i'm sure the whole house will wish to join me in paying tribute to carl whittle of first battalion grendeer guards who died on friday from wounds he sphnd sustained in awving in august. these were courageous and much respected men. they gave their lives in the service of their country and we are forever indebted to them. i'm sure the house would join me in welcoming the renaming of the clock tower today as the elizabeth tower, following the campaign led by my friend the member of formoth east, i believe it's a fitting tribute the queen and the service she's given to our country for 50 years. this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others and will have meetings in addition to my duties in the house today. >> i pay tribute to the troops that have died. we often vote for war in this house but it is far braver people than we have to do the fighting. the number of women who have lost jobs under the government's cuts has been twice the number of the number of men and the statistics out today show at that number of female redundancies is rising over the last few months. in addi

speaker, can i join the prime minister in paying tribute to carl whittle of first battalion of the grenadier guards. both showed the utmost courage and bravery and our thoughts are with all their family and friend. can i also join the prime minister in celebrating today the renaming of the clock tower as the elizabeth tower. it was done with all party support. it is a fitting tribute to the service of her majesty the queen. mr. speaker, the falling unemployment today is welcome but all of us -- but all of us will be concerned for the number of people out of work for more than a year stands at 904,000, its highest level for 17 years. does he agree with me this is a particularly troubling statistic because the longer someone is out of work, the harder it is for them to get back into it and the more damage that is done to them, their families and to our economy. >> i absolutely agree with you about the dangers and the threats of long-term unemployment. it is worth to put in front of the house the full figures today. unemployment is down by 7,000. employment is up by 236,000 over the quarter. i

i'm sure the whole house will wish to join me in paying tribute to carl whittle of 1st battalion grenadieruards, who died on friday from wounds he sustained in afghanistan in august. these were courageous and