Statistics show that we citizens of Poole are working well. Thanks not only to our own energy and talents but also to the enlightened policies of our Conservative Government, we can look forward to a better and brighter future. To keep up the momentum, Prime Minister Theresa May has published a visionary statement of our national direction of travel:
- Reforming corporate governance – to be announced later in the year – to ensure all businesses are run accountably and with the long-term interest clearly in mind.
- A proper industrial strategy – identifying the industries that are of strategic value to our economy and supporting and promoting them through trade, tax, infrastructure, skills, training, and research and development policies.
- Building more houses – meaning that more people have the opportunity to buy a home of their own and that less of the monthly family budget is poured into accommodation costs.
- Strengthening workers’ rights – as announced on Saturday, we’re going to review our laws to make sure that, in our modern and flexible economy, people are properly protected at work.
- Bold new education reforms – so that every child has the chance to go to a good, local school and that they are not held back by where they live or how much money their parents have. The Government will end the ban on new grammar schools – as well as a range of other reforms to create more good school places.
- Getting immigration under control – leaving the EU gives us an opportunity to control the numbers of people coming here from Europe and the Government will be consulting over the next few months on steps to reduce non-EU migration too across work and student visa routes.
- Continuing to invest in our NHS – £10 billion extra over this Parliament, which is only possible because of the strong economic foundations we have built. We believe in public service. We believe in investing in and supporting the institutions that make our country great.
- Protecting those who cannot work – we will end the mandatory retesting of work capability for those with chronic health conditions that only induces stress but does nothing at all to help.
Our hard work is bearing fruit. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that
- More people are in work than ever before and wages are still rising – good news for Britain’s families.
- The number of people in work is now at record high of 31.7 million and the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in over a decade.
- Wages are up 2.2% in the last year, meaning more money in the pockets of working people.
- The female employment rate is at a record high of 69.6% and the proportion of 16-24 year olds who’ve left full-time education and are unemployed is the lowest ever.
We are delivering on our promise to help people get on in life, by building a Britain that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.
Poole is working even better than the national average:
- The employment rate for those aged 16-64 is 78.0% (the UK rate is 73.7%)
- The (modelled) unemployment rate is 3.6% (the UK rate is 5.1%)
- The out-of-work benefits claimant rate is 1.0% (the UK rate is 1.8%)