Labour

Andrew Gwynne MP, Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, responding to the Local Government Finance Settlement announced in the House of Commons by Sajid Javid, Communities and Local Government Secretary, said:

“Local government is under enormous pressure because of politically motivated Tory cuts that have hit the poorest areas hardest since 2010. Local councils have seen their budgets slashed by 40 per cent since the Tories came to power. 

“The council tax precept has already proven to be an inadequate and short-term sticking plaster for a problem which needs long-term answers. Shifting the burden on to council tax payers creates a postcode lottery in services with the most deprived authorities suffering most.

“This Conservative Government won’t stand up for working people and ordinary families are paying the price as councils are forced to cut services to fill the gap. We need to elect as many Labour Councillors as possible on the 3rd May next year to stand up against these unfair Tory cuts.”

Rebecca Long Bailey MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, commenting on the Investment Association Public Register of executive pay, said:

“Today’s register confirms that under the Tories, the fat cats of corporate Britain earn pay rise after pay rise, often against the advice of shareholders. This is all whilst ordinary workers are faced with stagnating wages and a cost of living crisis.

“The pay of some big bosses is clearly spiralling out of control. The register reveals the real impact of a system which puts the interests of the few over the many, a system that has left millions of people up and down the country on low pay and in insecure, low skilled jobs.

“Labour will roll out a maximum pay ratio of 20:1 in companies bidding for public contracts. We will increase taxes on only the highest earners in order to raise vital funds for our struggling public services and create an economy that works for the many, not the few.”

Richard Burgon MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, following the Government’s Response to the Lammy Review into the treatment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System, said:

“David Lammy’s review shone a spotlight on the widespread discrimination in our criminal justice system. His finding that there is a greater disproportionality in the number of black people in our prisons than in the USA is a source of shame for our society.

”While the Government accepts that much more needs to be done, it is disappointing that they are seeking to resolve the lack of diversity in our judiciary with watered down measures. 

“Labour is committed to reviewing the judicial appointments process, to ensure a judiciary that is more representative of our society. Over the coming months, Labour will be holding the Government to account over its commitments made today and pressing it to go much further to ensure that the Lammy report is a watershed moment in the struggle against racism and discrimination.”

Labour has secured a vote on its amendment to the Finance Bill to force the Government to conduct an assessment of the impact of social security changes and fiscal measures on disadvantaged groups.

The Government failed to meet Labour’s demand for the Budget to be audited on the basis of gender, race, age, disability, class and region. Other parties have now joined Labour calls for transparency, with 127 MPs from Labour, the Lib Dems, SNP and the Greens, signing Dawn Butler’s letter to Justine Greening calling for all Government policy to be assessed for their impact on disadvantaged groups.   

Although the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) places a legal responsibility on public bodies, including the Treasury, to conduct equality assessments, the Treasury has failed to publish adequate equalities audits of its fiscal measures.

This comes as analysis shows that 86 per cent of tax and social security changes continue to fall on women and women only received two thirds of the spending men received in this budget.

Dawn Butler MP, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, said:

“The Tories’ failed austerity project has hit the most vulnerable groups in our society the hardest, forcing women, ethnic minority communities and disabled people to pay the highest price.

“The Finance Bill represents more of the same for groups with protected characteristics who have borne the brunt of Conservative economic failure for too long. We need a detailed assessment to reveal the full damage of Tory austerity.

“The next Labour government will ensure that we publish comprehensive equality impact assessments to enable us to truly build an economy that works for the many, not the few.”

Peter Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, speaking ahead of the committee stage of the Finance Bill in the House of Commons today, has demanded an end to the tax giveaways to the big banks. He also demanded greater transparency in the Government’s planned cuts to the rate of the Bank Levy.

Labour has tabled three new clauses and a paving amendment on the issue of the Bank Levy. The amendments would: force the government to assess the effectiveness of the Bank Levy as a revenue raising measure since its introduction in 2011; to increase the transparency of the levy and its operation; and to ensure that the changes introduced by this Finance Bill are measured and reviewed.

Before the Budget leading children’s charities warned the Chancellor that children’s services required £2bn of additional funding before 2020 to avert a crisis in a system.

Peter Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“The Tories chose in the Budget to prioritise further tax giveaways to the big banks over spending on our vital public services, such as children’s services.

“Today we are simply asking for greater transparency over this unfair giveaway to already profitable big banks at a time when our public services and working families are struggling just before Christmas.

“These planned cuts in the rate of the Bank Levy will see billions handed out to the major banks by 2020. 

“Last week Labour tried to correct this by amending the Finance Bill to end the £4.7bn cut in the Bank Levy, which last month’s Budget failed to reverse, and called for it instead to be channelled into vulnerable children’s services. But the Chancellor chose to plough on with this heartless choice. 

“Philip Hammond could still change direction. He can either choose to end this injustice in the Finance Bill, or choose for Christmas to come early for the bankers and act like Scrooge to the rest of us.”