Labour’s Policy Review ideas to tackle areas worst-hit by unemployment

Labour is exploring radical plans to give local authorities like Leeds a new role in cutting our dole queues – and bring down benefit spending – by helping to shape the way billions of pounds of employment funding is spent.

The Party this week published a report, “No Place Left Behind”, just a coupe of days after new Labour Market figures revealed that Britain’s job crisis is deepening.

In his speech “The Road to Full Employment” to IPPR North, Liam Byrne attacked the Government’s comprehensive failure to re-skill unemployed people for local jobs and said the time has come to unlock the power of local councils in tackling Britain’s job crisis. Labour is also looking at approaches in Canada and Germany where local authorities are more involved in back-to-work programmes, regeneration funding and re-training – saving billions in benefit payments on the way.

He argues that in tough times and…