DAVID CAMERON faced ridicule yesterday after claiming his aim was “full employment” despite overseeing a million public-sector job losses and the longest decline in wages since the 1800s.

The Prime Minister breezed over a five-year reign of swingeing cuts and low pay to declare: “I hope people will stick with this plan.”

At a pre-election rally in Suffolk the Tory leader set out his party’s economic agenda, pledging to cut regulation on businesses, keep “job taxes” low and punish those on ­welfare by slashing the current £500-a-week benefit cap.

“Our aim is very clear — our aim is for a Britain of full employment,” he claimed.

But in an unusual departure from the common definition of the term, he added: “What I mean by that is a higher rate of employment here in Britain than in any other advanced economy.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband branded the PM’s vow an “empty promise” that would “mean nothing to so many people struggling with empty wallets as a result of the low-wage economy.”

Unite the Union was equally unimpressed.

“After nearly five years in government David Cameron’s full employment epiphany will ring hollow to the millions struggling to make ends meet in the wake of the biggest fall in living standards since the Victorian era,” a spokesman said.

He said the Tory record was one of “a two-tier recovery built on an explosion of low-paid, insecure work.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady added to the chorus of criticism.

“With the Prime Minister promising to scrap a million public-sector jobs, along with huge post-election spending cuts that will slow the economy, the prospect for jobs is far from good,” she said.

• Mr Cameron was trapped for half an hour inside an industrial unit waiting for a photo op as aides worked out how to avoid a man in a chicken costume standing outside.

The PM finally scuttled out via a back exit to duck the chance of being snapped for the Daily Mirror stunt, which involved a placard reading: “Don’t be a chicken Mr Cameron: join the TV debate.”