Labour

Clive Lewis MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, commenting on the energy price increases from Npower, said:

“This government is doing nothing to enforce their own regulator’s strong advice that there should be no price hike.

“They have done nothing to increase the number of families getting help to insulate their home. And they are not doing enough to ensure better customer treatment. Theresa May should take urgent action to stand up for bill payers”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on the latest winter pressures data from NHS England, said:

“The NHS has been stretched to its limits this winter, with wards closed, operations cancelled and treatments delayed. Over 3 million people have had to go to A&E since the start of December and A&E diverts are 86 per cent up on last winter.

“But this week brought further evidence of an NHS recruitment crisis – with 2.7 million breaches of the Government’s agency cap in nine months, applications for nursing degrees driven down 23 per cent and news today that in 2016 only half of junior doctors progressed to specialty training. It will be patients who suffer further as a consequence.

“Theresa May and her ministers simply cannot keep burying their hands in the sand. The Prime Minister’s utter disregard is letting patients and their families down.

“The Government is failing to protect our NHS for the future. Urgent action is required and Labour is calling for a sustainable funding package for health and social care to be brought forward in the March Budget, so that the NHS and its patients never have to go through a winter like this again.”

Sharon Hodgson MP, Shadow Minister for Public Health, reacting to Cancer Research UK’s report into women’s cancer rates rising faster than men’s, said:

“Cancer Research UK’s warning of cancer rates amongst women rising faster than those amongst men in the next 20 years due to a lack of prevention measures should be a warning shot to Ministers that their policies are failing the health of our nation.

“Despite the radical upgrade we were promised in the Five Year Forward View two years ago, the Government’s mishandling of the NHS has seen this upgrade fall by the wayside and has been exacerbated by the deep cuts to public health funding we have seen.

“The Government has a lot of work to do when it comes to their Cancer Strategy, but they cannot let it be undermined by weakening preventative measures which can address these issues at source. Ministers need a serious rethink when it comes to their approach to public health.”

Ends

Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the first report of the Northern Powerhouse, said:

“This report from George Osborne’s think tank is all very well, but let’s not forget that he was a Chancellor in a Tory Government that presided over falling school budgets, a chronic teacher shortage and not enough good school places.

“The Tories’ huge cuts to schools funding will hit schools in the North hard, making the problems highlighted in this report even worse. The Northern Powerhouse means nothing unless the Government is prepared to invest in education, skills and infrastructure.

“Theresa May must take action or the divisions between North and South will become even deeper, with working people paying the price for inequality. The Government must stop undermining our schools’ ability to deliver an excellent education for all by failing to invest in our children’s future.”

Jonathan Reynolds MP, Labour’s Shadow City Minister, responding to reports that city financiers have been jailed over £245m loans scam, said:

“It’s welcome news that this gang have been prosecuted and sentenced. All those tempted to game the system and commit fraud against the public should know from the sentences passed that they’ll pay the price.

“Lack of faith in the financial sector is bad for the public and bad for the sector itself. The Government needs to do more to reassure people that the bad practices have ended. For a start, Philip Hammond should reinstate the commission on culture in banking cancelled by his predecessor.”