Yeovil Labour Party welcomed Keir Starmer’s call for the government to give people “ a stake in the national recovery”. Local party Chair Terry Ledlie said “ There is a clear need for a national recovery plan that supports the rebuilding of the economy .We need a new start that will deliver growing prosperity, with a fairer share for all. People want to see economic growth supporting the creation of decent jobs, with an end to zero hours contracts and other bad-boss practices. Our NHS has does brilliantly and is meeting the challenge of vaccinating millions of people. They are supported by other workers delivering public services, including those seconded from the District Council to help administer the vaccination programmes. The government needs to recognise the role that these key workers are playing in beating the virus. Yet for the last ten years the government has effectively frozen their pay. This is an insult to those who have worked so hard to save our country. The chancellor needs to reward them fairly in the March budget.”
Terry continued “The terrible damage caused by the virus to health and prosperity has been made all the worse because the foundations of our society have been weakened over a decade. Local people deserve the best chance to prosper. A Labour Government. Is needed to put our interests first. In the meantime, I call on the current Chancellor to use the March budget to pump-prime a sustainable economic recovery. Any return to their previous austerity policies would leave us stuck in recession for years to come. Yeovil’s economy badly needs a boost, say the local Labour Party, as both wages and job quality lag behind the South West region on several counts:
Wages are often too low – the average wage for a full-time worker in Yeovil constituency is £12.91. – just over a pound an hour below the regional average.
There is a brain drain – more than 1 in 10 (11.5%) working- age adults have no qualifications, compared to just one in 20% (5.5%) in the region as a whole.
Too many jobs are low-skilled – 16.2% of jobs in the constituency are classed as “elementary”, compared with 9.9% of all jobs across the South West.
British Recovery Bond
Terry Ledlie added, “These figures are shocking. They show that the local economy was lagging behind
before the recession started to take its toll. We need a sustainable national recovery that takes care to delivers better times for Yeovil and the surrounding towns and villages. We must not get left behind again. Keir Starmer’s announcement also promised the creation of a multi-billion pound “British Recovery Bond”, which would allow savers to invest in building a faire Britain. Further, the Labour leader promised to extend financial help to 100,000 more small businesses. These are vital steps towards a fair recovery.”
Keir Starmer’s speech – full text: https://labour.org.uk/press/full-text-of-keir-starmer-speech-on-a-new-chapter-for-britain/
Local statistics from the ONS NOMIS web tool: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/