Rebecca
Long Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy, commenting
on today’s findings that the Government’s industrial strategy targets only 10
percent of manufacturing and 1 per cent of the whole economy and widens
regional divides, said,

‘’The
Government’s industrial strategy is simply not ambitious enough, focussing on
an extremely narrow section of the UK, both economically and geographically,
and contains no commitment to the levels of investment necessary to transform
the economy.

“Labour’s
industrial strategy has real teeth, backed up by our £250 billion National
Transformation Fund, the National Investment Bank and a network of Regional
Development Banks. It will be wide-reaching, centred around three pillars:
national missions to address the societal issues of our time, cross-cutting
policies to create a fertile ground for business activity and collaboration at
a sector level for both established and potential industries.

“Only
Labour has a modern, ambitious and achievable industrial strategy to rebuild
and transform the economy in every region of the UK for the many not the few.’’

Commenting on new figures released by the Ministry of Justice showing 225 kg of drugs were recovered across the prison estate in England and Wales in 2016, Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon said:

“It’s clear that we have a crisis in our prisons system, with drugs use and violence continuing to be all too common.

“The Chief Inspector of Prisons recently said that our prisons are dangerous for prisoners and staff alike and are failing in their duty to rehabilitate and reform prisoners.

“These new drugs figures are yet another example of how drastic Tory cuts to prison budgets and staff numbers are driving this prisons crisis.

“Labour would begin to solve this by recruiting 3,000 new prisons officers and improving staff retention by improving terms and conditions for prison officers”

Ends

Debbie
Abrahams MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on the Citizen’s Advice Bureau report on Universal Credit
said:

“The Government must address the chaos engulfing
Universal Credit. It must pause the programme to tackle the serious design
flaws in UC at the same time as addressing its chaotic mismanagement.”

“The Government’s cuts to
Universal Credit means that on top of the design and delivery issues, it fails
to make work pay, compounding people’s ability to make ends meet. In spite of
this Government’s warm words about making Britain
fairer, their tax and spending choices have done the opposite.”

“Labour will invest to reform Universal Credit,
under our plans to create a social security system that, like the NHS, is there
for us all in our time of need.”

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, commenting on the CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn’s speech on Brexit said:

“Today’s speech from the CBI underlines what Labour has been saying for months: that Theresa May’s Brexit strategy risks a cliff-edge for the economy and is a threat to jobs and investment.

“Labour agree that we need an early commitment to ensure strong transitional arrangements, and that these should be on similar terms to those we currently enjoy. Without that commitment, and without a bridge to new trading arrangements with the EU, there will be growing uncertainty for businesses and investment decisions will be delayed.

“Labour are clear that jobs and the economy must come first in the Brexit negotiations. It is time the Prime Minister and the Brexit Secretary listened to the growing concerns from businesses and the Treasury and changed their reckless approach.”

Speaking in response to the first annual report of the official watchdog monitoring treatment of deportees, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said:

“This report presents a troubling picture of the way deportees are treated.

“Inhumane treatment can never be justified. Where deportation is appropriate, it should always be conducted in a reasonable, effective and humane way. We cannot allow a climate of hostility to spill over into mistreatment of anyone. The Government needs to act to ensure there is no recurrence.”

The report from the independent monitoring board can be found here https://www.imb.org.uk/enforced-removal-people-uk-chartered-flights-falls-short-humane-treatment-occasions/