Labour

Emily Thornberry, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, responding to the speeches by Boris Johnson and Michael Fallon at the Conservative party conference, said:

“Today, we heard yet another 4,000-word personal manifesto from Boris Johnson, name-checking no fewer than 21 countries around the world. But two countries were conspicuous by their absence – both in his speech and just as disgracefully in Michael Fallon’s – Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

“Yemen is facing the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis, being made worse every day by a conflict to which Britain is a party in all but name, one in which thousands of civilians – many of them children – have already been killed by British-made bombs dropped from British-made planes.

“But about this enormous tragedy neither the Foreign Secretary or the Defence Secretary were prepared to say a single word today. Boris is trying to treat Yemen like one of his guilty secrets, hoping that people will forget about it as long as it’s never discussed in public, but that will not wash.

“It won’t wash for him to boast of Britain’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council when the members of that Council have now been waiting over a year for Britain to meet its responsibilities and bring forward a draft ceasefire resolution for Yemen.

“It won’t wash for him to boast that this country’s greatest export is British values, when the only British exports experienced by the children of Yemen are the almost £4 billion of arms we’ve sold to Saudi Arabia since the conflict began. 

“And it won’t wash for him to describe his disgust at the treatment of the Rohingya by the military in Myanmar, while continuing to supply the weapons that the Saudi military is using to inflict death and displacement on the people of Yemen.

“Indeed, together with his false praise for Theresa May and his false protestations of loyalty over Brexit, it made his whole speech an exercise in hypocrisy and dishonesty. But it will not wash.” 

Richard Burgon MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, responding to the speech by David Lidington at the Conservative Party conference, said:

“It is clear that the Conservatives have abandoned any attempt to fix the crisis they created in our prisons and justice system. David Lidington’s speech was mostly a rehashing of previous announcements, presumably he hopes no one will noticed that the Conservatives have run out of ideas.

“Talk of reform and rehabilitation is empty rhetoric unless staff numbers are substantially increased. One third of prisons have seen further cuts in their officer numbers this year alone, while officer leaving rates are up three fold under this Government and plans for a further real terms pay cut for prison officers will deepen the crisis further.

“It is shocking that David Lidington didn’t even bother to mention legal aid, let alone outline solutions to help the hundreds of thousands of people who have been priced out of the justice system by the Conservatives’ cuts.”

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on Amber Rudd’s speech at Tory Party conference, said:

“More laws to combat terrorism and violent crime won’t be enough on their own when the Tories are cutting police numbers and cutting budgets.

 “The public is rightly worried about the growing threats of terrorism and violent crime, but cutting police numbers by 20,000 is no way to tackle them. 

 “You can’t have security on the cheap. Rising incidents and new laws both require more resources. Grandstanding speeches at Tory party conference aren’t a substitute for police officers.”

Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Social Care, commenting on Jeremy Hunt’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference, said:

“In his speech Jeremy Hunt failed to address the crisis in social care which his Government has created.

“Tory cuts to local authority budgets have led to falling care quality, cuts to care services and people stuck in hospitals because there is no care available for them in their community.

“The next Labour government will deal with the crisis by investing £8 billion in this Parliament, with £1 billion up front this year, and further develop our plans to build a National Care Service.“

Dawn Butler MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, commenting on Theresa May’s trail of next week’s publication of the Government’s audit of public services to reveal racial disparities, said:

“The delay in publishing this report is yet more evidence of a Government that is all talk and little action. Theresa May promised to publish the findings of this audit before summer 2017, but has instead sat on the data for months.

“I am glad the data I requested from the Prime Minister three months ago when Parliament was sitting will finally be published, but Theresa May has questions to answer on why it he taken so long to shine a light on the “burning injustices” she promised to address over a year ago.

“This morning, the Prime Minister said the audit’s findings would prove difficult reading. When the report is published, it must be in a full and transparent manner and proposals must immediately be brought forward to tackle racial disparities. We cannot wait another year.”