Labour

Labour’s analysis of the latest weekly winter data (11 December to 17 December) released today by NHS England reveals that in the first month of winter:

• 46,993 patients have been stuck in the back of ambulances for over 30 minutes and 9,775 have had to wait longer than one hour. There has been an 86% rise in the number of delays for over one hour in just the past two weeks as the cold snap has hit.
• Average bed occupancy has risen at an alarming rate. Last week it averaged at 95%- a 0.7% increase since winter began. This is 10% higher than the recommended safe level of 85%.
• There have already been 105 diverts from A&E Departments.

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to Labour’s analysis of the first month of winter, said: 

“Patients should be under no illusions: there has been an appalling winter downturn across our NHS over the past month. 

“Despite the heroic efforts of our brilliant NHS staff, it’s unacceptable that so many patients have been stuck in the back of ambulances for such a long time. 

“With vacancies of 100,000 across the NHS, alongside the biggest financial squeeze in its history, patients are paying the price for Theresa May’s neglect of the NHS this winter.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on Public Sector Finance figures published today by the ONS, said:

“These figures are further bad news just before Christmas following on from the IMF’s gloomy outlook issued yesterday. They only remind us yet again of the broken Tory promises to eliminate the deficit by 2015. The national debt continues to grow despite the tricks the Chancellor attempted in his Budget last month with Housing Association debt to hide his failure on the economy. This continued failure by the Tory Government over these past seven years is simply unacceptable.

“These figures today reaffirm why we need an urgent change of course next year, halting the growing emergency in our public services and ending the failed Tory austerity cuts.

“The next Labour government will set out a serious plan for the public finances with strategic investment underpinned by our Fiscal Credibility Rule, to help build a high-wage, high-skill economy for the many not the few.”

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Barry Gardiner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, commenting on the revelation that the Department for International Trade has signed agreements with the United States government which seek to block transparency in UK-US trade talks, said:

“These released letters show that Liam Fox’s promises to provide maximum transparency are empty words devoid of any meaning.

“He promises the country that a future trade deal with the US will not allow reductions in our standards yet at the same time he promises the Americans that documents pertaining to such a deal will be confidential, even where the guidelines for the US-UK trade working group do not require such confidentiality.

“What is the Secretary of State trying to hide from the public?

“The threat of deregulation in the context of a trade deal with the US is a very real one as we saw with the chlorine-washed chicken scandal. Labour is calling for transparency and enhanced parliamentary scrutiny of any future trade deals. Trade agreements are not just about tariffs and barriers to trade, they are about the standards, rules and regulation that determine what kind of society we live in.”

Ends

The letters are available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/arrangement-for-exchanging-information-during-the-uk-us-trade-and-investment-working-group  

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, responding to the publication of the European Commission’s guidelines on the next phase of the Brexit negotiations, said:

“The immediate priority for the Brexit talks must be to secure sensible transitional arrangements that will protect jobs and the economy.

“Labour has been clear that it would seek a time-limited transitional deal that maintains the same basic terms that we currently enjoy with the EU. That means we would seek to remain in a customs union with the EU and within the single market during this period. It means we would abide by the common rules of both.

“The Government must now follow Labour and the EU and set out its own proposals. Theresa May cannot allow herself to be wrong footed again by refusing to set out in detail the terms of the transitional deal she wants to reach. Businesses need certainty and stability from the Government, not more confusion and chaos.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on the IMF’s report out today, said:

“The IMF has today played the role of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future to remind the Chancellor that the last seven years of Tory economic failure is undermining our economy.

“They confirmed the downbeat assessment last month by the OBR, highlighting low growth, the Government’s productivity failure and neglect of the regions. The report also confirmed what we all know, that Conservative governments are good at cutting public services to give tax cuts to a wealthy few, but hopeless at investing in the skills and infrastructure our country needs to develop an economy for the many.

“As the IMF rightly points out, despite strong global growth, UK economic growth is revised down, and business growth is down despite Tory tax giveaways to big business; while working households this Christmas are struggling with rising prices and lagging wages.

“In addition, this report can be seen as further proof that the Tories have completely lost the economic argument. Austerity has failed and will only continue to undermine our economy during the Brexit negotiations.

“The next Labour government will end austerity and provide the proper investment our country needs, underpinned by our Fiscal Credibility Rule, to build a high wage, high skill economy for the many not the few.”