News

The Prosser Perspective.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

26 December 2008

Finding yourself unemployed through no fault of your own is always unpleasant but when it comes at Christmas time or at the turn of the New Year it’s particularly hurtful and especially so if you feel that no one cares and no one wants to help.

The monthly statistics show that unemployment has now gone above 1 million for the first time since 2001 as the effects of the global downturn impact on the labour market.

But it’s important to remember that the unemployed are people, not statistics and that every time a worker loses their job it is a personal tragedy for him or for her and it also impacts on the redundant worker’s family.

I found myself without work a number of times during my seagoing career so I know what it’s like to be laid off and feel that you’ve been set adrift. In 1979 I was sailing as Chief Engineer with Anskar Shipping of Oslo when they went bust and all of the sea staff lost our jobs without a penny compensation.

I was living in Scotland at the time but when Sealink Ferries in Dover advertised for Engineer Officers I was lucky enough to secure a job and I moved my young family 500 miles from the West coast of Scotland to the East coast of Kent in order to keep a roof over our heads.

It was a difficult enough decision to take but no sooner had I sold up in the North and settled in the South, than Sealink sold off its old steam ships, reduced its sailings and issued me and 29 other Officers with termination notices. I began to think I’d made the wrong decision.

There was very little help available to the unemployed at that time but thankfully, just before my 3 month notice expired, circumstances changed and I managed to cling on to my job.

Being laid off is still pretty grim today but these days there’s much more help available to support people. The Government understands the problems people are facing and that is why we are giving real help to people in these tough times. More money for training to help people get back to work, more help for people who lose their jobs to keep their homes and this week we have introduced a stronger Rapid Response Service to intervene to give urgent help to people who face redundancy.

People can now access world class employment services and Gordon Brown is about to announce further help.

The Tories still believe “If it’s not hurting it’s not working”, that the state should abandon people and that the welfare state is part of the problem rather than a way to help people in difficult times.

We are determined not to make their mistakes of the 80s and 90s. That is why we are doing everything we can to get people back into work as quickly as possible and to create a fairer welfare state that ensures no one is written off.