The unemployed have “ample opportunity” to find a job, senior ministers have insisted as they shrugged off fears over the rising numbers of people who are out of work.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, and Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, argue that the economy is doing “far better than many would have you believe” as they tell people out of work that there is no good reason to languish on benefits.
In an article for The Times, Hunt and Stride acknowledge “bumps, twists and turns” in the economic recovery, but say that a “resilient” Britain is doing better than many other western countries as they seek to dispel economic gloom.
As the Conservatives and Labour battle to frame perceptions of the economy ahead of