Labour

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to Sajid Javid’s Conference speech:

“Theresa May admits seven years of Tory failure on housing was a big part of why her Party did so badly in the Election.

“Yet four months on, Sajid Javid’s speech shows there’s no new Tory thinking on housing. His pledges are feeble and fail to offer help or hope to millions who can’t get the home they need or aspire to.

 “There’s nothing new from the Conservatives which will tackle the country’s housing crisis or fix the broken housing market. This is yet another speech that aims to help the few, not the many.

 “Young people held back by a broken housing market don’t need Theresa May’s empty empathy but a consumer rights revolution for renters, new discount homes for first time buyers and the big-scale building programme of genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy that Labour set out in our Election manifesto.“

Emily Thornberry MP, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, commenting on events in Catalonia today, said:

“Police violence in Catalonia today is shocking, and the Spanish government should take action to end it now.

“While we believe disputes over sovereignty should be resolved in accordance with rules and laws, and any referendum on these issues needs to be both democratic and fair, it is unacceptable for the Spanish authorities to overreact to today’s events through aggressive police action and the forcible closure of polling stations.

“They must respect the right to peaceful protest, and all sides must strive to come together and reach a political solution to this constitutional crisis. Violence of any sort will simply worsen divisions, and make a resolution harder to reach.”

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, commented on the Prime Minister’s refusal to back Labour’s call for a pause to Universal Credit on Marr saying;

“More empty words will do nothing for those being pushed into poverty by the Government’s flagship social security programme.

“The six week wait for payment of Universal Credit is a punitive policy introduced by this Government, it can be changed.

“I wrote to the Secretary of State calling for a pause to Universal Credit roll out weeks ago, and yet nothing has been done.

“Months have passed since Mrs May claimed she would help those struggling to get by. We are yet to see anything that amounts to action to support the 13 million people living in poverty in the UK.”

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to the Tories’ announcement to extend the Help to Buy scheme, said:

“This is yet another policy from the Tories that will only help the few, not the many. 

“Britain is suffering from a housing crisis, with home ownership at a 30-year low and 900,000 fewer under 45s now owning a home since 2010.

“Young people held back by a broken housing market don’t need Theresa May’s gimmicks but the mass building programme of genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy that Labour put forward in our manifesto.”

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, responding to the Tories’ announcement on freezing tuition fees, said:

“The fact Theresa May thinks she can win over young people by pledging to freeze tuition fees only weeks after increasing them to £9,250 shows just how out of touch she is.

“Another commission to look at tuition fees is a desperate attempt by the Tories to kick the issue into the long grass because they have no plans for young people and no ideas for our country. They are yesterday’s party.

“The next Labour government will scrap tuition fees entirely and introduce a National Education Service for lifelong learning for the many not the few. “