The New Deal, yet another expensive failure

You would fully expect criticism of government policy to come from the opposition, but when the critique comes from the Minister that set up the system then it is worth while listening and taking note.

Former Minister for Welfare Reform Frank Field, has publicly criticised his own policy, "The New Deal" calling the results of it "derisory".

In a report in tonight's Evening Standard he said that "he said, adding that in a decade the number of people doing no work had fallen just 400,000 from 5.7million. Yet at the same time the number of young people not in work or education had actually gone up. Labour's New Deal incorporates a series of schemes that compel the unemployed to take training, work places or community work."

If a Tory MP said this, then the government would be accusing him of being part of a nasty party that doesn't want to help people get back into work. But it wasn't. It was from the man that implemented the system. Who better would know that it has been a £75 billion failure?