating new opportunities."
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Weather for Bedford
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
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