Michael Martin under pressure after outburst in the Commons

May 14 2009 by William Green, The Journal

A SENIOR Government minister yesterday criticised Commons Speaker Michael Martin for his “heavy-handed” response to the expenses scandal.

Employment Minister Tony McNulty – who insisted Mr Martin was not “doing a bad job” – also admitted it had been a “very, very bad” few weeks and there was now a “huge job” to restore public trust.

But despite a row over his own expenses, Mr McNulty insisted he could not pay any money back because an inquiry by a Parliamentary watchdog was ongoing.

Local Government Minister John Healey also appeared to offer a less than ringing endorsement of Mr Martin, saying only that he was “doing the job”.

Their comments came as they launched a £1bn jobs fund to help councils employ the young and long-term unemployed in 150,000 new jobs lasting at least six months, 25 hours a week and minimum wage. Jobs could include cleaning parks and streets.

Mr Healey said the scheme would stop the unemployed being left on the “scrapheap” and help the North East where unemployment rose by 8.3% in the last quarter.

Mr McNulty said the programme was similar to measures in 1930s America contributing to local areas and long planned despite coming a day before such announcements are banned under election rules.