Government must act to tackle rising tide of unemployment - Kevin Lang

10.41.47pm GMT Wed 21st Jan 2009

The UK Labour Government must take decisive action to stop the rise of unemployment in Edinburgh and across Scotland, according to local Liberal Democrats.

New figures from the Office of National Statistics has shown that UK unemployment has risen by 131,000 to 1.92 million, the highest total since Labour came to power. Scottish unemployment rose by 13,000 to 138,000 representing 5.2%.

Local Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, Kevin Lang said: "It is good to see that unemployment levels are still lower in Scotland than in the UK as a whole. However, these figures will be of little comfort for those in Edinburgh North & Leith who have lost their job over the last few months or for those who have been searching unsuccessfully for new employment. Every job lost is a tragedy and we need urgent action to turn this trend around.

"There are plenty of measures the Government can take now. Gordon Brown's cut to VAT has failed to re-ignite the economy and wasted valuable resources. The Prime Minister should scrap this VAT cut and reinvest this money in green projects that will create thousands of jobs and set Britain on the road out of recession.

"Saving local jobs must now be one of the highest priorities on the Government's agenda."

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Previous news story: Lib Dems vote against 'weak and ineffective' SNP budget (Wed 14th Jan 2009).
Next news story: Liberal Democrats demand other companies to follow energy price cut (Thu 22nd Jan 2009).

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