Mass unemployment is not the inevitable economic result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Sitting back and watching our regions, their cities, their towns and their villages plunged into another decade of austerity years is a political pill being prescribed in Westminster. But we refuse to swallow.
Instead we, the elected Metro Mayors in England, the First Minister of Wales, the Mayor of Bristol and former Prime minister Gordon Brown are forming an Alliance For Full Employment
We encompass all regions and nations of the United Kingdom and we are coming together to fight for nationwide economic recovery policies that can prevent rapidly-rising redundancies and unemployment.
We recognise the urgent need for working together – locally, regionally and nationally – to deal with the current jobs emergency and to meet the need for good employment that is well paid and fulfilling.
We have launched our Alliance for Full Employment to mobilise all the resources of the United Kingdom to end the recession and create good, quality jobs across our nations and regions.
We seek support from our political colleagues, from trades unions, from businesses, from voluntary organisations and from our fellow citizen sisters and brothers as our allies now and in the task of building back a better Britain ahead.
Our priority demands on the Westminster government for our regions are
- Extending eligibility for and increasing the payment amount for households in quarantine
- To extend furlough – part-time or full-time – in key sectors and for employees and the self-employed in areas required to go into lockdown
- A rescue plan for the High Street and Tourism, including support for part time work and extended VAT cuts
- A fully funded Youth Jobs Guarantee, which covers recent education leavers
- A Green New Deal which emphasises domestic manufacturing and engineering and the transition of the North Sea & other UK coastal waters to the Green Seas
- Regional growth funds that can support local industrial strategy by investing equity in the industries of the future, ensuring that potential high-growth businesses are not prevented from investing in growth as a result of debt repayments
- Changing the constitution of the Independent Bank of England to match the new priorities of the US Fed such that it targets low unemployment as well as low inflation
For more information please read our launch press release here and check with the website as we grow our army of allies in solidarity and defence of saving and creating jobs across our regions.
Save Our Future
Sign our Parliamentary petition. We are calling on the Government to create a UK Jobs Guarantee Scheme covering every young person in need of work
Agree? The sign our petition