Labour

Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Social Care, responding to a leaked draft of this year’s Tory manifesto, said:

“This leaked draft manifesto shows just how damaging the Dementia Tax could have been for people in need of care.

“But the danger for people facing catastrophic long-term care costs isn’t over. It seems from social care minister Jackie Doyle-Price’s recent comments that the Tories are still considering this disastrous policy.

“Labour will build a sustainable National Care Service funded by sharing risk across the population to avoid people facing catastrophic costs for care.“ 

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, John Healey MP, responding to Sajid Javid’s refusal to fund the retro-fitting of sprinklers in high-rise buildings on the Andrew Marr Show, said:

“Conservative Ministers were told four years ago to get sprinklers retro-fitted into high-rise buildings following two fatal tower block fires, but failed to act.

“Today, even after the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower, Sajid Javid has confirmed the government is still refusing to provide any funding to install sprinklers. This is a neglect of government’s responsibility to worried residents across the country. 

“Ministers should act now and help fund these vital fire safety measures, starting with the highest risk blocks.”

Responding to the announcement of a call for evidence on improving the home-buying process, John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, said:

“Another week and another call for evidence on failings in the housing market, but these feeble proposals show that Ministers just don’t get the scale of the problems facing homebuyers. 

“This smacks of a political diversion from the hard facts of the Tories’ housing record. Home-ownership is at a thirty year low and the number of younger home-owners is in freefall, but Ministers can only come up with a ‘call for evidence’ on improving the home-buying process. 

 “Compare the Tories’ feeble gesture to Labour’s plans – 100,000 discounted homes for first-time buyers, a cut in stamp duty, first dibs on new homes for local people and new protections for home-owners.

 “This is a government out of touch and out of ideas. Conservatives know housing was a big part of why they did so badly at the election but after seven years of failure Ministers still have no plan to fix the housing crisis.”

Labour will slash energy, water and post bills through public ownership

Labour will cut household bills by £220 a year under public ownership of utilities. Households are being ripped off with sky-high bills for energy, water and post to pay out billions of pounds to shareholders. Labour will fix this broken model which makes ordinary people pay for excessive wealth in the hands of the few by instead bringing our utilities into public ownership for the benefit of the many.

Labour will:

•       Make households £220 a year better off under public ownership models for energy and water.

•       Cap energy bills, invest in renewable energy and under public ownership bills will fall.

•       Bring water companies into public ownership to drive down bills, reduce leaks and end the shareholder racket.

•       Compensate for bringing water, parts of the energy sector and Royal Mail into public ownership by exchanging government bonds for shares in the relevant companies.

The rigged system:

•       Water companies paid 1,000 times more in dividends than in tax in the last ten years. Three of them – Anglian, Severn Trent and Yorkshire – paid more in dividends than they made in profit in that period, meaning they were borrowing on the back of household bills to pay shareholders.

•       Electricity bills soared by 20% between 2007 and 2013. £120 was paid by every household in the UK for dividends to energy company shareholders in 2013 alone.

•       Since privatisation, Royal Mail has paid out £640 million in dividends in just three years while closing 10% of delivery offices

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The Tories have rigged our economy so that bill payers fund wealthy shareholders of companies which in turn pay little in tax. It doesn’t have to be this way. 

“Labour will rebalance our economy so that the many are no longer ripped off by the wealthy and powerful few. Labour will transform our energy, water and mail markets so that they work for consumers. Our plans for public ownership and greater transparency will slash bills and drive investment in efficiency and renewables.

“Under a Labour government, our economy will work for the many, not the few.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on the today’s childhood obesity statistics from the National Child Measurement Programme, said:

“The escalating childhood obesity crisis is a disgraceful example of how we are depriving our children of the best possible start in life.

“The UK has one of the worst childhood obesity rates in Western Europe, and the gap between children from the most and least deprived backgrounds is also rising at an alarming rate.

“The Government’s watered-down obesity strategy, alongside severe cuts to public health and education budgets, demonstrates a profound lack of action. Unlike the Tories, Labour will prioritise child health and wellbeing with a comprehensive child obesity strategy, including the banning of junk food advertising on family television.”