Tory Manifesto offers a blank cheque for Britain – John McDonnell

Now the
Tories have published their manifesto in full we can see how a party that
has added £700 billion to the national debt since 2010 really approaches the
public finances.

Today they
have produced an 84 page document in which they made 60 spending commitments
but provide costings for only one, just a day after Philip Hammond revealed he
had no idea how much High Speed 2 will cost.

This
contrasts with Labour’s fully-costed manifesto, published on Tuesday that
identified funding covering all spending commitments.

Commenting,
John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, said:

“The Tories’ numbers don’t add up. They have published an
84 page blank cheque that provides a tax giveaway guarantee for big business,
while offering a roll of the dice for working families with no commitments to
rule out rises in income tax and National Insurance.

“Now we can
see why Theresa May is running scared of debating Jeremy Corbyn, when she
publishes a document like this that contains more questions than answers. It
also further shows how her party has managed to add £700 billion to the
national debt since 2010, as they won’t be straight with the British people on
how much their plans for a wealthy few truly cost.

“One of the few revenue
raisers they identified was withdrawing free school meals from children and
withdrawing support for pensioners struggling to heat their homes – this just
sums up the Tory approach.

“This is the
equivalent of the Prime Minister going
to the shops with the nation’s cheque book and not
checking the price of the goods as she puts them in the trolley.

“All we know if the
Tories are returned next month is that if you’re a pensioner you face the
penalty of losing your winter fuel payments, control of your home, and the value of your pension.

“Today has
revealed that only the Labour Party at this election will stand up for
pensioners, and the 95 percent of taxpayers to build an economy for the many
not the few.”




Jeremy Corbyn response to the launch of the Conservative manifesto

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader
of the Labour Party
, responding
to the launch of the Conservative manifesto, said:

“Millions of pensioners are
betrayed by Theresa May’s manifesto. She is hitting older people with a classic
Nasty Party triple whammy:  Scrapping the triple lock on pensions,
removing the Winter Fuel Allowance and forcing those who need social care
to pay for it with their homes.

“The Conservatives’ record is one
of broken promises and failure. They promised to raise living standards, but
working families are set to be on average over £1,400 a year worse off. They
promised to improve all standards of NHS care, but A&Es are in crisis. They
promised to protect school spending, but schools are facing crippling cuts and
class sizes are soaring. You can’t trust a word Theresa May says.

“Despite Theresa May’s warm
words, she leads a party that has created a rigged economy that only works for
the super-rich. The Conservatives have not changed. While the Labour Party
has promised to protect low and middle earners from any tax rises, all Theresa
May has promised is a cut to Corporation Tax for their big business friends.
Unlike the Conservatives, Labour is standing up for the many, not the few.”




The Nasty Party is back – Tory manifesto will hit families from cradle to grave

With the announcement of the Conservative manifesto today, Theresa May has shown her true colours. I’ve scarcely seen a colder, more mean-spirited agenda in my entire career.

There’s no doubt about it: the Nasty party is back. The Tories are hitting families from cradle to grave by snatching school lunches from children and homes from the elderly.

This isn’t hyperbole – the policies speak for themselves.

If Theresa May gets her way, the frail and elderly receiving care in their own homes will face a ‘Personal Death Tax’, charged against their home. So the more help you need, the more Theresa May will snatch away when you die.

She’s also cynically taking free school meals away from children, forcing families to pay themselves. Creating a cost of £1000 for a family with two children in Year 2 and below.

These changes would hurt over half a million elderly people and almost two million children! But there is an alternative to this disgraceful and regressive direction…

The Lib Dems will provide a free hot meal at lunchtime for all primary school children, and protect our elderly people from the Tories’ devastating proposals.

Only the Liberal Democrats will stand up to Theresa May’s cold, mean-spirited Britain, protecting those that need the most help and fighting for more funding for our schools and hospitals.

If you want to stand with us against Theresa May’s vicious manifesto, support us today:

Support the Liberal Democrats




This is a manifesto that offers the majority of working people and pensioners insecurity – Gwynne

Andrew
Gwynne, Labour’s National Election co-ordinator,
responding to
the launch of the Conservative manifesto, said:

“Behind
the rhetoric, this is a manifesto that offers the majority of working people
and pensioners insecurity with a huge question mark over their living
standards.

“The
tax guarantee they previously made is gone. While they’ll guarantee Corporation
Tax falls to 17p they’re dropping their promise not to raise income tax and
National Insurance contributions, raising the spectre of tax rises on lower and
middle incomes. No wonder they’ve dropped their previous promise to raising
living standards and the phrase “living standards” doesn’t appear at all.

“This
manifesto is proof the Tories are ditching any claim to stand up for older
people. Pensioners stand to lose the pension guarantee in the next parliament,
the Winter Fuel Allowance is being hacked away at and their social care plans
could see those who need care forced to pay for it with their homes.

“For
our public services – slashed back by the Tories – there’s nothing but
insecurity in these plans. They’ve failed to match Labour’s commitment on
education and there’s no detail other than a vague promise on giving the NHS
funding – a promise they made in the past and broke.

“The
Tories stand up only for the few. For the many they offer the prospect of five
years of insecurity.”

Ends




Sturgeon must embrace Teach First to address teacher shortage

18 May 2017

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP speaking during First Minister's Questions held in the Scottish parliament, Edinburgh today. 09 June 2016. Pic - Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament

Nicola Sturgeon must introduce the successful scheme which fast tracks talented graduates into schools to address Scotland’s recruitment crisis, Ruth Davidson has said.

The Scottish Conservative leader pointed to figures showing 400 graduates who’d studied in Scotland were now teaching elsewhere in the UK thanks to the Teach First initiative.

At First Minister’s Questions, she added versions of the scheme were operating in 40 countries across the world but, thanks to SNP decisions, not in Scotland.

However, Ms Sturgeon refused to commit to implementing Teach First north of the border, saying she’d been talked out of it by a teacher on a visit to London.

That’s the same reason she outlined 18 months ago in the Scottish Parliament, sparking accusations that she’s done nothing since to remedy Scotland’s teacher shortage.

Latest figures show there are 4000 fewer teachers in schools than when the SNP came to power in 2007, while 70 per cent of schools say they can’t offer s4 pupils the choice of subjects they want.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said:

“Everyone accepts that there aren’t enough teachers in Scotland.

“But for reasons known only to herself, Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly refuses to implement the successful Teach First scheme.

“Hundreds of bright graduates from Scottish universities are now teaching elsewhere in the UK thanks to this initiative.

“Dozens of countries elsewhere in the world successfully use versions of this project to make sure there are enough teachers in schools.

“Yet the SNP sits on its hands. The First Minister gave me the same answers today as she did 18 months ago, and that’s not good enough.

“The reality is Nicola Sturgeon has presided over a teacher recruitment crisis.

“She’s fallen asleep at the wheel on education, the response to bad test results is to take schools out the tests altogether, and when good ideas like Teach First come forward, she inexplicably knocks them back.

“It’s not enough for her just to admit these mistakes in teacher recruitment – she has to act on them too.”


For more on the Teach First scheme operating successfully elsewhere in the UK, visit: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/exodus-of-graduates-to-fast-track-teaching-programme-in-england-ff3q3z3v5

Scotland has 4000 fewer teachers than when the SNP came to power in 2007: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/799693/Andrew-Neil-SNP-education-cut-teachers-Scotland-BBC-Daily-Politics