Labour

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to the comments from the Home Secretary on increased use of stop and search, said: 

“Labour supports evidence-based stop and search, not a return to the bad old days of discriminatory stops that focus on particular communities.

“Police officers should be confident in doing their job, but the Tories have overseen a huge cut in police numbers. Simply granting police additional powers won’t make up for that shortfall. Labour in government will recruit 10,000 extra police officers to help tackle violent crime and keep the public and our communities safe.

“The Government should stop trying to con the public by attempting to cover up their failure to tackle rising violent crime – when the crime stats were released they insisted crime was falling, but now want to increase stop and search.“

Andrew Gwynne MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, responding to analysis by the Local Government Association on children’s social care budgets, said:

“The LGA, which represents councils from every part of the country, has spoken with one voice and are telling us that children’s social services are on the brink of collapse.

“This isn’t the view of a few local councils, these are local authorities from every part of the country and they are reporting very serious disparities in the care they can provide due to budget cuts.

“Councils have worked hard to make savings, but they are running out of options. We all want every single child, no matter their geography or family situation, to receive the best care and protection when needed, but right now, that is not happening.

“This is yet another sign of the government’s misplaced priorities – they can find a £1 billion bung for the DUP to stay in the job but are failing to provide the funding children’s services desperately need.”

Diane Abbott MP, Shadow Home Secretary, in response to figures that show just five per cent of refugees resettled under the Governments refugee scheme have disabilities, despite estimates that more than 1 in 5 escaping Syria is disabled, said:

“This is truly appalling and an all new low in this government’s treatment of refugees.

“Just over a year ago when Theresa May made her first speech as Prime Minister she said “ a disability or a health condition should never dictate the path a person is able to take”, but this has clearly been a factor blocking the legitimate right of vulnerable refugees to seek asylum in this country.  

“We know that offers from councils to host refugees have not been taken up in full, the Dubs scheme has been halted and now this. This Tory government’s treatment of refugees is simply not in line with British values.”

New research published today by the Labour Party shows that nearly half of England’s maternity units closed to new mothers at some point in 2016.

Data obtained by Labour under the Freedom of Information Act shows:

·         42 hospital trusts which responded to an FOI request say they temporarily closed maternity wards to new admissions at some point in 2016

·         Some closures lasted more than 24 hours, while over ten trusts shut temporarily on more than ten separate occasions each

·         In 2016 there were 382 occasions when units had to close their doors, a 70 per cent increase from 2014

·         Hospitals report capacity and staffing issues as most common reason for closures

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Health, said:

“These findings show the devastating impact which Tory underfunding is having for mothers and children across the country. It is staggering that almost half of maternity units in England had to close to new mothers at some point in 2016. The uncertainty for so many women just when they need the NHS most is unthinkable. 

“Under this Government, maternity units are understaffed and under pressure. It’s shameful that pregnant women are being turned away due to staff shortages, and shortages of beds and cots in maternity units.

“Families are being sorely let down by this Government’s failure to recognise the crisis facing our NHS. The Tories need to get a grip and take urgent action to make sure closures like this don’t continue to happen.”

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to Commander Dean Haydon’s comments on Prevent, said:

“There is growing criticism from within communities and from counter-radicalisation experts who say that Prevent is alienating whole layers of the population.

“If the Government has any evidence of Prevent’s success it should publish it. So far, it has failed to do so.  Labour in government will conduct a thorough review of the Prevent strategy.”