When unemployment topped 1,023,583 under Edward Heath in January 1972, Labour MPs staged a rowdy demonstration in parliament and the Speaker suspended the session for 10 minutes.
It was much the same when the jobless totals twice reached 3 million during the major manufacturing collapses of the Thatcher-Major era and Norman Tebbit didn’t quite say “On yer bike”, though that was his drift. Job losses were the great emotional issue of the time and every MP knew their local unemployment rate.
But Labour was in opposition then. Sixteen years of unbroken growth have dulled old reflexes about the traumas of the Hungry 30s that Labour stalwarts learned at their mother’s knee. Today few voters under 35 remember the last recession of 1991-92 and rare are the byelection candidates with their constituency figures at their fingertips.
But how will all this effect plumbers and tradesmen? Read more…
The new guide to boiler insurance is ready! Take a look…
Tags: boiler insurance, local plumbers, polish plumbers, tradesmen, unemployment
