Tag Archives: Labour

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the EPI report on trends in educational attainment and disadvantage, said:

“The findings of this report are deeply concerning but unfortunately come as no surprise. 

“If you cut school budgets and push out  teachers, as the Tories have done, then life in school will become even harder for the most disadvantaged kids. It is no wonder that we are still generations away from closing the attainment gap.

“The Tories’ key election pledge was to bring back grammar schools and segregate our children, a move that would make the situation even worse. A Labour Government would deliver an education system for the many, not the few.”

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, commenting on the delays for passengers at European airports, said:

“It is right that measures have been put in place to ensure safety at a time of increased terror threats but any measures taken to strengthen security have to be accompanied by proper border force staffing levels to avoid the chaos we’re seeing at the moment.

“The aviation industry warned that problems were around the corner months ago but the Government hasn’t listened, insisting that we’d already seen the worst of the delays.

“If holiday makers are to avoid further havoc, the Government must engage with Schengen member states to ensure they take immediate steps to resource their borders controls properly as ensuring safe and smooth travel from and to the UK is in our mutual interests.”

Richard Burgon MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to comments made by the President of the Prison Governors Association, said:

“The President of the Prison Governors Association today confirmed the deep crisis in our prisons.  Her members are understandably devastated by the decline of their service.  This crisis has been created by the disastrous policies of the Conservative Government. Prison officer numbers have been slashed while overcrowding has risen.

“Last week it was announced that violence in our prisons was at record levels. This week we have seen riots in The Mount and Erlestoke prisons. The situation cannot be allowed to continue.  Prisoners are not being rehabilitated and this is putting the public at risk. Only a Labour government will provide the investment, staff and attention needed to end the prisons crisis the Conservatives created and are failing to resolve.“

Barbara Keeley MP, Shadow Cabinet Minister for Social Care, commenting on the BBC’s You and Yours report of the shortfall in the numbers of care home beds said:

“Seven years of Tory inaction has taken a toll on the social care sector.  The Tories’ record is clear –  insufficient beds in residential care, one in three nursing homes failing inspections and 1.2 million older people living with unmet care needs.

“Keeping people out of hospital and residential care means investing properly in home care, intermediate facilities and supported housing. Yet, this Government has chosen instead to cut local authority budgets, taking £4.6 billion out of social care.

“We need a Labour Government to give social care the investment required to meet the needs of our growing older population. Our Manifesto set out our plans to increase social care budgets by £8 billion over the next Parliament and to work towards a National Care Service.”

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Tory cancellation of promised electrification works will lengthen journey times, increase carbon emissions and raise the cost of the rail network

By scrapping the electrification of the TransPennine route, the Tories are essentially pulling the plug on the proposed Crossrail for the Northern Powerhouse project, which could no longer be a fully electrified network.

Cancelling electrification projects around the country will add significantly to journey times:

• Journeys between Manchester and Liverpool will add nearly 30 minutes

•  Journeys between Leeds and Newcastle will add over 20 minutes.

• Cancelling the electrification of the Cardiff to Swansea section of the Great Western Mainline puts at risk the estimated journey time saving between Swansea and London with Super Express trains of 19 minutes.

Labour has made a £10 billion commitment to “Crossrail for the North” to reverse decades of underinvestment in Northern transport infrastructure that has undermined the economic potential of the north of England and help deliver 850,000 new jobs by 2050.

Network Rail estimates that electrification and the running of electric vehicles can help to reduce CO2 emissions by an average of 20 to 30 per cent compared to their diesel counterparts and the maintenance costs for electric trains are 33 per cent lower than for diesel.

Network Rail also estimates that electric passenger vehicles fuel savings are between 19 and 26 pence per vehicle mile.

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, commenting on the findings, said:

“The Government’s disgraceful U-turn on their promise to deliver electrification on the Midland Mainline, Trans-Pennine and Great Western routes will threaten economic growth in areas of England and Wales already suffering from poor connectivity and underinvestment.

“Pulling the plug on electrification shows the Tories’ disregard for Wales and Yorkshire, which will continue to suffer from underinvestment, and proves the ‘Midlands Engine’ and the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ are just more empty slogans from this Government.

“The Tories are trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes by claiming that diesel bi-mode trains will deliver the same benefits as electrification, despite saying for years that failure to electrify the network costs more in the long run, causes more pollution, worsens air quality, lessens capacity and makes services slower and less reliable.

“Not only will Labour deliver the promised electrification, we will address the imbalance in transport infrastructure spending, committing to building a Crossrail for the North and enhancing and expanding the rail network in order to drive economic growth and rebalance our economy for the many not the few”.

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