Unemployment at 10 year High

The Office for National Statistics figures show that the number of people out of work has risen to 1.79m, with the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance rising by 31,800 to 939,900 in September.

Between May and July, the number of people out of work rose by 81,000 to 1.72 million. The number claiming jobseekers' allowance increased in August to 904,900.

Speaking in Brussels, where he is preparing to meet European leaders to discuss the financial crisis, Mr Brown said: "We will do everything we can to help create jobs and help people maintain jobs in the British economy...Unemployment and redundancies are something we wish to avoid wherever possible and we will do everything in our power to help people to move into jobs when vacancies exist, and to minimise the impact of unemployment."