Labour

Owen Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, commenting on the announcement that the US Department of Commerce will introduce additional sanctions on Bombardier, said:

“While Theresa May worries about press coverage of the phony P45 she was handed this week, more than 4,000 Bombardier workers in Belfast are worried that they’ll receive a real one unless her Government brings Boeing and its allies at the US Commerce Department to the negotiating table.

“Given that the UK Government is Boeing’s second biggest client – we spend over £1.5 billion with them every year – it is inconceivable that ministers have not been able to negotiate a better deal.  

“The Government must tell the public what pressure it has really placed on Boeing and on the US Administration. Without any evidence of concrete action, concerns will grow that UK ministers have naively accepted Boeing’s assurances about the safety of jobs in Belfast or worse, have negligently accepted Bombardier job losses as ‘collateral damage’ in their post-Brexit strategy.”

Paul Blomfield MP, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Minister, responding to the announcement by the EU Commission that it cannot guarantee Horizon 2020 funding for British applicants post-March 2019, said:

“Horizon 2020 has been a vital source of research funding for UK universities. The Government’s failure to agree arrangements with the EU for research funding after March 2019 is undermining our world-class universities. This is a direct consequence of the disarray in the Cabinet and the Tories’ chaotic approach to negotiations. This should have been dealt with months ago and must be resolved immediately.”

Tom Watson, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, commenting on News Group’s admission of computer hacking, said:

 “This is a dramatic new revelation in the saga of criminality in Murdoch’s media empire. Despite being asked about the use of private detectives by the News of the World at a parliamentary committee in 2011 it’s taken a five year civil case for the company to admit to further illegal behaviour. 

 “We can now add computer hacking to the long list of criminal activities undertaken by Murdoch’s operatives. We know from experience of phone hacking that there won’t just be a single victim. So my question to Rupert Murdoch and his subordinates is this: Who else was hacked? 

 “The Met police are in possession of seized hard drives. What steps have they taken to establish whether there are other people who don’t yet know their personal information has been hacked? I will be writing to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to ask that she ensures all leads are followed up and any victims fully informed. 

 “This is yet more evidence that Part Two of the Leveson Inquiry must go ahead to discover the full truth of illegality and cover-ups like this. And it’s vital that the CMA is able to take this new evidence of criminality and corporate failure into account as it assesses the Murdochs’ bid to take over Sky.”

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, commenting on falling productivity in the UK, said:

“Our capacity to raise long run living standards seems to be going backwards.

“Productivity growth has been the basis of rises in living standards over the last two hundred years. Yet for each hour of work we put in today, we get less out than we did ten years ago. Further, productivity was 15.1 per cent below the average for the rest of the G7 in 2016.

“This country needs a radical and transformative industrial strategy. The only party that can deliver this is Labour.”

Sue Hayman MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, commenting on the proposed ban on ivory sales, said: 

“A total ban on trading ivory is long overdue.

“Finally, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has followed Labour’s lead on this issue. 

“But, given the Conservative Party’s failure to include this policy in their manifesto and their notoriously poor record on animal welfare, it will be crucial to scrutinise any exemptions to the trade ban being proposed and to ensure these proposals are comprehensive and followed through.”