Labour’s Peter Kyle was today left squirming after it was revealed he didn’t know the number of people presently unemployed in Britain.
The Business and Trade Secretary was stumped during a car-crash radio interview on Wednesday morning, as he admitted: ‘I don’t know the exact figure.’
It came amid a discussion on LBC about high levels of youth unemployment, as well as the future of William Hill.
The bookmaker this week confirmed plans to close 200 betting shops, which has put at risk 1,500 jobs.
The parent firm of William Hill has attributed the move mostly to increases in gambling taxes that were announced during Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget.
Asked by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari whether he knew how many people were currently unemployed in the UK, Mr Kyle said: ‘Well, I know that there is a challenge with unemployment.’
Pressed again for an answer, the Cabinet minister added: ‘I don’t know the exact figure.’
Asked why, as the Business and Trade Secretary, he didn’t know how many people are unemployed, Mr Kyle replied: ‘My job is to make sure I support businesses in employing as much as possible.’
Ferrari then pointed out to Mr Kyle that 1.87 million people aged 16 and over in the UK are currently unemployed, with the unemployment rate at 5.2 per cent.
He challenged the Cabinet minister over ‘trite nonsense about Labour getting people into employment,’ adding: ‘It’s going completely the other way.’
Mr Kyle responded: ‘The way to get the people into employment is to get a healthy, growing economy.
‘We have had 10 years that we inherited where there was no growth and high taxation.
‘We had this vice-like grip on the economy where the only way you got more money into public spending was to borrow more, which is what the Tories did.
‘We had to raise money, invest it, but we also had to do the things that got growth into the economy.
‘We got a grip on the cost of living challenges, and we are investing in getting money into people’s pockets.
‘This is the only way that we will have a sustainable, growing economy that can hire more people in a sustainable way.
‘We cannot lower the unemployment figures unless we have an economy that is growing and businesses that are growing within a growing economy.’
Of course, Peter Kyle doesn’t know. It’s Labour we’re talking about; they don’t appear to know anything, but perhaps that’s not fair – they seem to know how to take money from the workers and give to the shirkers. Can we really sink any lower in incompetence? I’m confident Starmer will try.
Never has a government been so devoid of political talent – third-rate political chancers who know nothing, and you would think that ministers going onto a show would do some research before going in front of the cameras – how many other ministers have been asked questions that they couldn’t answer? I bet he doesn’t even know how many people are in the country. Or they do know how many people are in the country, but they simply haven’t reached their target yet.
Peter Kyle is just another socialist minister who wouldn’t last five minutes in the real world.
There are two common answers from Labour ministers – I don’t know, and it wasn’t my fault, but this is the calibre of fools running our country, so what chance do we have? Clearly, Peter Kyle didn’t read his briefing notes before opening his mouth.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, but in his case, he must have cataracts!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 