Labour

Labour are today (Monday) announcing that a Labour government will mount a major programme to improve health and wellbeing of every child in the country. Our ambition is to make the next generation the healthiest the world has ever seen.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, will set out the party’s plans to combat health inequalities and end the scandalous link between deprivation and child health.

Labour will:

·         Introduce a new Index of Child Health to measure progress against international standards and report annually against four key indicators: obesity, dental health, under 5s, and mental health.

·         Legally require all Government departments to have a child health strategy to set out how they will support the UK’s ambition to have the healthiest children in the world.

·         Support school nurses and health visitors to make sure that all children have access to the healthcare they are entitled to.

·         Set up a £250m annual child health fund to support the strategy, by clamping down on management consultancy costs in the NHS.

·         Ensure extra funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and support for counselling in every school.

·         Ring-fence the public health budget over the course of the Parliament to allow councils to invest in leisure activities and health awareness campaigns 

Today (Monday) Labour is outlining the first stage of its plan focusing specifically on obesity which is costing the NHS £6bn a year.

Labour pledge to ban adverts promoting unhealthy food from being broadcast during primetime television, such as the X Factor, Hollyoaks and Britain’s Got Talent. A ban on pre-watershed junk food advertising would reduce children’s viewing of junk food adverts by 82%.

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, will pledge that a Labour Government elected after the General Election would:

·         Halve childhood obesity within ten years and make Britain “the healthiest country in the world to grow up in.”

·         Introduce legislation banning junk food advertising from being broadcast before 9pm

·         Publish a new childhood obesity strategy within the first 100 days outlining a roadmap to halving childhood obesity rates within ten years

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, will say:

“The scandal of child ill-health is a long-standing, growing and urgent challenge. It should be matter of shame that a child’s health is so closely linked to poverty and that where and in what circumstances you grow up can dramatically affect your life chances.

“Evidence shows the link between deprivation and poor health in childhood, so with child poverty on the rise, the need for action becomes more acute.

“The UK has one of the worst childhood obesity rates in Western Europe. Tooth decay is the single most common reason why children aged five to nine require admission to hospital. Around 13% of boys and 10% of girls aged 11-15 have mental health problems.

“When it comes to our children we should be ambitious. It’s time we invested properly in the health of the next generation. That means the sort of bold action we are outlining today to tackle obesity and invest in mental health provision.

Labour will put children at the heart our health strategy and put measures in place to make Britain’s children the healthiest in the world.”

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to Jeremy Hunt’s interview on Marr, said:

“We’ve now had an admission of failure straight from the horse’s mouth: the Tory-made A&E crisis is simply “not acceptable.”

“Jeremy Hunt this morning was forced to admit to the British public that the 4-hour A&E target has not been hit in over two years. This shameful statistic is symptomatic of the crisis that the Tories have left our NHS in. Britain cannot afford another five years of Tory failure.

“Only Labour will give the NHS the resources it needs to deliver the service patients deserve.”

Ends

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at a rally in Leicester today, said:

***Check against delivery***

There’s no doubt that Thursday’s local election results were disappointing for our party. We had welcome victories in Manchester, Liverpool, Wales, Doncaster and elsewhere but too many fantastic councillors, who work tirelessly for their communities, lost their seats.

We face a huge challenge in the next five weeks.

But this General Election campaign is also a great opportunity. A chance to break free, to create a society in which people are no longer held back by a system that is rigged for the rich. A chance to rebuild Britain for the many not the few.

There is also a huge danger – that the Tories’ fearmongering and spin machine will make some people settle for less than they should. Resign themselves to things the way they are – underestimating just how many more burdens the Tories could impose if their mission to rig the system for the rich isn’t halted.

The stakes are high. We know from yesterday’s election results that the gap between us and the Tories is not as great as the pundits have been saying.

But we still have many people to convince. We have four weeks to do that. Are we up to the challenge?

Millions are still sceptical and undecided, not sure which way to turn.

And who can blame them.

Andy Burnham – who had a brilliant victory to become the new Mayor of Greater Manchester yesterday – spoke last week of how alienated people are from the political system.

He said we can’t just carry on doing what we are doing; the time has come to do something different.

He’s right. Our Westminster system is broken and our economy is rigged. Both are run in the interests of the few.

Things can and must be different.

Labour is under attack because we are standing up to the elites who are determined to hijack Brexit to pay even less tax and take even more of the wealth we all create.

Labour is under attack because we are standing up to the corporate interests plundering our NHS – £13 billion of the NHS budget is already privatised – how much more will be if the Tories get another five years?

That’s why Labour is under attack. We’re drawing a line. Three decades of privatisation – from energy and rail to health and social care – has made some people very rich but it has not delivered richer lives for the vast majority.

In this election, we will be outlining a plan to transform Britain – an upgraded economy run for the many not the few.

It will mean standing up to powerful vested interests. But we are ready for the challenge.

The Conservatives only stand up when taking orders from their billionaire friends, who hoard our country’s wealth for themselves in tax havens.

Theresa May thinks she can win the General Election by claiming she cares about working people.

She talks about building a fair society. Does she think people will forget what the Tories have done to this country, how they’ve actually treated working people? 

This Tory leader sat alongside David Cameron in government for six years.

She was in the cabinet room when they introduced the bedroom tax. So were the Liberal Democrats as part of Cameron’s coalition. What was fair about that?

And what was fair about racking up tuition fees?

Or about taking benefits away from people with disabilities?

Or about closing Sure Start Centres? Or starving schools of cash? Or opening up the NHS to be plundered by profiteers?

And what was fair about giving big business and the richest in society tax giveaways worth tens of billions of pounds – while the rest of us were told to tighten our belts, to accept a big dose of austerity?

The Tories are hoping everyone has short memories.

But if that fails, they have another card they are playing. That this election is about Brexit and who can play at being toughest with Brussels.

But Labour will not allow the Tories to put their party interests ahead of the real national interest. The interests of the British people.

This election isn’t about Brexit itself. That issue has been settled. The question now is what sort of Brexit do we want – and what sort of country do we want Britain to be after Brexit?

And who can really be trusted to put working people first?

Labour wants a jobs Brexit, a Brexit that safeguards the future of Britain’s vital industries, a Brexit that paves the way to a genuinely fairer society and to an upgraded economy.

Labour’s plan to transform Britain will mean:

·         investing in infrastructure and new industries,

·         rebuilding our NHS and social care services,

·         giving our children and young people a chance to fulfil their potential.

We won’t be paying lip-service to working people.

We will introduce a comprehensive programme to strengthen rights at work, make sure new jobs are good jobs, and end the race to the bottom in pay, conditions and job security.

Low pay and insecurity have spread like an epidemic under the Tories.

Labour will invest in skills and jobs, and take action to enforce a floor under employment standards across the board – so that all jobs are decent jobs, so that all workers – the true wealth creators – can play their part in transforming Britain and benefit fully from it.

Transformation means that, instead of a country run for the rich, Britain will be a country in which people are not held back, in which everyone is able to lead a richer life.

And that’s why we are fighting to win this election. Fighting to win, not because I yearn for the trappings of Downing Street office but because I want a better Britain

A country for the many not the few.

The local election results yesterday leave us in no doubt about the scale of our challenge.

We know this is no small task – it is a challenge on a historic scale. But we, the whole Labour movement and the British people, can’t afford not to seize our moment.

We have five weeks to win the General Election so we can fundamentally transform Britain for the many not the few.

When we win, we form the NHS.

When we win, we introduce the Equal Pay Act.

When we win we establish a National Minimum Wage – one of my proudest days in politics.

When we win, the British people win. The nurse, the teacher, the small trader, the carer, the builder, the office worker win.

Labour is offering a real choice, a real alternative to the rigged system that is holding us back and the Conservatives who are running our country down in every way.

An alternative for the many not the few.

And we need to be that real alternative because too many people in our country worry that voting won’t change anything, that all politicians are the same.

We are not all the same but people are frustrated that the system remains rigged for the few, that the lives of the many don’t seem to be getting better.

They vote, nothing changes.

The economy is still rigged in favour of the rich and powerful.

We have to show that we are different, that we will transform Britain. That we are for the many not the few.

When Labour wins there will be a reckoning for those who thought they could get away with asset stripping our industry, crashing our economy through their greed and ripping off workers and consumers.

When did the Conservatives – Osborne, Cameron, May, Johnson – ever stand up to their financial backers and demand our money back?

Never and they never will.

Instead, they make our nurses, our carers, our soldiers, our disabled, our young people trying to get a home of their own, our elderly looking for dignity in retirement and those working hard to get on, foot the bill instead.

It makes me angry. It makes me really angry. And I know it makes the people of Britain angry too.

So today, I say to tax cheats, the rip off bosses, the greedy bankers.

Enough is enough.

The people of Britain are taking our money back.

We have always stood up for the many not the few.

And I will always stand up for our beliefs.

That can be lonely, I know.

I campaigned against privatisation, tax cuts for the rich, letting the banks become all powerful and the Iraq war when many politicians were pushing them through or not standing up against them.

We stood up for workers’ pay, better public services, a fairer society, a more equal economy and for peace and justice.

Standing up for your beliefs in any circumstances, takes great determination. It can be frustrating. It takes its toll. It is far easier to compromise your beliefs and go along for the ride.

But strength is holding on to what you believe in. Standing up for the many against the few means a struggle against the odds.

Looking out for the few is easy; winning for the many is hard.

I have a message for Theresa May. If you feel the need to go on about what a great leader you are, then show it by debating with me in this election campaign. We are for the many, you’re for the few.

But this is about so much more than Theresa May and me.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you, the people, to decide what sort of country you want to live in.

We are full of so much potential, which is being stifled and held back in favour of the few.

Together, we can transform Britain.

And we must transform Britain because now it is rigged for the few.

In this election, Labour is standing for decent jobs, investment for the future, shared wealth creation, security at work, affordable homes for all, a fully funded NHS and schools, training and skills, an end to rip-off privatisation, fair taxation and a fairer, more equal country.

As we set out our detailed plans for Britain, the scale of the change we are offering will become clear.

So let’s turn our country around. Let’s come together to transform Britain. Together, we can win for the many not the few.

Make sure you are registered to vote.

Please help others get registered to vote.

Make sure you use your vote.

Talk to your friends, family, neighbours and co-workers about this General Election.

It is so important.

This election could be a great and proud moment in our national story.

Don’t wake on up on 9 June to see celebrations from the tax cheats, the press barons, the greedy bankers, Philip Green, the Southern Rail directors and crooked bankers that take our wealth, who have got away with it because the party they own, the Conservative Party, has won.

We have five weeks to ruin their party. We have five weeks to have a chance to take our money back. We have five weeks to win so we can transform Britain for the many not the few.

We must seize it. Thank you.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, commenting on the local election results, said:

“The results were mixed. We lost seats but we are closing the gap on the Conservatives. I am disappointed at every Labour defeat in the local elections. Too many fantastic councillors, who work tirelessly for their communities, lost their seats.

“We have five weeks to win the General Election so we can fundamentally transform Britain for the many not the few.

“We know this is no small task – it is a challenge on an historic scale. But we, the whole Labour movement and the British people, can’t afford not to seize our moment.  

“The British people have been held back for too long. Labour will put more money in people’s pockets with a £10 real living wage, look after our pensioners by protecting the triple lock on state pensions and give everybody the care and dignity they deserve by properly funding our NHS and social care system.

“I urge everyone to vote Labour because things can, and will, change.

Emily Thornberry, Shadow Foreign Secretary, responding to reports that the Tories are planning a vote on Syria if re-elected, said:

“Now the truth is out. A vote for the Tories is a vote to escalate the war in Syria and prolong the suffering of its people; to risk open conflict between our armed forces and those of Russia and Iran; and to follow Donald Trump’s lead with blind loyalty, no matter where it takes us, and no matter what our other allies think. In short, it is a vote to repeat the mistakes of Iraq from a Prime Minister who just last weekend refused to accept that she got Iraq wrong.

“Instead of this headlong rush to war, the British government should be working flat out through the United Nations to support the current talks on de-escalation of the conflict, with a view to creating a permanent ceasefire, a political solution and a lasting peace. That is what the Syrian people need, not Theresa May’s secret plans to escalate the war.

“These reports also reveal that – even on matters of peace and war – Tory MPs cannot be trusted to think independently and do what is best for the country. This increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister just sees them as voting fodder, and if they are prepared to back her rush to war, they will also surely vote for a chaotic Brexit and the dismantling of our NHS. The only way to stop them is to vote Labour.”