Responding to today’s National Audit Office
report on UK ODA spending, Labour’s Shadow Minister for International
Development, Preet Gill, said:

“It is clear that the government’s approach of spending huge chunks
of the aid budget through departments other than DFID is failing.

“The government needs to urgently step up transparency across all
departments to ensure every penny of our aid works towards eradicating
poverty overseas.

“Rather than using it to plug gaps in other departmental budgets,
Labour will put a freeze on the proportion of aid spent by departments
other than DFID.”

Emily Thornberry MP, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, responding to the judgement by the court of appeal that British arms sales to Saudi Arabia are unlawful, said:

“This devastating judgement proves everything Labour has been saying
for years: that Ministers have wilfully disregarded the evidence that
Saudi Arabia was violating international humanitarian law in Yemen,
while nevertheless continuing to supply them with weapons.

“What we now need is a full parliamentary or public inquiry to find
out how that was allowed to happen, and which Ministers were responsible
for those breaches of the law. This also shows beyond doubt why we need
the root-and-branch reform of our arms export rules that Labour has
promised, so these decisions are never again made by Ministers in such a
careless, reckless and arbitrary way.

“And immediately, the government must suspend all arms sales for use
in the conflict in Yemen until there has been a full and independent,
UN-led investigation into all breaches of international law.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on HMRC figures showing that the 2017/18 tax gap was £35 billion, said:

“The tax gap is another reminder of the scale of tax evasion in this
country under a Tory Government – and it is likely to be an
underestimate since it does not capture much tax avoidance or
profit-shifting.

“But the gap is also the product of the Government’s savage cuts to
HMRC, which have deskilled and undermined a key part of the civil
service.

“A Labour Government will be uncompromising in tackling tax avoidance
and evasion, and will implement a comprehensive policy programme to
achieve this aim.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

• HMRC has today released figures estimating that the tax gap – “the
  difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to
  HMRC, and what is actually paid” – is £35 billion. HMRC accepts that the
  tax gap is a product of miscalculations, as well as “legal
  interpretation, evasion, avoidance and criminal attacks”. This amounts
  to 5.6% of total theoretical tax liabilities, an increase of 0.1% from
  the last figure released in 2016-2017. See https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/810119/Measuring_tax_gaps_2019_edition.pdf.
• Labour’s Tax Transparency and Enforcement Programme (2017) is available here: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Tax-transparency-programme.pdf. This includes a General Anti-Avoidance Rule and a suite of other measures to tackle avoidance and evasion.
• HMRC had 104,000 staff in 2006, and had approximately 60,000 by 2019
  (figures from the Public and Commercial Services Union). It is
  estimated by PCS that 17,000 years of experience were lost to HMRC from
  redundancies in 2017.
• Labour’s 2017 manifesto committing to giving HMRC “the resources and
  skills necessary to clamp down hard on those unscrupulous few
  individuals and companies who seek to avoid the responsibilities that
  the rest of us meet”: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/labour-manifesto-2017.pdf.
• Labour also costed the hiring of “more tax collection staff”: http://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Funding-Britains-Future.pdf

Fabian Hamilton MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, commenting on the death of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, said:

“Mohammed Morsi’s death should be subject to a transparent and open investigation.

“Anybody found responsible for the death of a previously elected head
of state must be held accountable and brought to justice. It is
unacceptable that the British government and the Foreign Secretary
haven’t pressed the Egyptian authorities to fully investigate his death.
Meanwhile, successive Conservative governments continue to welcome
President Sisi with open arms, despite his extremely poor human rights
record. Tens of thousands of political prisoners continue to languish in
Egyptian prisons, often in appalling conditions.

“Labour urges the Foreign Secretary to call upon the Egyptian
government to work closely with the United Nations establishing the
circumstances surrounding Morsi’s sudden and unexpected death.”

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s shadow business
secretary, responding to news that the UK and Italian governments are
presenting a proposal to jointly assume the Presidency of the 26th
Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, said:

“While Labour welcomes efforts to bring the climate conference to the
UK, the government should start by getting its own house in order.

“The government must acknowledge just how disastrous Conservative
policies have been for renewable energy in the UK, and take the steps
needed to get the UK back on track to meeting its own climate targets.”