Tom
Watson, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport, commenting
on the announcement of details of the Data Protection Bill, said: 

“The
Government opposed Labour’s attempts to strengthen data protection laws during
the passage of the Digital Economy Act just months ago, so it is welcome news
that they’ve finally understood that our current data protection legislation
needs updating. 

"Labour’s
manifesto committed to allowing young people to remove content shared on the
internet before they turned 18, so we’re glad the Government is taking action
on this.

"As
we are leaving the EU it is more important than ever that we have a robust data
protection framework fit for the future. We’ll be scrutinising the bill
carefully to make sure it creates that future proof framework.”

Rebecca Long Bailey, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, commenting on the energy price review said:

“Today’s review is yet
another example of the Government’s procrastination when it comes to reforming
the broken energy market. Homes and businesses face a bleak winter ahead with
soaring and unfair energy costs. They need action, not another review.

“Ofgem’s recent watered down price cap proposals went nowhere near the promise
made by the Prime Minister to adopt Labour’s principle of a price cap and last
week’s energy price hikes clearly showed the Government would be nowhere near
implementing their election promise anytime soon.

“Let’s remember Theresa May pledged unequivocally to knock £100 off the bills
of 17 million customers.

“It does seem that
reports of senior cabinet members and the big six energy companies lobbying the
Prime Minster to drop the price cap commitment are correct.”

Labour analysis demonstrates £3bn blackhole in
Tory spending plans revealing the damage this government’s weak and unstable
leadership has done to the public finances.

The blackhole,
which does not include unfunded commitments made in the un-costed Tory
manifesto and could be set to rise,  is made up of: 

·  The Government being ordered by the Supreme Court last month to repay up
to £32m in unlawful Employment tribunal fees introduced since 2013

·   Philip Hammonds u-turn on proposed increases in the rates of Class 4
National Insurance Contributions on low and middle income self-employed workers in response to Labour opposition following the Spring
Budget 2017

·    The £1bn additional funding allocated to Northern Ireland as a result of
the Conservative and DUP coalition agreement

In
light of reports the Chancellor is planning further spending cuts or tax rises
to meet the blackhole that his shambolic stewardship has created, Labour have
today called upon Philip Hammond to rule out further tax rises on low and
middle income earners over the course of the next Parliament. 

Peter
Dowd, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the treasury, writing to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer today said,

“Philip Hammond has created
a £3bn black hole in the nations finances as a result of his and this
Government’s incompetence. Labour are calling for a guarantee that taxes will
not be raised on low and middle income earners to pay for this Government’s
shambolic leadership.”

Text
of the letter:

Dear
Chancellor,

I
have read with some concern news reports that you are looking at ways to
increase taxation to cover the £1bn costs of your deal for Democratic Unionist
Party votes.

In
addition to the £2bn costs of your reversal of planned rises in Class 4
National Insurance Contributions, and the £32m costs of the your government’s
Employment Tribunal fee cuts being declared illegal, a black hole of more than
£3bn has been created in the public finances.

A
new Budget is not due until Autumn, leaving taxpayers with significant
uncertainty over your plans to close the enormous gap in the government’s
finances.

With
household budgets already squeezed by falling real-terms pay, and worsening
forecasts for the economy as a whole, I believe it is essential that you now
provide some reassurance ahead of your Budget that ordinary families will not
bear the brunt of your government’s successive failures.

For
the course of this Parliament:

·        
Can you now rule out
rises in Value Added Tax?

·        
Can you now rule out
rises in self-employed and employee National Insurance Contributions?

·        
Can you now rule out
rises in the basic rate of Income Tax?

I
look forward to your reply.

Peter
Dowd

Shadow
Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Tom
Watson MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport, commenting
on reports that the Chancellor has scrapped the Fixed-odds betting terminals
(FOBTs) review, said: 

“This
is an astonishing intervention by Philip Hammond.

“If the
Treasury has insisted the review is shelved then the Chancellor has ridden
roughshod over his Cabinet colleagues and overwhelming public evidence about
the danger these highly addictive machines pose.

“British
gamblers lost £1.8 billion on fixed-odds betting terminals last year alone,
money that could make a better contribution to the economy if spent
elsewhere. 

“If
Philip Hammond was so concerned about his bottom line, maybe he shouldn’t have
approved a £1 billion sweetheart deal with the DUP. 

“The
Department for Culture, Media and Sport should stand up to the Treasury and
publicly assure us the review has not been shelved." 

Barbara
Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Mental Health Minister, commenting on NHS England’s
announcement that an appropriate place has been found for Young Person X, said:

“It is a
relief to know that a safe and appropriate place looks to have been found for
Young Person X.

“This
case must act as a wake-up call for the Government, who must now invest
properly in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services so that we never find
ourselves in this position again.”