Jobless total drops

The number of people in the dole queue in the Borough has fallen by 155 in the last month.

There are now 7,429 claiming job seekers allowance (JSA) — down from 7,585 the previous month.

Nationally, numbers claiming JSA fell by 27,100 to 1.52 million — a much sharper fall than expected.

However, unemployment across the country rose to 2.51 million during the three months to March, up 53,000 on the previous count.

New Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said: “No modern government has inherited such a difficult economic situation from its predecessor. The rise in unemployment is a confirmation of that and we know that we have the largest budget deficit in Europe.

“There is going to be a significant acceleration in the reduction of the structural budget deficit. We are also going to stop Labour’s jobs tax and send a signal that Britain is open for business.

“We are going to make reforms to our tax system so that it is fairer for people on lower and middle incomes, and we’re going to undertake long-term structural reforms of the banking system, of education and of welfare so that we have an economy that works for everyone.”

But Labour’s former Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said government intervention had prevented higher levels of unemployment.