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As the recession bites, we need action here
• I READ with huge alarm the latest unemployment figures for Camden.
It shows that in one month alone, 410 of our neighbours lost their jobs, the biggest rise for decades. This brings the total number of unemployed in Camden to just over 5,000.
At the same time, the number of vacancies is less than 1,000, half the level this time last year.
As the recession bites in Camden, we need action. A few weeks ago I joined other Conservative Camden councillors in voting into action a two-year council tax freeze to help local people here in Camden.
At the same time, we also voted to implement a £6million recession recovery fund for the borough.
The new apprenticeship scheme for the borough’s young people, based in King’s Cross, is a great idea.
It will help 150 youngsters get the skills they need to find work.
I and other councillors have also been pushing the idea that Camden’s contractors (for example, road contractors and those who repair council houses) should be encouraged or required to give apprenticeships to Camden young people as part of their contract. This is now starting to happen.
All of us also need to help our small local shops by using them as much as possible.
I am alarmed to see vacancies springing up everywhere from Hampstead High Street to West End Lane to the Kilburn High Road. Small shops can claim small business rate relief – but well over half don’t, simply because they don’t know about it. Please show this link to your local shopkeeper, and they will be able to use it to calculate whether or not they are eligible for the relief: www.conservatives.com/Campaigns/Support_Our_Small_Shops.aspx
It will take time to get through this recession. Change is needed locally and nationally to do this.
We’re making a start here in Camden already. But the most important thing is this. The people of Camden and of the United Kingdom as a whole have the spirit to beat the recession and emerge stronger the other side.
Cllr Chris Philp
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Hampstead & Kilburn
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