Boris challenged on youth unemployment
A Black Country MP has challenged Boris Johnson to tackle youth unemployment across the region.
Emma Reynolds said she wants to see the new Prime Minister take "meaningful steps" to address the issue, with recent figures showing that parts of the Black Country are lagging behind the rest of Britain.
Data from the House of Commons Library show that Wolverhampton's unemployment rate has been more than double the national average in every month since January 2015.
According to the latest statistics, 2.7 per cent of people in the UK are unemployed, compared to 3.5 per cent across the West Midlands, and 5.8 per cent in Wolverhampton.
Wolverhampton North East MP Ms Reynolds, said:“The Government always boasts about national employment figures, but this masks big regional disparities. In Wolverhampton, the local unemployment rate has been double the national average for over four years. For months I have been demanding action to address this imbalance
“If Boris Johnson wants to make a meaningful difference to people's lives I call on him to urgently address the underlying causes of unemployment in Wolverhampton – tackling our region’s skills shortage, and providing far greater funding for Further Education so people can retrain and gain the skills they need for work.
“My message to the new Prime Minister is clear – sort out our region’s unemployment.”
The Tories record on employment has also been challenged by Birmingham MP and West Midlands Mayoral hopeful Liam Byrne, who highlighted a regional rise in unemployment benefit claimants of 25 per cent in the year to June.
In the West Midlands last month the claimant count was 90,085, nearly 18,000 up on the year.
