Labour

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the CQC State of Care Report 2017, said:

 

“The detail of this CQC report reveals damning evidence of the Government’s inability to maintain health services at the standard which patients expect.

 

“The NHS is now running at ‘full stretch’ with hospitals full to unsafe levels, and ongoing problems in staffing and recruitment which Tory ministers have failed to grasp.

 

“The Government must step in and give our health and care system the resources needed to provide the best possible care. With services already straining at the seams, patients will be increasingly at risk if Ministers refuse the NHS the support it needs. Next month the Chancellor in his budget must finally put the NHS on a secure financial footing for the long term.”

 

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Barry Gardiner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, and Peter Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, comment on the government’s Trade and Customs White Papers published today.

Barry Gardiner MP said:

“We needed clarity on how the Government will ensure a level playing field for British businesses in our trade defence and trade remedy mechanisms. We got none.

“We needed clarity on how the Government will continue the third country Trade Agreements we are part of through the EU. We got none.

“We needed clarity on how the Government is laying down our schedules at the WTO and the proportion of tariff rate quotas we will keep after we leave the EU. We got none.

“Above all we needed clarity about how trade negotiations and treaties would be scrutinised in parliament. We got worse than nothing: an emphasis on speedy implementation with barely a nod to ‘due process in parliament’. This is simply unacceptable.”

Peter Dowd MP said:

“The Government’s Customs White Paper continues the ambiguity that they have made British businesses suffer under.

“While there is talk of delegating the necessary powers to the Government for post-Brexit customs arrangements, the Government goes worryingly further, seeking to undermine parliament by giving itself the power to set import duties without the normal legislative process.

“This White Paper is a missed opportunity to give importing and exporting businesses the confidence they need to continue trading and investing in the UK, nor does it address the massive under-resourcing currently being suffered at HMRC.”

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Nia Griffith MP, Labour’s Shadow Defence Secretary, responding to news that BAE will cut over 1000 jobs on its Eurofighter programme, said:

“This is devastating news for the workers and their families.

“The men and women who work on the Eurofighter are highly skilled and the potential loss of these jobs would have an appalling impact on them, the local economy and wider supply chains.

“The Government must come forward urgently with a clear plan to secure these jobs at BAE, as well as a proper defence industrial strategy to give the industry the certainty that it needs.”

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Peter Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on reports that Airbnb paid less than £200,000 in UK corporation tax last year, said:

“Once again we have an example of the Conservatives flat-footed approach to creating a tax system fit for the 21^st century. Under the Conservatives multi-national tech companies are running rings around HMRC, and avoiding paying their fair share of tax, despite seeing soaring revenues.

“The next Labour government will introduce our Tax Transparency and Enforcement Programme to clamp down on tax avoidance and build an economy which works for the many, not the few.”

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Andrew Gwynne MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, commenting on reports that the government has not released funds to make tower blocks safe following the Grenfell Tower fire, said:

 “Once again, Sajid Javid is dragging his feet to provide support to local authorities.

 “The government know their failure to review building regulations, and seven years of Tory cuts to local authorities and fire services have created this crisis.

 “Rather than learning from their mistakes they are starving Labour councils of funds as they work to clear up this mess and keep their residents safe”.

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