DAVID Cameron accepts that the latest unemployment figures are “disappointing”. But they should not be surprising.

The expectation that job creation in the private sector could keep pace with the losses in the public sector was never a reality, especially in a region like the North-East, which was so vulnerable to the public sector squeeze.

We are not blind to the need to tackle the deficit and we agree with the Prime Minister’s assertion that the economy needs to be rebalanced so that we are not so heavily reliant on the public sector.

Where we differ is over the pace and depth of the cuts.

A more measured approach would have still made inroads into the deficit, without undermining confidence so badly that millions of public sector workers viewed moving house or buying a car as too risky.

The immediate dismantling of the regional development agencies (RDAs) – the Government bodies designed to nurture private sector investment – is a case in point.

The RDAs were gone in a flash of ideology and it has taken too long for them to be replaced by enterprise zones.

Phasing out the RDAs over time would have allowed for a calmer, more constructive transition towards enterprise zones.

Britain has become a country of increasing insecurity and there appears little hope of private sector growth filling the public sector void.