BASINGSTOKE MP Maria Miller has welcomed the news that unemployment in Basingstoke has fallen for the seventh consecutive month this year.

New figures show that unemployment in Basingstoke is now at its lowest since March 2008, with 868 people currently out of work.

Mrs Miller said that jobs created locally have helped people get back into work, adding: “There is still more to do but these figures show that business in Basingstoke is having the confidence to invest and is creating more new jobs.

“New employers like John Lewis are moving to Basingstoke next year creating more than 300 new jobs so I hope that we will continue to see more people able to secure the sort of jobs that give them security for the future.”