Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn’s worst TV interview blunders

The Liberal Democrats have compiled the list of the biggest blunders of the Battle for Number 10 and the questions that May and Corbyn have failed to answer.

Jeremy Corbyn:

• Corbyn committed a whole new £3bn+ a year unfreezing working age benefits. There’s nothing in his manifesto costings to uprate benefits. How is he paying for it?
• He didn’t answer the question on why someone who is worried about Brexit should vote for Labour over the Liberal Democrats.
• Labour could have voted for unilateral rights for EU citizens to stay in the UK. They didn’t. They voted for Article 50. Why didn’t he stand up for the 3m EU citizens that call the UK their home?

Theresa May:

• Theresa May has completely changed her belief that we would be more safe, more secure, and more prosperous staying in Europe. She has refused to answer why she has changed her mind.
• The Conservatives are ruining the lives of the Just About Managing. She can’t and won’t say how many people her Dementia Tax will hit. She has repeatedly refused to come clean. What is she plotting?
• Theresa May is putting our security at risk by pursuing an extreme Brexit. She says the police need the power to do their jobs. But she is cutting their funding and stripping them of vital EU assistance, she is taking away their powers to search criminal records and find terror suspects. Does she still believe that we are less safe outside the EU?

Responding to May and Corbyn’s TV appearance Tim Farron, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “You don’t have to accept Theresa May and Nigel Farage’s extreme version of Brexit that will wreck the future for you, your family, your schools and hospitals.

“In the biggest fight for the future of our country in a generation, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour has let you down by voting with Theresa May on Brexit – not against her.

“The Liberal Democrats want you to have your choice over your future. You should have your say on the Brexit deal in a referendum. And if you don’t like the deal you should be able to reject it and choose to remain in Europe.”

On May:

“Theresa May has had a car crash interview. She is pursuing Nigel Farage’s cold, mean-spirited, extreme Brexit agenda and starving our schools and hospitals with heartless cuts. Nigel Farage told you everything you need to know about Theresa May when he tweeted: “Theresa May is using the exact words and phrases I’ve been using for 20 years.”

“The Liberal Democrats will stand up to Theresa May on Brexit, the NHS and schools

“Theresa May’s extreme Brexit will be bad for you and your family. Bad for your job. Bad for your bills. Bad for the NHS. Bad for our schools.

“A brighter future is possible. We will stand up to Theresa May’s cold, mean-spirited Britain. We will stand up to a bad Brexit deal that will cost jobs and put up prices. We will stand up for your schools and hospitals. We will stand up for you.”

On Corbyn:

“In the biggest fight for the future of our country in a generation, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour has let you down by voting with Theresa May on Brexit – not against her.

“Jeremy Corbyn ordered his MPs to vote in favour of Article 50 despite the Government making no concessions to them whatsoever. They failed to stand up for our membership of the Single Market, failed to stand up for the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and are refusing to give you the final say over the Brexit deal.”



May floundered on her record on police cuts, on funding for our NHS and schools

A
Jeremy Corbyn spokesperson, responding to Theresa May’s appearance on the Sky
and Channel 4 #BattleForNumber10 debate, said:

“Theresa May floundered on her record on police cuts, on funding for our
NHS and schools and on her manifesto policy on social care that didn’t last
more than a few days before it was amended with an unspecified cap. It’s no
surprise she had no answers because the Tories plan to continue the tax
giveaways to the wealthy and big business while offering no new funding for
public services.

"There is a clear choice in this election about the kind of country we
want Britain to be – between Labour’s plan to transform Britain for the many
not the few, and a Conservative Party that has held people back and put its
wealthy backers first.”

Ends



Jeremy showed the clear choice on offer in this election is about the kind of country we want Britain to be

A
Jeremy Corbyn spokesperson, following the Sky and Channel 4
#BattleForNumber10 debate, said:

“In answering the audience’s questions, Jeremy showed the
clear choice on offer in this election is about the kind of country we want
Britain to be. The choice is between Labour’s plan to transform Britain for the
many not the few, and a Conservative Party that has held people back and put the
wealthy first.

"Jeremy was able to talk about our fully-costed manifesto – promises we
have made to students to scrap tuition fees, to pensioners to protect their
incomes with the triple lock and winter fuel allowance, to families struggling
with rising energy costs that we will take back control of the utilities
industry and bring down their bills and, crucially, to 95% of taxpayers that we
won’t put up their taxes. These are promises Theresa May cannot and will not
make.

"Jeremy connects with the public in a way that Theresa May doesn’t
 because Labour has a clear plan to transform our economy and society, and
people recognise that. Theresa May has hidden from the public during this
campaign and run scared of debating Jeremy live on TV, while Jeremy has been
travelling around the country meeting people and addressing huge crowds.”

Ends


Notes

In response to the audience questions:

In his interview with Andrew Neil, Jeremy said: “I didn’t support the IRA, I
don’t support the IRA. What I want everywhere is a peace process, what I want
everywhere is decency and human rights. We went through all the horrors of
Northern Ireland, all through the 70s and 80s, through the period of the
Troubles, and eventually came from that a peace process, the Good Friday
Agreement and now relative peace and stability.”

On the commemoration referred to by the audience member, Jeremy has been very
clear that it was held for all those who died in the Troubles.

On leadership, Jeremy has said he sees leadership about listening, not
dictating. Listening to what people say, understanding the pressures in their
lives and ensuring government policies make a real and positive difference.

Being strong and standing up for people doesn’t mean shouting and dictating.
It’s not a sign of strength to cut taxes for the rich and powerful, it’s a sign
of weakness. Real strength is standing up to these vested interests and
governing for the many not the few.

On small businesses, Labour has pledged they will be protected by reintroducing
the lower small profits rate of corporation tax. Labour is the party of small
businesses, many of whom are exploited by bigger companies who delay payments
to them to maximise their own profits. Labour will declare war on late payment.

On Jeremy Paxman’s questions about Labour’s manifesto 

Labour is a democratic party and our manifesto reflects that. The
Tories’ manifesto was compiled by a small group of people around Theresa May, and the chaos and confusion that has ensued as a
result reflects that.

On MI5

The claim that John McDonnell wants to disband MI5 is entirely
false and based on erroneous reports about an unrelated statement that John
signed.

Unlike the Tories that cut the budget for the intelligence
services in 2012 and have cut police numbers by 20,000 since 2010, Labour is
committed to giving our security services the resources they need and will
recruit 10,000 extra police officers.

On Hamas

Jeremy has spent his life campaigning for peace and has been very
clear that he does not support Hamas.

Questions Theresa May must now answer:

The Conservative manifesto has betrayed Britain’s pensioners,
threatened unspecified tax rises for tens of millions of working people and set
out a grim future of underfunding and understaffing for our vital public
services.

Theresa May has broken her flagship manifesto pledge on social care and there
is confusion over funding for our NHS and schools. She must answer these
questions:

  • What will be the cap on social care costs for people with conditions such as dementia, how many pensioners will lose their winter fuel payments, and how will you fund the NHS?
  • Will there be increases in National Insurance contributions and income tax?
  • How will you fund your school breakfast proposal now you have withdrawn the original 6.8p figure?


European Commission lays the ground work for future action in EU consumer law

The results show that while European consumers already benefit from strong consumer rights, there is room for improvement for instance when it comes to enforcing these rights or making them fit for the digital age. An update of the rules should also ensure more legal clarity for businesses operating cross-border.

Věra Jourová, EU Commissioner for Justice and Consumers said: “European consumers are amongst the best protected in the world. They benefit from strong consumer rights whether they buy in their own country or cross-border. We need to make sure that these rights can also be properly enforced and are brought up-to-speed with the digital age. With the upcoming proposals we will make sure these rights become a reality online and offline. ”

EU consumer rules have contributed to improving consumer confidence: in 2016, nearly 6 in 10 consumers (58%) felt they are well protected when buying something online from another Member State, compared to only one in ten (10%) in 2003. 7 in 10 people reported that they have benefitted from the right to a free-of-charge minimum two year guarantee for goods.

Issues identified

The Commission analysis identifies the following issues that should be addressed:

  • Limited redress possibilities: Few countries offer consumers an efficient civil law remedy in case they were victims of unfair commercial practices.In some countries, business and consumer organisations cannot bring injunctions to signal a wrongdoing. Member States continue to have diverse approaches on collective redress.
  • Diverging enforcement across Member States: The level of sanctions for the infringement of EU consumer law by a company varies significantly between Member States, resulting in different levels of consumer protection and a lack of level playing field for businesses.
  • Rights not fully adapted to the digital world: When signing up to non-paying online services (e.g. cloud services, social media), consumers don’t benefit from the same pre-contractual information rights or the right of withdrawal from the contract, as they would when paying for such services. Consumers also experience a lack of transparency of online intermediaries, which makes it difficult for consumers to claim their rights.
  • Low awareness of consumer rights: Only four in ten people (41%) knew they have the right to a free repair or replacement if their goods are defective and only one third (33%) knew that they do not need to pay for or return products they did not ask for.

How will the Commission take this forward?

The Commission will examine how to follow up in the following areas of EU Consumer rules:

  • granting victims of unfair commercial practices the right to contractual and/or extra-contractual remedies (such as right to terminate the contract and to receive a refund of the price paid);
  • extending protection under the Consumer Rights Directive (e.g. pre-contractual information and right of withdrawal) to online services for which the consumers pay with their data;
  • making sure that consumers using online platforms (marketplaces) are informed whether they are buying from a professional trader or another consumer and whether they benefit from consumer protection rules;
  • strengthening and better harmonising the level of sanctions for breaches to consumer law;
  • improving the injunctions procedure for the protection of consumers;
  • Analysing the results of the ongoing assessment of collective redress across the EU.

Next steps

To examine the opportunity for possible changes in legislation, the Commission will in 2017:

  • publish an “Inception Impact Assessment” outlining the scope and options for future legislative action;
  • hold an online public consultation;
  • prepare an impact assessment, and, based on its findings, present a legislative proposal.

Ongoing Commission action

The Commission is already working on updating some of the Consumer rules:

The Commission updated its guidance on the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which is the legal basis for many coordinated consumer rights enforcement actions at EU level.

The Commission proposed modern digital contract rules (IP/15/6264), which, once adopted, will provide clear rules to better protect consumer when they buy digital content. It will also align the common rules regarding remedies.

Regarding better enforcement, the Commission made a proposal to strengthen the cooperation between national consumer protection bodies (CPC) and the Commission (IP/16/1887).

Background

As part of the Commission’s Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT) programme, the Commission regularly reviews EU laws to identify excessive regulatory burdens, overlaps, gaps, inconsistencies and/or obsolete measures which may have appeared over time.

In this framework, the Commission assessed six horizontal consumer and marketing directives: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), the Sales and Guarantees Directive, the Unfair Contract Terms Directive, the Price Indication Directive, the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, the Injunctions Directive. The analysis consisted of a survey of more than 23 000 consumers from across the EU, mystery shopping exercises, interviews with national consumer bodies (organisations, business associations, authorities, ministries) and behavioural experiments

In parallel and linked to the Fitness Check, the Commission carried out an evaluation of the Consumer Rights Directive as required by its Article 30.

For more information

Factsheet: EU consumer law

Executive summary of the Fitness Check report

Executive summary of the evaluation of the Consumer Rights Directive

The full reports and the supporting external studiespublished today are available here

EU consumer rights and law



Fairer funding for schools

I hear someone is saying on social media I was not involved in the Wokingham schools fairer funding campaign. As MP in the last two Parliaments I joined in the Parliamentary fairer funding campaign, lobbying Ministers in meetings and in debates and other exchanges. I was and am committed to the need for fairer funding and glad it is now government policy.

Published and promoted by Fraser Mc Farland on behalf of John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG 40 1XU