Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, chosen as new leader of Spain’s Socialists, promised to tackle crippling unemployment and to listen to “the street” as he took charge yesterday of a party most predict will lose the next general election.

Rubalcaba, 56, resigned from government last Friday after serving as both interior minister and deputy prime minister, saying he wanted to fully commit to reviving a party widely abandoned by supporters in protest over grim economic conditions.

“Spain is going through a difficult moment that requires serious commitment and that is why I’m here. I think I can be useful to my country,” he said in an hour-long speech yesterday that broadly outlined his left-of-centre political vision.

While mixing in characteristic moments of humour, Rubalcaba said Spain’s “urgent priority was to create jobs”.

Spain’s jobless rate hit 21.29 per cent earlier this year, the highest in the industrialised world.

Unveiling a flagship proposal, he said banks must “devote some of their profits to job creation”. He said the plan will particularly benefit the country’s youth, who have been hit hardest by the employment crisis, with 45 per cent of people aged 16-24 unable to find work. Unemployed youths have joined other disgruntled groups in a massive protest movement that has rocked the country in recent weeks.

Rubalcaba insisted that the protesters who camped out in central Madrid and demonstrated on streets around the country to voice frustration over joblessness and deep spending cuts must not be ignored by political leaders.

“We must listen to what the street is telling us and act accordingly,” he said.

While respecting the voices of the protesters, Rubalcaba also said he “will require more austerity” and that he would pursue further budget cutting reforms.

He also insisted he would not be guided by the dictatorship of markets. “There are people who think that policy has lost the battle and that markets will do what they want,” he said, insisting that “it is policy that will solve our problems.”