DISPATCH BOX CYNICISM CATCHES BROWN OUT AGAIN

The Prime Minister causally inserted another Whopper into PMQs earlier today.

“…and with the Government working hard so that unemployment is coming down…” answered Gordon Brown after a John Redwood question today. He was referring, I’m sure, to the new ONS figures showing that, between November 2009 and the end of January 2010, the number recorded as unemployed did indeed fall by 33,000.

But the PM was being parsimonious with the truth, which is that workless households are hugely on the increase.

The number of people of working age ‘in employment’ slumped by 55,000. And the total number of working age people described as ‘inactive’ sky-rocketed by 150,000.

There are now 8.2 million employable people in Britain doing nothing.

You may have seen our post earlier today about the Government transferring the unemployed from productive to bureaucratic jobs, as another way of disguising the gravity of the situation. The Slogger suspects the Whelanite gargoyles will have rather more trouble with these statistics.

But what of Mandy? Is he in hiding for fear of militant reprisals? Or is he in a huff about the overcrowding situation in Gordon’s ear?

The Slog is on the case.