A FORMER British cabinet minister, who was an adviser to prime minister David Cameron, resigned yesterday, after he claimed that most people living in the United Kingdom "had never had it so good" despite the recession.
Lord David Young of Graffham, who served in cabinet with Margaret Thatcher, had claimed in an interview with the
Daily Telegraph
that most people were significantly better off because low mortgage rates had left many of them with up to £600 (€701) a month extra to spend, while the 100,000 public job cuts to come were "within the margin".
His remarks provoked a furore, which was led by the Labour Party. Mr Cameron made an effort yesterday morning to protect Lord Young, acknowledging that his comments had "gone down badly", but saying that he had apologised fully and that it should be left at that. However, the controversy continued and Lord Young resigned yesterday evening.
Statistically, Lord Young's comments would have been accurate up to a year ago, though the latest figures would suggest that the average household now has 2.5 per cent less income to spend.
Lord Young was appointed as Mr Cameron's enterprise adviser a month ago. Earlier, he had completed a report urging changes to the UK's health and safety laws, arguing that it had made children and adults risk-averse and denied them freedoms at the hands of "jobsworths".
"It is shameful that the government's own appointed ambassador to small business could express such crass, insensitive and ignorant remarks at a time when small businesses up and down the country are suffering and the government fails to get bank lending going," said Labour MP John Denham.
Lord Young, who is independently wealthy, never took a salary from the time he was first appointed by Mrs Thatcher in 1984. Ironically, his departure from his role came in a week which began with him earning the title of "Peer of the Year" in the Spectatormagazine's annual parliamentary awards.
His departure was greeted with regret by the Institute of Directors, which said: "Lord Young had a clear vision for the UK's business environment and was one of the few politicians willing to grapple with the politically sensitive, but critical, issues of health and safety and employment law reform."
