Party broadcast sparks jobs row

The Conservatives were forced onto the defensive last night over a claim in their party political broadcast that Britain has the "lowest unemployment rate of any major European country".

Figures produced by Tory Central Office appeared not to support the claim, showing that unemployment, at 8.6 per cent, is the same in Germany. A party official said: "8.6 per cent is the lowest rate [for larger countries]. Britain has that rate. So does Germany. I think that statement stands up."

But Andrew Smith, Labour's Treasury spokesman, said: "The Tories are peddling deception to try to support their false claims about the economy."

The 8.6 per cent figure is the most recent International Labour Organisation measure for December 1995.

Another claim in the broadcast, which featured actors playing foreigners shaking their heads over Britain's success, proved controversial. One "Belgian" character said: "If you want to go to the European country which attracts the most foreign investments, you have to go to Great Britain."

But the figures cited by Central Office, from the OECD, showed that Belgium, a country with a much smaller population than Britain, attracts almost as much foreign investment. The UK, with a population of 58 million, attracted $11.05bn (pounds 7bn) in 1994, while the Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union, with a population of 10.5 million, took $8.9bn.

Per person, Belgium-Luxembourg attracted more than four times as much inward investment as Britain.