Labour

Today, Minister for Children and Families, Robert Goodwill bowed to campaigning pressure and committed to including foster children in the 30 hours offer from September 2018. 

Labour MP Tracy Brabin has been campaigning against the unfair exclusion of foster children from the flagship government policy. 

Tracy Brabin, Shadow Early Years Minister, commenting on the policy concession, said:

“The exclusion of foster children from the 30 hours policy was clearly cruel and wrong to everyone apart from Conservative Ministers. 

“I’m glad those Ministers have adopted Labour’s position and committed to include foster children from next year. It’s clear they wouldn’t have taken this step if it wasn’t for the pressure they faced from us, from foster parents, and from all others who cared about righting this wrong.

“Foster children are some of the most vulnerable in our society and it’ll be welcome news to foster carers that they’ll now have the same right to access funded childcare as their peers.”

Peter Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury responding to the Government voting down Labour’s amendments to the Finance Bill:

“This Conservative Government has once again demonstrated that it favours tax dodgers over tax payers, bankers over single mothers and large multinationals over public sector workers.

“This evening’s votes saw the Government block Labour’s amendments which would have required the Minister to publish an equalities impact assessment on all economic policies and forced ministers to review the tax gap.

“The next Labour Government is committed to ensuring that all our policies have equality impact assessments, and we will implement thorough measures to crack down on tax dodging under our Tax Transparency and Enforcement Programme. Unlike the Conservatives, we will create a country and an economy that works for the many and not just a privileged few.”

Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Sectary of State for Education, commenting on the Government’s School Revenue Funding Settlement published today, said:

“Today’s announcement simply confirms that the Conservatives will do nothing to reverse per-pupil funding cuts since 2015 or compensate schools for £2.7 billion in cuts to school funding.

“It is a source of national shame that the Government has decided not to give our schools the resources they need despite soaring class sizes, with teachers leaving the profession in record numbers and recruitment targets being missed.

“The next Labour government will reverse the cuts to school budgets and protect per-pupil funding in real terms, as we build a National Education Service that will create a country for the many, and not just the few.”

Ends

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, speaking in response to the announcement of the police funding grant, said:

“This Tory Government cannot spin its way out of a police funding crisis.

“The truth is that today’s announcement means a real terms cut to the police grant. Since 2010 the Tories have made huge cuts to the police, 20,000 police officers have been lost and an increasing number of overstretched forces say they cannot respond to certain crimes.

“Ministers have chosen to hammer the local taxpayer but the Communities Secretary admitted this will raise little under half of the real-terms cuts facing local forces. Further cuts in police officer numbers are now inevitable.

“Labour will protect police funding to keep communities safe.”

Imran Hussain MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Minister, responding to the National Audit Office investigation into changes to Community Rehabilitation Company contracts, said:

“This is yet more evidence of how the Conservatives’ part-privatisation of probation has been a costly failure that is placing the public at greater risk.

“The Government was warned that this privatisation would fail but it carried on regardless.

“As a result hundreds of millions of pounds are being wasted bailing out private probation companies which are not even meeting basic performance targets. The Conservatives should follow Labour’s lead and begin a review into how and when it will return these probation services to public control.”