A fact I dropped into my political column has been picked up by Iain Dale and (rightly) questioned. Could unemployment for under-25s really be worse than under the Tories? I accept, it sounds made up. Didn’t Brown piously rail against this youth unemployment and call them “Major’s children”? Hasn’t he delivered millions of new jobs in this economic boom? It’s worth responding to in full, because as this cuts to the heart of the myth of Brown’s economic “miracle”.
There’s new jobs created all right – as our immigration figures testify. But for young Britons unemployment is actually worse now (14.5%) than the day Blair stepped into office (14.3%). I’d simply updated a study which the superb Anthony Browne did for The Times a few months ago using p23 of unemployment figures released on Tuesday. The ONS have sent me the full data. The below graph shows the true story of Brown’s children.
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