Jobless Households In Liverpool, Nottingham And Glasgow: One In Three

Figures show Liverpool with the highest number of workless households in five of the last seven years.












Inside a Jobcentre. Around a third of unemployed people are sick or disabled.

Almost a third of households in Liverpool, Nottingham and Glasgow were classed as workless in 2010, against one in nine in other regions, the Office for National Statistics has said. For Liverpool and Glasgow the figure fell from 32.1% and 31.1% to 31.9% and 30.7%, while for Nottingham it rose from 31.3% to 31.6%. Liverpool has had the highest number of workless households in five of the past seven years. Around a third not working in Liverpool and Glasgow were sick or disabled, the same as the national figure., while 43% of people in workless households in Nottingham gave study as their main reason, compared with 12% nationally. Areas with the fewest workless households were Oxfordshire, Surrey and Aberdeen, and north-east Moray, all around 11%. The national figure for workless households is 18.9%.

Migration Into UK Rises 21% As Fewer Leave

Net migration into the UK rose by 21 per cent last year to 239,000 on the back of a significant fall in people leaving the country and a net increase in migrants from eastern Europe, according to the Office for National Statistics.















Uncontrolled immigration: Asylum seekers in Calais, hoping to settle in the UK instead of the continent.

The ONS estimates released on Thursday show that while long-term immigration to the UK was 575,000 in the year to December 2010 – only up slightly from 567,000 the year before – emigration was at a six-year low of 336,000 in the 12 months to December last year.

The figures will make grim reading for Theresa May, home secretary, who is working to fulfil the coalition’s manifesto pledge of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands by the end of this parliament. Ms May has repeatedly confirmed that she will meet this target, although annual net migration levels were around 150,000 when the Conservative party first made its promise.

One of the biggest hurdles for the Home Office is that net migration figures can be inflated by several factors beyond the government’s control, such as the recent decrease in emigration or an influx of migrants from within the European Union. The ONS statistics show that net migration from A8 countries – including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia – increased nearly eightfold to 39,000 in the year to December 2010, from 5,000 the year before.

Responding to the latest data, immigration minister Damian Green pointed out that from the quarterly perspective, net migration had in fact stabilised given that the current 239,000 figure for the fourth quarter of 2010 is a minor shift down from 242,000 the previous quarter.

“After almost two years of increasing net migration the figures stabilised in the last quarter,” Mr Green said. He added that the statistics cover a period before the government’s “radical changes” to the immigration system, which started in April this year, had kicked in.

The changes include a cap on the number of migrants entering the UK to work from outside the EU and a crackdown on bogus educational institutions in an attempt to reduce the number of foreign students coming into the country.

Matt Cavanagh, associate director at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a think-tank, expressed doubts that the fledgling policies were working. The latest quarterly figures to June 2011 show a slight fall in entry for work, which is down 2.7 per cent, although this is offset by a rise in entry for study, which is up by 3.5 per cent.

“Politicians shouldn’t promise what they can’t deliver, particularly on immigration,” Mr Cavanagh said. “Before the election, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said immigration was out of control; afterwards, they said they would cut it dramatically. Neither was true.”

But Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the campaign group Migration Watch UK, said the figures laid bare the “legacy” of the Labour government – although he added that the coalition would have to “face down some vested interests” in the business and education sectors if they were to reach the tens of thousands target.

The shadow Home Office minister, Shabana Mahmood, said the figures revealed the “gulf” between the government’s rhetoric on immigration and the reality in the official figures.

“The prime minister said ‘no ifs, no buts’ on immigration, but on the contrary, ‘ifs and buts’ sum up the government’s policies,” she said. “Cuts to the UK Border Agency forcing the loss of over 5,000 staff is making it harder not easier to enforce the rules we have.”

David Cameron Admits Job Programmes 'Aren't Working'

Nearly 2.5 million 16 to 24-year-olds are out of work, according to the latest official figures.

It's the highest number of jobless young people since records began in the early 90s.












One youth charity says there are now enough young unemployed people to fill every football stadium in the Premier League, with almost 200,000 left queuing outside.

We've been to the Cabinet Office at Number 10 Downing Street putting your worries about joblessness to the prime minister.


PM: "These are bad figures. Youth unemployment has been going up for the last 10 years in good years and bad."

NEWSBEAT: "You're in charge now though."

PM: "Absolutely and we have to take a really deep look at what's been going wrong.

"I think it's partly the welfare system that doesn't encourage people into work.

"The work programmes we've been running have been churning people through a programme but not getting them a proper job.

"And frankly, education hasn't been good enough. Now what are we going to do about it?"










NEWSBEAT: "One thing you've done is you've cut the Future Jobs Fund..."

PM: "The Future Jobs Fund was one of the most ineffective jobs funds there have been. It cost five times as much as other schemes."

NEWSBEAT: "Before the election you said it was a good thing."

PM: "Well, I've looked at the figures now, and in some cities only 3% of the jobs were actually in the private sector.

"The really damning evidence is it's a six month programme but one month after the programme half the people on it were back on the dole. It failed, it didn't work."

David Cameron's also been telling Newsbeat about his plans for school-leavers in their holidays.

He wants 11,000 people doing their GCSEs this summer to sign up on Facebook for a two month stint of community service and outdoor activities in the summer.

School-leavers in Birmingham weren't sure about the idea, saying things like: "Eight weeks is a really long time," "I want to enjoy my summer - go on holiday. This is just something I just wouldn't do - ever."

But the Prime Minister told Newsbeat: "This is an exciting challenge. This is one period in your life where you go out, leave your home environment, mix with different people and do something different."

"I pretty much bet you," he added "that young people will come forward in huge numbers and do it, and enjoy it".

David Cameron Rejects Cable Immigration Criticism

David Cameron has hit back at criticism by cabinet colleague Vince Cable over his promise to cut immigration to "tens of thousands" of people a year.










The Lib Dem business secretary said the prime minister had been "very unwise" and that such a target was Conservative - not coalition government - policy.

He added that Mr Cameron's comments, made in a speech to Tory activists, "risked inflaming extremism".

But the prime minister denied this and said his words had been "measured".

Labour leader Ed Miliband said ministers had to "get a grip" on immigration and stop fighting amongst themselves.

The Conservatives' 2010 election manifesto calls for "steps to take net migration back to the levels of the 1990s - tens of thousands a year, not hundreds of thousands".

However, the coalition agreement between the Conservatives and Lib Dems pledges only an "annual limit" on people coming to the UK from outside the European Union for economic reasons, making no reference to specific numbers.
'Untruthful'

But in his speech, which took place in Southampton, Mr Cameron said the government's cap on immigrant numbers would "mean net migration to this country will be in the order of tens of thousands each year, not the hundreds of thousands every year that we have seen over the last decade".

Communities had been affected by incomers unable to speak English and unwilling to integrate, he argued, which had "created a kind of discomfort and disjointedness in some neighbourhoods".

He added: "This has been the experience for many people in our country - and I believe it is untruthful and unfair not to speak about it and address it."

But Mr Cable, who has spoken out on several occasions about the economic dangers of imposing a cap on immigration, criticised the wording of the speech, telling BBC chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg: "The reference to the tens of thousands of immigrants rather than hundreds of thousands is not part of the coalition agreement; it is Tory party policy only.

"I do understand there is an election coming but talk of mass immigration risks inflaming the extremism to which he and I are both strongly opposed."

But the prime minister rejected the criticism, saying policy was "sensible and measured" and that, following discussions between the coalition partners on how to reduce immigration without damaging the economy, the issue had been "settled".

"We have a very good and robust policy and this is the policy of the whole government," he said. "This policy is Lib Dem policy. This policy is coalition policy."
'Choice of language'

Mr Cable, however, refused to back down on the issue, when questioned, telling BBC Manchester: "The reference to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands of people is not part of coalition policy."

He added: "My references were about the language used and I stand by that, but it's not a criticism of coalition policy."

Mr Cable said he had meant to make a "positive contribution to the debate".
Continue reading the main story
image of Laura Kuenssberg Laura Kuenssberg Chief political correspondent, BBC News channel

The strength of Vince Cable's language is really quite unusual, remarkable even.

The coalition's policy on immigration was the result of difficult negotiations between the two parties - the Lib Dems wanted a more relaxed approach to limiting numbers coming here, the Conservatives a tougher one.

Vince Cable personally fought for and secured certain concessions which he felt were needed to prevent a cap damaging British businesses.

After those negotiations, a kind of truce was reached, but Mr Cable clearly thinks David Cameron's comments break that truce.

The business secretary's remarks must also be seen in the context of the upcoming local elections and AV referendum.

This is the first time that two parties who've had to get used to working together have been pitted against each other.

It seems this could be the first proper skirmish.

* Read Laura's thoughts in full
* In full: Cameron migration speech
* Treasury unease on migration cap

Aides to deputy prime minister, and Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, who unlike Mr Cable saw a copy of the speech before it was released, said he was "proud" of the work both he and Mr Cable had done on the coalition's "sensible" immigration policy.

But they added: "Cameron's language isn't what we would have used… but he's a Conservative leader talking to Conservative voters in the run-up to an election."

Mr Cable was "entitled to the view" that there had been a truce in the coalition over immigration policy, but that was not Mr Clegg's view, the source said.

Before entering power, the Lib Dems were opposed to a fixed limit on immigration and backed an amnesty for some illegal incomers already living in the UK.
'Get a grip'

Labour says the cap, which was introduced recently, will only cover 20% of non-EU migrants and the government is cutting 5,000 staff at the UK Border Agency.

Mr Miliband said: "It's hard to have a government policy that is clear and coherent if your business secretary, who's in charge of your student visa policy, is saying one thing and actually going out of his way to attack the prime minister.

"The next time he makes a speech why don't they get a grip, have a proper discussion in government, get an agreed policy, because that's the right way to run a government."

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said little would change on immigration because of the UK's "open border" with the EU.

But former Labour minister Frank Field, co-chairman of the cross-party balanced migration group, said Mr Cameron was on the "right course" in requiring all those wishing to settle in the UK to speak basic English and making it "much tougher" for those working in the UK to eventually gain citizenship.

Asked about criticism of the prime minister's approach, he said immigration policy had been out of step with public opinion for many years because it had been determined by a "liberal elite".

"They will be angry that that period is now at an end," he told the BBC.

Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of pressure group Migration Watch, said: "We should remember that Vince Cable speaks for a tiny minority of the public.

"According to our most recent YouGov opinion poll, conducted last November, only 4% of Lib Dem voters agreed that the present level of immigration is best for Britain, 78% wanted 100,000 or less, 19% did not know".