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Each Wednesday, the Prime Minister takes a range of questions in the House of Commons. Although his officials second-guess many of the questions which might be bowled his way by Opposition MPs and his home team, sometimes a subject comes up for which he will have no advance preparation.
It was Andrew Selous, Conservative MP for South-West Bedfordshire who attempted to bowl a googly between questions to the Prime Minister about the merits of a Single European Currency and the outbreak of shareholder power at GlaxoSmithKline.
Andrew Selous asked: "Does the Prime Minister share the concern of a number of my constituents, who are well qualified IT professionals, with the relevant skills, that 21,000 IT work permits are granted every year while 56,000 British IT professionals are looking for work? Will he agree to investigate whether the granting of 200,000 work permits a year - that is a fivefold increase on last year - is in any way detrimental to the economically inactive in the UK?"
Tony Blair replied: "There has not been a fivefold increase in work permits. The number has been rising for a considerable time, however, which is, of course, partly because greatly increased activity in the economy means there is rising employment and falling unemployment. Those who get work permits are specifically audited for their ability to get work in this country - people want them to work for them - and I do not think that it is right to set those people against those who are looking for work. I simply point out to the hon. Gentleman that in his constituency, as in others, unemployment has fallen dramatically over the past few years and there are increasing employment opportunities for people in IT and other sectors as well."
Prime Minister's Question time is a showcase for backbenchers to attempt to score points and catch out the Prime Minister - or, depending on their political persuasion and ambitions, ply their leader with plaudits and praise.
The Prime Minister's job is to bat the tricky detailed questions away, often with sweeping generalisations, gracefully accept the praise and make the substantive points on issues he has decided he wishes to raise in advance. It is unlikely the Prime Minister would have been aware that IT work permits would be an issue, so he tackled this with general comments about rising employment and falling unemployment without having to answer the actual points raised by Andrew Selous or make a specific comment or claim.
However, it is worth noting that in the middle of this answer his comments support what has been a consistent position from a number of Government Ministers, that the UK will welcome skilled migrant workers and does not believe that advocating a protectionist policy is in the wider interests of the UK economy.
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Susie Hughes © Shout99.com 2003
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