Exclusive: Don’t despair pleads Clegg as job famine deepens

Ministers lined up to tell of their “disappointment” with a gloomy set of figures showing 259,000 people out of work in the region.

Unemployment rose more in Yorkshire and the Humber than other regions, sparking fresh concern over the impact of spending cuts and the eurozone crisis.

But in an interview ahead of speaking at the Yorkshire Post’s Excellence in Business Awards tonight, the Deputy Prime Minister cautioned against descending into a “counsel of despair” and promised measures to get the region’s economy growing again.

“I’m absolutely adamant we won’t see a return to the terrible divisions of the 1980s,” the Sheffield Hallam MP said. “Times are really really tough. We’re part of a region which has been reliant on handouts from Whitehall for many years and that has had to change which is very painful.

“I’m very keen people shouldn’t think we should despair. I don’t believe in a counsel of despair. There are lots of things we’re doing to make sure Yorkshire and the North have a positive future.”

Across the country unemployment increased by 114,000 to 2.57 million in the quarter to August, the worst total since the autumn of 1994. Youth unemployment reached a record high of 991,000.

In Yorkshire there are now more people unemployed than at any time since 1992, when data began to be collected in its current form. The unemployment rate of 9.7 per cent is the highest since 1994.

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Leeds West MP, called for the Government to change economic course, saying: “It’s clear the Government’s decision to cut spending and raise taxes too far, too fast is deeply hurting our region.”

Tonight Mr Clegg will warn the UK will “pay a heavy price” if the Eurozone crisis “rages on”, saying more than half of Yorkshire’s exports go to European neighbours.

He will step up his criticism of eurosceptics wanting to retreat from the European Union and will also attack a Whitehall attitude which is “so much better at saying ‘no’ to Europe than getting the rest of Europe to say ‘yes’ to us”.

He will pledge an “aggressive new push” to widen the Single Market, saying: “This isn’t a moment to step away from Europe. This is a moment to lead.”