Author Archives: GovWorldMag

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to a new British Medical Journal report revealing a new wave of NHS postcode rationing, said:

“The Conservative Government’s underfunding and neglect of the health service is causing misery for patients and making it harder to access routine NHS treatments.

“This new BMJ research reveals that thousands more patients are being turned down for treatment every year. Across the country services which were previously easily available are now being rationed because of the Tory funding squeeze.

“Behind every one of these statistics is a patient and their family waiting longer in pain and suffering because of this Government’s scandalous undermining of the NHS.

“Only Labour has a plan to give the NHS the funding it needs so that patients across the country can get quick access to the treatments and medical support that they need.”

Gordon Marsden MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Minister, commenting on the IFS report on tuition fee reforms, said:

“This report shows that any argument that the current fee system is progressive is absolute nonsense. From scrapping the maintenance grant to freezing the repayment threshold, this Government has increased the debt burden of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who will graduate with debts in excess of £57,000.

“Under the Tories, student debt continues to rise with no end in sight, and students in the UK will now graduate with a shocking average of over £50,000 in debt.

“After Labour pledged to scrap tuition fees, the First Secretary of State has called for a national debate on tuition fees, and he is right to do so. The Government must decide if they want to carry on funding our higher education system through a lifetime of debt and a tax on aspiration, or deliver a debt-free education system run for the many not the few.”