Philip Hammond claimed there are “no unemployed people” on this morning’s Andrew Marr Show.
The Chancellor made a TV appearance ahead of the Budget on Wednesday, which has been dubbed a make-or-break moment for the embattled front bencher.
Hammond made the statement as he painted a rosy picture of an economy bouncing back from the long downturn, despite new global figures showing that the UK is now bottom of the growth league among major economies in Europe and North America.
He asked “where are all these unemployed people?” live on the show, saying there are none in his eyes.
The outrageous statement was made after the most recent unemployment figures showed the jobless count stood at 1.42 million between July and September this year.
Watch the full clip below:
RELATED
Boris Johnson’s Iranian gaffe is about to cost UK £450 million
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
