UPDATE: David Cameron praises Rolls-Royce apprenticeships

David Cameron is at the factory this morning (February 18) having a tour and taking part in an open forum with employees and apprenticeships.

“We inherited a situation where far too many people were unemployed, where we weren’t creating enough jobs in our country,” said Mr Cameron.

“Since I became Prime Minister, we haven’t solved or tackled all of unemployment, but we have got 1.85 million more people in work today than when I became prime minister.

“We’ve created effectively 1,000 jobs every day since this government’s been in office.

“I sit round that European Union council table with the 27 other countries – I was there last week.

“Britain, in the last four years, has created more jobs than the rest of Europe put together, so we are on our way.

“Today ... we’ve had another 100,000 increase in the number of people in work in our country. In fact there are more people in work in our country today and more women in work in our country today than ever before in our history.

“So I’m not saying we’ve solved all our problems, but we are on our way. The deficit is coming down, the jobs are coming, the production is increasing, we are the fastest-growing major economy in the western world.”

David Cameron visits Westhampnett’s Rolls-Royce factory.

See a full report in tomorrow’s Observer (February 19).