Rebecca
Long-Bailey MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to
news that families affected by Concentrix assessments are to have their cases
reviewed, said:

“These
figures further confirm that Concentrix were pursuing a cut first ask questions
later approach, which saw thousands of low income families pay the price for an
overzealous contractor, and a lack of government oversight. 

"This
scandal exposes the overall approach by the Tories, which is to make those on
low incomes pay for the last seven years of Tory economic failure.

"We
welcome the fact that those who have been unfairly punished will have their
cases finally reviewed. It is just a shame that the Tories had to be forced
here kicking and screaming by Labour. However, those who have their decisions
overturned must be reimbursed in full for the amounts that they lost as a
matter of urgency.  Anything less will be seen as the government
continuing to let them down.”

Jeremy
Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, 
speaking ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the UK,
said:

“When
Theresa May meets the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow, she
has let it be known she will tell him that building settlements on occupied
Palestinian land “undermines trust”.

"That
is simply not good enough. The Israeli government’s decision to build 3,000 new
settlement homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal under
international law and a threat to peace and international security.

"It
undermines still further the prospect of a two-state solution to the
Israel-Palestine conflict, about which the Netanyahu government is increasingly
contemptuous. 

"Fifty
years after the United Nations demanded Israeli withdrawal from the territories
occupied in the 1967 war and 70 years after the UN voted for the creation of a
Palestinian state, the British government must act in support of peace and
justice in the Middle East conflict. 

"Theresa
May must make clear to the Israeli Prime Minister that the British government
will stand unequivocally behind the rights of the Palestinian people, along
with the many who support them in Israel, as well as human rights and justice
across the region. 

"She
must also demand an assurance from the Israeli Prime Minister that the improper
interference by the Israeli embassy in British democratic politics exposed last
month will not be repeated.”

Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Housing John Healey MP, responding to the government’s
announcement on renting, said:

“These disappointing proposals fall far short of what is
needed.

"Government figures show that affordable housebuilding has
fallen to the lowest level in 24 years, with the number of homes being built
for social rent now at the lowest level since records began.

"Ministers continue to do next to nothing to help people who
rent from a private landlord and have consistently blocked Labour’s attempts to
change the law to control costs and give renters security.

"Ministers even voted down Labour’s efforts to ensure
that private rented homes were simply fit for human habitation.

"After seven years of
failure on housing, renters deserve better than this.”

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary
of State for Transport, commenting on a report
by the Commons Transport Select Committee, said:

“Privatised rail has left us with a fragmented and
inefficient network that drives up costs and under delivers.

“A railway works best as an integrated network but
privatisation and franchising have meant breaking it up to create opportunities
for companies to extract a profit, resulting in costly inefficiencies. For
example, hundreds of people are employed full time on the railway to argue
about which company is responsible for delays.

“It’s not just that money which should be used to
improve services or keep fares down is syphoned off or wasted, we have a
confusing fare structure and services are disjointed and difficult to use for
passengers.

“The current system is broken. It is time for
our railways to be run under public ownership, in the public interest as an
integrated national asset with affordable fares for all and long-term
investment in the railway network.”

Labour
will invest to transform the economy of the North – McDonnell commits Labour to
delivering Crossrail for the North

Today the
Shadow Chancellor has committed Labour to delivering on “Crossrail for the
North”, a series of major rail improvements across existing west-east links in
the North of England.

Labour
will commit to reversing decades of underinvestment in Northern transport
infrastructure that has undermined the economic potential of the north of
England and help deliver 850,000 new jobs by 2050.

The
current Tory Government has failed to invest in essential electrification of
Hull to Selby and other lines, and delayed electrification of the critical
Manchester-Leeds Transpennine route, which is not now due for completion until
at least 2022. Labour will commit to fight alongside its mayoral candidates and
local authorities to demand that the Westminster Government brings forward the
resources needed to help unlock the £97bn of economic potential in the North.

John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, is expected to say:

“Labour
is absolutely committed to delivering HS3, a Crossrail for the North, starting
right here in Liverpool and connecting the great cities of the north of
England.

“There is
so much potential here currently squandered by underinvestment, delays and a
lack of real commitment from Whitehall.

“So with
our mayoral candidates in Manchester and Liverpool, and councils across the
north, Labour will be pushing for this government to deliver.

“It’s at
least a £10bn commitment from Labour to invest in the north.

“It means
the journey from Manchester to Leeds will take just 25 minutes, instead of
close to an hour.

“Or you
could get from Liverpool to Manchester in 25 minutes.

“Crossrail
for the North will become the foundations for a transformed Northern economy.”

Ends