Harriet Harman embarrassed after misleading employment statement
Harriet Harman, the woman's minister, is today reeling from embarrassment after the minister suggested that women were suffering more in the recession than men. She then went on to launch a campaign aimed at ensuring that women do not become "the victims" of the recession only for the Office for National statistics to release data which showed that if anything it is male jobs which are most at risk in the recession. This is yet another embarrassing gaffe by the government which has been shown to pick and choose specific elements of National Statistics for its own ends.
The Office for National Statistics confirmed that the reason women appear to be less at risk than men during a recession is because significant numbers are employed in the public sector. As the press has covered over the last few weeks, Harriet Harman appears to have been putting herself forward as a future leader of the Labour government but this embarrassing "error" will do her chances no good. While Gordon Brown continues to travel the world preaching about economic prowess it appears that the government back home is in disarray.
Infighting, misuse of statistics and various ministers jockeying for the position of future Labour leader would appear to suggest the government has taken its eye off the economic ball.
Share this..
Related stories
When will UK base rates start to rise?
UK base rates have remained at 0.5% for some months now as the UK government looks to shore up the UK economy and try to inject more economic activity across the board. However, despite the fact that base rates have remained historically low for some time now there is still a need for significant improvement in liquidity levels in the commercial money market.
Not only are we seeing...
October lending to First Time Buyers was up by almost 50%
An annual report recently published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed that first time buyers returned to the housing market substantially during the month of October, with the value of loans rising by nearly 50% on 2012 figures. The CML report advised that loans to first time buyers during October totalled £3.7 billion, which showed a positive increase from September. Year on ye...
Read MorePay freeze agreed with Vauxhall workers
As part of the scheme to save 5000 jobs at Vauxhall UK, workers in the UK have agreed a two-year pay freeze which will obviously take some pressure off the company's new owner Magna. This compromise agreement seems to have been orchestrated by Lord Mandelson with Gordon Brown very much taking a back seat over the issue.
While there is obviously great jubilation in the short term for...
Scottish executive fails to save Diageo jobs
When drinks giant Diageo announced 900 job losses as its Kilmarnock plant the Scottish executive, led by the SNP, jumped into action and instigated a very aggressive and very public campaign against the company. While there were 900 jobs at risk there are many who claim this "megaphone diplomacy" has backfired with the group having walked away from significant public funds to save the plant and ef...
Read MoreHas the government done a backdoor deal with RBS?
As quickly as the Royal Bank of Scotland bonus row emerged it would appear it has died a death this afternoon with news that Royal Bank of Scotland directors have "given in" and bowed to pressure from the UK government to slash bonuses for 2009. However, there are rumours of backdoor deals with the management of Royal Bank of Scotland which would indicate a return to large salaries and large bonus...
Read More