Andy
McDonald MP. Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, responding to
the publication of Transport Focus latest National Rail Passenger Survey,
said:

“With
promised upgrades delayed or cancelled and fares rising way ahead of wages,
it’s disappointing but not surprising that passenger satisfaction remains low
despite small improvements on the previous survey.

“The
results also reveal a concerning decline in passengers’ sense of personal
security, bringing into question the government’s policy of de-staffing and
de-skilling the railway.

“With
fewer than half of passengers finding value for money in the price of their
ticket, it’s becoming more difficult for the government to justify allowing
private and foreign state-owned companies to take money out of the system that
should be used to improve services or hold fares down.

“It’s
clear than an alternative is needed for Britain’s railways. It is time for our
railways to be run under public ownership, in the public interest as an
integrated national asset, with affordable fares for all and long-term
investment in the railway network.”

Justin
Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, commenting on the news that NHS
officials have ordered a national review of A&E diverts amid serious safety
fears, said:

“A&E
departments nationwide are under relentless pressure as a result of Theresa
May’s sustained underfunding of our NHS, and it is patients with urgent health
needs who are paying the price.

“Simply
put, it is completely unacceptable for anyone desperately needing treatment to
be turned away and yet under the Tories, ambulance diverts have hit record
highs.

“Patient
safety must be our absolute priority and any streaming system which places
patients’ lives at risk is entirely unacceptable.

“It
is time Jeremy Hunt accepted our emergency care system stands on a crucial
knife-edge. Without urgent and sustained investment to ease these acute
strains, an unprecedented crisis this winter looks increasingly likely.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow
Chancellor, responding
to the IMF downgrade of UK growth forecasts, said:

“Today’s report from the IMF is yet another blow for
the Government and its continued austerity agenda that is holding our country back.

“It further reveals that this government has no
real plan for Brexit and no real plan to deal with the problem of earnings not
keeping up with prices, which is undermining growth and risking living
standards.

"Only a Labour government will end austerity and
provide the vital programme of investment to boost growth in our economy,
underpinned by our Fiscal Credibility Rule, which our country desperately
needs.

Rebecca
Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy, commenting
on the Government’s industrial strategy announcement, said:

‘’Today’s
‘announcement’ is something of a damp squib. The Government’s promise of
investment in battery technology is simply a re-announcement of funding
promised back in April as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, and
their record of supporting emerging green industries is abysmal.

“Labour’s
plans for energy market reform would see consumers’ bills slashed by £120 and
our industrial strategy to create one million good jobs and ensure that we find
60 per cent of our energy from renewable sources by 2030 has real teeth, backed
up our £250 billion National Transformation Fund.

“This
scale of vision and investment is what is needed to transform the UK economy,
not a re-announcement of the same small pot of funding.’’

New analysis by the House of Commons Library has revealed that
7.6 million people will lose out by nearly £10,000 each under the Government’s
plans to bring forward changes to the state pension age. 

The change will affect all men and women currently between the
age of 39 and 47, who will be forced to work a year longer before they can
access their state pension entitlement.

The Government’s announcement of their plans to bring forward
the state pension age last Thursday came more than two months after their legal
deadline, 7 May 2017, evading debate on the issue leading up to the General
Election.

The announcement was heavily criticised, as it followed evidence
from the renowned expert on life expectancy, Professor Sir Michael Marmot, who
just days before had described how a century-long rise in life expectancy
was “pretty close to having ground to a halt.” Professor Marmot pointed
to 2010 as the turning point, when the Government began its austerity
programme.

Just over a week ago, the Government’s own advisory body, Public
Health England, had published data showing significant disparities in Healthy
Life Expectancy. For example, it showed how on average a man living in
Nottingham would be only be expected to live in good health until the age of
57, a full eleven years earlier than the Government’s newly timetabled state
pension age increase to 68.

A Director of Public Health England described how the average
pensioner will now have to deal with a “toxic cocktail” of ill health
throughout their whole retirement, and for some years before.

Debbie Abrahams MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said:

“This is a disgraceful and unjustified attack on the state
pension by this Government, who are asking millions of people to work longer to
pay for their failing austerity plans.

“The latest research on life expectancy, published days ago,
shows that there is no evidential basis for bringing the state pension age
further forward.

“That’s why Labour want to take a measured approach, leaving the
state pension age at 66 while we review the evidence emerging around life
expectancy and healthy life expectancy, considering how we can best protect
those doing demanding jobs and the contributions they have already made.”