The shadow business secretary has emphasised the importance of 'keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive' in the younger generation. Speaking on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Harriett Baldwin highlighted that, over time, less survivors of the atrocities are alive and called for 'everyone who is growing up today to be aware of what happened and to keep the flame alive'. Baldwin also criticised the chancellor's budget, commenting on the CBI's prediction of a fall in economic activity for businesses, and also encouraged companies to decide for themselves whether a four-day work-week is suitable for them or not.
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00:00I had the privilege a few years ago as a constituency MP to go with the Holocaust
00:05Education Trust and some sixth formers from high schools in my constituency and we visited Auschwitz
00:13and it's so important that we keep that memory alive in the younger generation because
00:21obviously the number of survivors of Auschwitz and other horrible death camps is diminishing
00:28as time passes and so we need to ensure that everyone who is growing up today is aware of
00:34what happened and they hear that first-hand testimony today and also that they keep that
00:40flame alive for the future. Yeah it's very concerning to see those figures today from the
00:45CBI which is the leading business organisation because it's clear that the decisions that the
00:50Chancellor took in her budget at the end of October are having a really damaging impact on
00:56growth and for a government whose mission is to deliver growth it's clear that the things
01:01they've actually done have had the opposite effect so I think it's really important that
01:06the Chancellor listens to these businesses. At the end of the day it's businesses who invest
01:11their own money, who create jobs, they're the ones that drive growth in an economy and it's
01:16really important that she listens to what they're saying and that she takes stock and reverses some
01:21of the very damaging decisions she took in her budget. Well I think there are lots of businesses
01:27where that would work for them and I think it should be up to the business to have that freedom
01:32and flexibility but you can understand there will also be lots of other businesses where that
01:36wouldn't work, where they need to be there seven days a week and there has to be a shift pattern
01:41so I think it's really important that businesses make that decision individually. I think there's
01:46a lot more flexibility that we have these days to work from home and again I think if businesses
01:52need all their staff to come in they should be able to insist on that so I think productivity
01:59is a much bigger issue we need to do much more as a UK economy to improve productivity
02:04and often not only in businesses but in our public services as well.