Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, speaking in response to reports of a new deal on Calais refugees, said:

“This new attempt to address the refugee crisis in Calais is in reality an admission of failure.

“We have repeatedly been told that security measures would solve the problem, but it has just shifted it from Calais to Sangatte and back to Calais again.  

“We need humane treatment of all these people, safe and legal routes for genuine refugees and the UK Government needs to honour our moral obligations by taking our fair share of refugees.”

Dawn Butler MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, commenting on reports by the ONS and the Young Women’s Trust on the gender pay gap, said:

“Today’s findings are a damning indictment on the Government’s failure to tackle the gender pay gap. While the Government claims progress, this latest analysis exposes severe work inequalities faced by women across the country and it is clear that we need urgent action to address it.

“This year marks 100 years since some women were allowed to vote for the first time. Although much has been achieved since this historic moment, there is still a lot of progress to be made in terms of gender equality and achieving equal pay is one of them.

“Addressing the barriers that contribute to the gender pay gap is key to this. Labour will make it a priority to tackle discrimination in the workplace and provide free childcare.  We will close the gender pay gap and introduce a civil enforcement system to ensure compliance with gender pay auditing. It is not right that women across the country face this unfair treatment.”

Jon
Trickett MP, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, responding to reports that the
government is now placing Interserve under watch, said:

“The
Government awarded Interserve numerous contracts after significant profit
warnings, clearly showing us that Carillion was not an isolated case.

“The Tory
Government is wedded to a dogma which would rather see public services in
private hands, so their shareholders cream off the profits and the British
people pick up the bill.

“Even when
these huge firms are in unstable positions, the Government would rather risk
our services than actually run them for the public .

“The time is
up on the few profiteering at the expense of the many.”

Ends

Sue Hayman MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, commenting on the launch of the EU’s plastics strategy, said:

“Labour welcomes the EU plastics strategy published today. The fact that the EU is bringing forward a target of 2030 for member states to phase out single-use plastics demonstrates the lack of ambition and vision in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

“Labour calls on the Government to confirm whether they will amend the approach outlined in their 25 Year Environment Plan in light of the EU strategy published today to ensure that the UK does not fall beneath EU standards on the environment and that action on single-use plastics is not kicked into the long grass.”

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, has today written to Sir David Norgrove, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, following comments made by Boris Johnson that Vote Leave’s claim the UK sends £350m a week to the EU was ‘grossly underestimated’.

• A copy of Keir Starmer’s letter is below.

Dear Sir David,

Foreign Secretary’s comments about the UK’s financial contribution to the EU

I am writing to seek clarification on comments made by the Foreign Secretary yesterday [15 January] about the UK’s financial contribution to the European Union (EU).

In an interview with The Guardian the Foreign Secretary said: “There was an error on the side of the [Vote Leave] bus. We grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control.”

The newspaper reports that “Johnson argued that the UK’s EU contribution was already up to £362m per week for 2017-18 and would rise annually to £410m, £431m, and then to £438m by 2020-21 – ‘theoretically the last year of the transition period.’”

The £350m a week claim made by the Vote Leave campaign has been widely condemned as inaccurate and misleading. For example, in September of last year the Statistics Authority wrote to the Foreign Secretary saying, “it is a clear misuse of official statistics.” And yet, Mr Johnson has chosen to repeat this statement and expand on the claim even further. I do not believe this to be acceptable.

I would therefore be grateful if you could make a statement on the accuracy of the Foreign Secretary’s most recent comments.

Yours sincerely

Keir Starmer
Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union