OFFICIAL figures showing unemployment on the decline yesterday masked the fact that there has been a jobless increase of thousands in northern England, writes Peter Lazenby.

The region was struck last week by news that SSI steelworks in Redcar, Teesside, would close for good.

In the three months to August there was an increase of 12,000 in unemployment in north-east England, 7,000 of them women.

Northern TUC secretary Beth Farhat said the region’s workers were paying the “highest price” for George Osborne’s economic policies.

“Given that two-thirds of public-sector workers are female, women are very much in the firing line as the Chancellor prepares for even deeper cuts to services.

“The tsunami of job losses on Teesside that will emerge as a result of the government’s failure to support our steel industry will tragically add several thousand more skilled people to unemployment queue in the months ahead.”