There are no unemployed in UK, says Hammond in TV gaffe

[dutchman]

Chancellor is accused of being out of touch after making slip-up as he prepares for politically difficult budget later this week



Philip Hammond has claimed “there are no unemployed people” in the UK in a major slip-up as the chancellor prepares to fight for his political life in this week’s budget.

Hammond’s gaffe came as he made the case on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that driverless cars will not necessarily lead to more unemployment.

Playing down worries about automation technologies, he said: “It’s a simple choice: either we embrace change or we try to hide from change and we allow ourselves to slip behind … I remember 20 years ago we were worried about what would happen to a million shorthand typists in Britain as the personal computer took over. Nobody has a shorthand typist these days.

“Where are all these unemployed people? There are no unemployed people. We have created 3.5m jobs since 2010. This economy has become a jobs factory.”

In fact, there are about 1.42 million unemployed people in the UK and many more who are underemployed and would like more hours.

Hammond defended himself on the Andrew Marr Show, saying: “Nobody would be in politics if they didn’t have a desire to change people’s lives for the better.”

However, his comments about the lack of unemployed people immediately led to charges that he is detached from economic reality.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said: “The chancellor thinks there are no unemployed people in this country. Completely out of touch.”

Jon Trickett MP, the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, added: “The chancellor is living on another planet. If the person in charge of the country’s finances doesn’t know, or chooses to ignore, the fact that nearly 1.5 million people are unemployed, and almost a million people are on zero-hours contracts, then he is clearly losing a grip on reality.

“The Tories have become even more out of touch and are now so inwards looking that they have no clue of the experiences of ordinary people suffering from seven years of Tory austerity.”

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, said it “underlines just how out of touch the Conservatives are with millions of Britons who are living on the breadline”.

He added: “As chancellor, Philip Hammond needs to be on top of the numbers, and as he should know very well, there are actually 1.425 million people unemployed. Worse, a large number of them are second or third generation out of work, suggesting that all that a large number of people are inheriting in Britain today is poverty.”

[rebbonk]

"...no unemployed people” in the UK

Never mind out of touch, he's off his trolley.

[dutchman]

There are four and half million adults of working age without jobs in the UK whether they are officially 'unemployed' or not.

I suspect a similar number are working for starvation wages.

[Melisandre]

Hammond lives in cloud cuckoo land like the rest of them do so all the job centres are closed then