06/12/08 - David Cameron writes about possible job losses at Honda in Swindon.

Conservative leader David Cameron has written an article expressing concern at reported job losses at the Honda factory in Swindon.

Here is Mr Cameron's article, which first appeared in the Swindon Advertiser on 6 December 2008: 

I was very sad to hear that around 1000 jobs at Honda in Swindon are going to have to go. My thoughts are with the workers who will have to down tools after years of service to the company. I know that for those with families it’s an especially difficult time to face uncertainty with Christmas just around the corner, and amid growing anxiety about the economy at large.

This news is made even sadder when you put it into a wider context of job losses in the area. It’s no consolation to the hard-working employees at Honda, but they will be following in the footsteps of those working for the St Ivel and Dolby factories in Wootton Bassett, the Faccenda chicken factory in Sutton Benger, and the Dyson factory in Malmesbury.

And it’s not just those directly employed by Honda who are likely to face hard times. Union leaders believe the final toll for the town could be as high as 1700 in the coming months when you take into account potential job losses at companies like SDC and TS Tech which make parts for Honda. There is also the knock-on effect this will all have on other local businesses when unemployed people have to cut back on how much they spend.

There are already 2773 people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in Swindon alone, up from 1754 a year ago. That’s a shocking rise of 58%. But Swindon is not alone. Unemployment around the country, including youth unemployment, is at its highest level in over a decade. Not only that but it’s rising at the fastest rate for 17 years - quicker than in any other major economy.

It doesn’t help that Government has closed almost 500 job centres since 2002, including one every week this year when people needed them most. It doesn’t help that we are not well-placed to cope with rising unemployment because Labour failed to reform our benefits system and tackle the lack of skills training when employment was still rising. And it doesn’t help that two-thirds of the new jobs that Labour has boasted about creating have been in the public sector, and four-fifths have gone to migrant workers. That isn’t sustainable.

You don’t need a long memory in this country to remember the trauma of mass unemployment. As a recession sets in, hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of losing their jobs, and as recessions go on, long-term unemployment soars. That is a tragedy for the people involved, and it’s a tragedy for us, too – for all of society.

There’s a certain approach to this which says that however painful this may be, large-scale unemployment is an unavoidable consequence of recession. That because it’s the natural movement of the markets, all that government can do is stand by and pick up the pieces. I completely disagree with that approach.

The Conservative response to the pain of mass unemployment is a fusion of compassion with responsibility. Not just throwing money at the problem, because that would be irresponsible. But not just standing by either, because that would be uncompassionate. We have a moral obligation to help those who have lost their job through no fault of their own, or are in danger of doing so.

Being out of work can seem like the hardest work in the world because the workplace offers more than a pay-packet. It’s where we see ourselves through the eyes of others, where we seek to define ourselves, where we socialise, and where we go to get started on living a better life. Losing a job means losing all this, and it hurts. We won’t stand by and do nothing while people suffer like this.

That’s why we have called on the Government to give £2.6 billion of tax breaks to employers that create jobs. The scheme uses money that would otherwise be spent on welfare payments to give tax cuts worth £2,500 per person over a year to employers who hire new workers that have been unemployed for more than three months. It would be cost-neutral for the Government as it would be funded from lower spending on unemployment benefits.

It’s important the Government take up this scheme because the longer people are out of a job, the more their social and economic skills diminish, and the harder it is to get work. Some become lifelong statistics in official unemployment figures. It’s a personal tragedy, an economic waste and a source of social decay.

It is in no-one’s interests to allow long-term unemployment to take root. We have got to take action right now to help those who fall victim to this economic downturn get back on their feet, and back into work.

David Cameron