Forget Britain’s Got Talent, according to a local Labour councillor: “Brighton’s lost talent!”
The claim comes from Councillor Warren Morgan in the wake of the latest unemployment figures in remarks made yesterday when the Britain’s Got Talent live tour came to the Brighton Centre.
Councillor Morgan, Labour’s economic development spokesman, called on the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government to repeat last year’s bank bonus tax.
He said that the proceeds should be used to help create 100,000 much-needed jobs for unemployed young people.
Youth unemployment currently stands at almost a million which means that one in five young people are unable to find work.
He said that nearly 4,500 young people are unemployed in Brighton and Hove alone.
He said that youth unemployment had risen sharply during the worldwide recession caused by the irresponsible actions of the banks.
But a year ago, he said, thanks to Labour’s youth jobs programme, it was starting to fall steadily.
Guarantee
One of the first things that coalition government did, he said, was to scrap Labour’s youth jobs guarantee.
Now more young people are looking for work than when Labour left office.
In the area covered by Brighton and Hove City Council 6,111 people were claiming jobseeker’s allowance in May. This is a small rise on the 6,075 total for April which was the lowest this year.
The recent peak was 7,817 in January last year, with the number having climbed from 4,228 in November 2007.
In May, men accounted for 4,037 of the total and women 2,074.
The May total represents 3.4 per cent of the working age population in Brighton and Hove. The proportion is higher than the 2.5 per cent claiming jobseeker’s allowance across the South East but lower than the national average of 3.7 per cent.
The figures are also broken down by parliamentary constituencies. The three constituencies for Brighton and Hove cover a slightly larger area than that served by the city council. In two of the constituencies the claimant count rose slightly.
Brighton Kemptown includes the whole of Saltdean as well as Peacehaven. In May 2,181 people of working age living in the constituency were claiming jobseeker’s allowance. The proportion, at 3.8 per cent, was marginally higher than the national average of 3.7 per cent.
