New figures have shown that over 3,000 more people were unemployed in Rochdale during the last recession under a Conservative Government.

Speaking after the latest unemployment figures showed the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Rochdale had started to fall, Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, said it was vitally important that Government support to maintain the economy was not removed now.

“If we remove essential Government support like £5billion of investment in JobCentrePlus, the 100,000 jobs created through the Future Jobs Fund and the business tax deferral scheme for businesses then I fear we could start edging back to 1992 levels of unemployment.”

He added that with Rochdale’s Lib Dem Council being recently judged by the Audit Commission to not be doing enough to raise skills and reduce unemployment, the town was facing even more of an uphill struggle.

“These are tough times for Rochdale,” he said. “I am especially concerned to see reports like the one that came out this week showing Rochdale to be one of the worst towns in the country for low employment growth. However, this is hardly surprising when you look at our Council’s terrible record at Kingsway Business park, despite getting millions of public investment to create jobs, their failure to appoint a developer to regenerate our town centre last year, costing the taxpayer a fortune in the process, and their decision to cut support for business start-ups. It’s one mistake after another and it’s costing our town dearly.”