NICK Clegg tells us that he's campaigning for a million jobs (Hull Daily Mail, 15 June).
With 50 jobseekers chasing each vacancy in Hull North, according to recent figures, new jobs are certainly needed – especially ones that are not part-time, based on zero hour contracts or low-paid.
Significantly, the Deputy Prime Minister does not set out any new plan to create these jobs.
In 2010, Clegg's coalition took over an economy that was growing, promised to eliminate the deficit by 2015 and then snuffed out the recovery.
After three lost years with a flat- lining economy and increasing borrowing, the coalition's failure is exposed by ministers coming back with another round of deeper cuts in public services and living standards to start after 2015.
Clegg declares that "Britain is creating jobs". Whatever's happening down south, Hull's success stories have been outweighed by large-scale private sector job losses, including from longstanding Hull firms, such as Comet and Seven Seas.
Nick Clegg's slogan about "rebalancing the economy" in favour of the North really is just a slogan.
This Lib Dem-backed Government has been more noted for wrecking existing Hull jobs than creating new ones.
Even local Tory MPs joined Labour to campaign against the Caravan Tax proposal in George Osborne's 2012 Budget. With 90 per cent of the UK caravan industry in and around Hull, this measure was especially damaging to our city.
Treasury Ministers performed a partial U-turn in the face of public opposition. Hopefully, the reduced five per cent rate of VAT on static caravans introduced in April will not damage Hull's caravan industry further.
However, jobs have gone at Normandy Holiday Homes and Willerby Holiday Homes in the past year.
Clegg points to Siemens' off-shore wind turbine manufacturing as a major hope for Hull. Clegg talks as if it's a done deal. It isn't yet.
One action that the Government could take to boost investor confidence is to set clear, long term-targets for green energy.
On June 4, Labour gave MPs a chance to do this. Lib Dem MPs tore up their own party's stated green policy to vote down the targets, gambling with new jobs for Hull.
Clegg praises the Green Investment Bank, which is yet to lend businesses any money. Unfortunately, the coalition chose to base this in the existing financial centres of Edinburgh and London – snubbing places where it would make more sense to be, such as Hull.
Recently, Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable even refused to meet me with a delegation of Hull businesses to discuss how the Green Bank could help Hull.
Despite the coalition's "Funding for Lending" scheme, which was meant to increase business access to credit, little money seems to have gone into Hull enterprises. Entrepreneurial constituents have told me that the threshold to apply for funding is even higher than for commercial lending – and with more bureaucracy.
Clegg praises the coalition's Regional Growth Fund (RGF), but Hull has received little from this.
Our local Regional Development Agency (RDA) Yorkshire Forward, abolished by the coalition, had an annual regeneration budget of £277m for Yorkshire alone.
RDAs created about £4.50 for the local economy for each £1 spent. The RGF budget is spread thinly across the whole country.
One ray of hope for Hull was Lord Heseltine's proposals in his recent report No Stone Unturned for localising £49bn of regeneration funding over four years. George Osborne endorsed this idea in March. By the end of April, Vince Cable had told journalists that "we won't be going down that road".
This week George Osborne announced only £2bn a year for this scheme – a scale of funding described as a "slap in the face" by Lord Heseltine.
Clegg boasts about the coalition's record on youth apprenticeships in Hull. However, most of these have gone to people already in work.
Of 3,230 apprenticeships started in Hull in the 2011-12 academic year, only 380 were ever advertised and 1,390 of the 3,230 went to over-25s. Most are in retail or administration. Few are in modern skilled technical trades that open up well-paid, careers, such as those once enjoyed by BAE Systems apprentices at Brough.
The coalition has made it harder for people to start technical apprenticeships at Hull College, because they need a placement before they can start the apprenticeship, rather than getting a placement while on the course.
It sums up the coalition's failure when we have a jobs shortage and a skills shortage at the same time. Meanwhile, the coalition's 'Work Programme' was recently found to be less use than doing nothing!
The coalition axed the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) that allowed many Hull youngsters to stay on in education.
Clegg's infamous broken promise on tripling tuition fees, after pledging to abolish them, makes higher education unaffordable for many poorer families.
Far too many Hull youngsters are becoming "Neets" – not in education, employment or training.
Part of the coalition's cut in capital investment into our economy was a 60 per cent cut in social housing funding.
This was bad news for construction jobs and growth.
In Hull North the former Labour Government's £160m regeneration scheme for Orchard Park was axed by the coalition. A smaller £30m Orchard Park scheme is now planned, thanks to the Labour council and its partners.
Not since the 1920s have fewer homes been built. Last week's announcement of £11m for renovating some empty properties, though welcome, does not make much impact on Hull's housing need and the shortage of smaller homes highlighted by the coalition's Bedroom Tax.
Lib Dems have opposed Labour's plans to get the economy moving by using revenue from the Government's 4G mobile phone spectrum auction and taxing banker bonuses to boost house-building, and to get young people into proper jobs and modern high-quality apprenticeships.
Hull's shortlisting for the City of Culture 2017 shows the potential for arts, culture and tourism for creating jobs in Hull.
However, I was disappointed to read media reports that in the coalition's latest public spending review, the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander was pushing for deeper cuts in arts and culture funding than George Osborne.
Cuts in Government grants to local authorities have been targeted at the poorest areas, such as Hull, destroying local jobs in the public and private sector.
Lib Dems MPs have voted time after time to impose these cuts on Hull and Hull Lib Dem councillors refuse to support the Fair Deal for Hull campaign against this unfair treatment.
Now a further major round of local government grant cuts from this Government is coming, forcing the poorest communities to pay the most for economic failure.
Whether it's green energy, the City Plan or the City of Culture, Hull people in business, local government and elsewhere are working together to strengthen the economy of our city and create the local jobs of the future.
The contribution made to this endeavour by Nick Clegg's party can be seen any day in Hull.
Just visit a Food Bank.
Diana Johnson Labour MP for Hull North
