Unemployment rises in the East

Unemployment in East Anglia rose by 15,000 in the three months to October, official figures have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that a total of 216,000 people were unemployed in the region between August and October. The region's unemployment rate was 6.9% and saw a rise of 7.5% during the period - the largest increase in the country.

Nationwide, a record number of people are in work after the biggest quarterly fall in unemployment for over a decade.

The shift in employment patterns was revealed in new data showing a slump in public sector employment and an increase in the numbers employed in private firms.

"Once again, these figures show that the private sector is creating far more jobs than are being lost in the public sector. It's a credit to British businesses that they're proving wrong those cynics who claimed the private sector wouldn't be able to step up."