Debbie Abrahams MP comment on today’s ONS labour market statistics

Debbie Abrahams MP, Labour’s Shadow Work
and Pensions Secretary
, commenting on today’s labour market stats from the
Office for National Statistics (ONS), said:

“We welcome the overall increase in
employment, but are deeply concerned that millions remain in low paid, insecure
work.

“The Government has also failed to close
the employment gap faced by women, disabled people and BAME groups, who have
too often borne the brunt of austerity cuts.

“With the cost of basic essentials rising
by 2.9 per cent, while wages stagnate, too many of Britain’s families are
struggling to get by while Theresa May focuses on holding her unstable
coalition of chaos together.

“Only a Labour government
will ensure working people’s living standards are protected with a real Living
Wage of £10 per hour, and an immediate end to austerity spending cuts.

“The Prime Minister must stand aside and
let a Labour government build an economy that works for the many, not the few.”




This damning report is a sharp reminder that the prisons crisis remains unchecked – Richard Burgon

Richard
Burgon MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary,
commenting on the Howard League for Penal Reform’s
response to a joint inspection report of Medway secure training centre, said:  

“This damning report is a sharp reminder
that the prisons crisis remains unchecked. 

“The new Justice Secretary must act quickly and
explain how he is going to fix prisons and secure training centres which are
violent and unsafe.  

“The public is less safe as a result of seven
years of Tory prison mismanagement.

“The next Labour Government will recruit 3,000
extra prison officers to improve safety and end the understaffing.”




Today’s further rise in inflation is deeply worrying, and once again shows how the Tories’ seven years of failed economic policy means working people are losing out – McDonnell

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to today’s inflation figures, said:

“Today’s further rise in inflation is deeply worrying, and once again shows how the Tories’ seven years of failed economic policy means working people are losing out, with wages lagging behind prices since the Tories came to power.
“Young people in particular, are suffering from a widening pay gap between the under and over-24s – increased by age distinctions in the Tories’ so-called National Living Wage.

“And after seven wasted years of Tory economic failure with real wages falling behind prices, and living standards being squeezed, working people in our country simply cannot afford more of the same from Theresa May and her party.

“Only a Labour government will ensure working people’s living standards are protected with a real Living Wage of £10 per hour, and immediate end to austerity spending cuts. At a time when the government is in total disarray, if they will not act then they need to stand aside and let a Labour government build an economy that works for the many, not the few.”




Jeremy Corbyn to take Labour’s message of hope for the many not the few across the UK on the final day of campaigning

Jeremy Corbyn will speak at six rallies across England, Scotland
and Wales on Wednesday 7 June 2017, the final day before polling day.

On Tuesday, 6 June, Jeremy addressed thousands at six simultaneous
events – and watched by 1.5 million people on Facebook live.

On the final day of campaigning, Jeremy will begin the day in
Glasgow Central and travel to Weaver Vale, Clwyd West, Watford, Harrow East,
until he reaches the final rally in Islington South.

He will set out Labour’s plans to transform Britain for the many,
not the few, including:

·        
No tax rises for 95 percent of people and asking the top 5 percent
and big businesses to pay a bit more to fund our schools, hospitals, social
care and invest in our economy

·        
Protecting pensioners incomes with the triple lock and
guaranteeing winter fuel payments

·        
Providing an extra £37 billion for the NHS and £8 billion for
social care

·        
Raising the minimum wage to £10 an hour, ending the public sector
pay cap and bringing in workers’ rights from day one of any job

·        
Scrapping university tuition fees and bringing back education
maintenance grants

·        
Cutting class sizes in schools and bringing in free school meals
for all primary school children

·        
Building a million new homes

·        
Bringing rail, water, parts of the energy system and post back
into public ownership to cut bills and improve in services

Commenting on Labour’s last day of campaigning, Jeremy Corbyn,
Leader of the Labour Party said:

“I am incredibly proud of Labour’s manifesto to transform Britain
for the many not the few.

“On the last day before people go to the polls, we will be
campaigning in towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales with our
message that change can come.

“Our campaign has been about the kind of country we want to live
in, one in which the wealth creators – that means all of us – share in that
wealth, and everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

“Tomorrow, the British people will be able to vote for a government
that will put an end to the rigged system that benefits the super-rich. Every
vote for Labour will be a vote to put power, wealth and opportunity back in the
hands of the many, not the few.”

Speaking at Glasgow Central, Jeremy Corbyn will say:

“Older people have given us so much but they are being held back
by a Conservative government that is refusing to protect their incomes through
the pensions triple lock, is taking away the winter fuel allowance from
millions of pensioners and demanding people pay for social care with their
homes.

“Labour will do things differently. We won’t take older people for
granted like the Tories, we will treat them with the respect they deserve and
have earned. We will guarantee the triple lock, keep the winter fuel allowance
and invest in social care to provide security and dignity for the many not the
few.”

Speaking at Weaver Vale, Jeremy Corbyn will say:

“Our NHS is the nation’s pride and joy, and our greatest
achievement but it is under threat from underfunding and privatisation after
seven years of the Conservatives. We can’t afford another five years of the
Tories.

“The election on Thursday is an opportunity to say enough is
enough. We have had enough of our NHS being undermined, we’ve had enough of NHS
services being sold off for profit, and we’ve had enough of our brilliant NHS
staff being treated with contempt.

“Labour will end the Conservatives’ plans for more privatisation,
give our NHS the funding it needs, and scrap the pay cap and give health workers
the pay rise they have needed for years.”

Speaking at Clywd West, Jeremy Corbyn will say:

“When police officers warned Theresa May as Home Secretary about
the damaging effect of cuts, she accused them of ‘scaremongering’ and ‘crying
wolf’. What a disgraceful way to treat those brave officers who keep us safe
every day.

“Labour will never take for granted those who keep us safe. We
will invest to reverse years of Tory cuts, and employ 10,000 more police
officers, 3,000 firefighters, 3,000 prison officers, 1,000 intelligence staff
and 500 border guards. We will do whatever it takes to keep our people safe.”

Speaking at Watford, Jeremy Corbyn will say:

“The Conservatives have held students back for too long, saddling
them with massive debts by trebling tuition fees. Labour will lift this cloud
of debt – now an average of £45,000 –  and scrap tuition fees as part of
our plan to transform Britain for the many not the few.

“We believe everyone should have the chance to study, not
just those that can afford it, and we will restore the principle that education
is free. No one should be put off from getting an education through a lack of
money or fear of debt.”

Speaking at Harrow East, Jeremy Corbyn will say:

“No child should go hungry at school. The Conservatives are ending
universal free school meals for five, six and seven-year-olds and giving them a
breakfast that costs 6.8 p – that’s barely a thimble of cornflakes.

“By charging VAT on private schools fees, Labour will make sure
all primary school children get a healthy meal at school. We will build a
society for the many not the few, starting with our children eating a healthy
free lunch together.”




24 hours to Vote Labour and save the NHS

With
polls opening in 24 hours, Labour is promising to breathe life back into the
NHS after years of the Conservatives starving it of funds, running down our
health workers and opening the door to full-scale privatisation.

Since
Theresa May became Prime Minister in 2016, almost two million people have
waited longer than four hours in A&E, almost 450,000 have waited longer
than four hours on trolleys and nearly 70,000 more people on waiting lists. The
Conservatives have no plan to support our NHS, with a manifesto that fails to
provide any additional funding for the NHS.

If
the Conservatives have five more years running our NHS, private provision of
healthcare in our NHS will balloon to £18.4 billion by 2021/22.

Labour
will restore the NHS to be the envy of the world by: 

  • Giving the NHS an extra £37 billion over the course of
        the next Parliament, including £10 billion of capital funding for NHS
        buildings and IT systems.
  • Taking one million people off NHS waiting lists by the
        end of the Parliament, by guaranteeing access to treatment within 18
        weeks.
  • Guaranteeing patients can be seen in A&E within
        four hours.
  • Creating a new £500 million Winter Pressures Fund to
        help ensure patients never have to experience a winter crisis like the one
        of recent months.
  • Scrapping the public sector pay cap that has cut
        nurses’ pay by 14% in real terms since 2010, forcing some to need food
        banks to get by.

 Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party said:

“The
Conservatives have spent the last seven years running down our NHS, our
proudest national institution. Our NHS cannot afford five more years of
underfunding, understaffing and privatisation.

“Labour
will give our NHS the resources it needs to deliver the best possible care for
patients, and end the Conservatives’ attacks on our hardworking health workers,
who care for us all.

“The
Conservatives have already cut our NHS, our schools, our police and our social
care services – and their manifesto is a plan for five more years of cuts to
services according to the IFS.

“We
have just 24 hours to change course and save our NHS, schools, social care and
police services by electing a Labour government that will invest to transform
Britain for the many, not the few.”

ENDS

Notes
to Editors

The
Conservatives have not given the NHS the money it needs

• In their 2015 manifesto the Tories said they would give the NHS £8 billion by
2020.

  • “We will…spend at least an additional £8 billion by
        2020 over and above inflation to fund and support the NHS’s own action
        plan for the next five years.

        Conservative Party Manifesto 2015,
        Page 37
  • Theresa May initially claimed that the NHS had been
        given an extra £10 billion, which she said was more than it asked for.

“Simon Stevens was asked to come forward with
a five year plan for the NHS. He did that, so that’s been generated by the NHS
itself. He said that it needed £8bn extra – the government has not just given
him £8bn extra, we’ve given him £10bn extra.”
Theresa May, Interview with
Manchester Evening News, 17 October 2016,
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/theresa-came-manchester-asked-three-12039565

  • However, she has been called out by Simon Stevens,
        Chief Executive of NHS England, who said it would be “stretching it” to
        say this.

“I think it would be stretching it to say
that the NHS has got more than it has asked for.”
Simon Stevens,
Public Accounts Committee, Oral evidence: Financial Sustainability of the NHS,
11 January 2017,
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/the-financial-sustainability-of-the-nhs/oral/45122.html

  • The House of Commons Health Select Committee has
        disputed the figures, putting the increase at £4.5 billion.

“If the spending review period is
considered—2015–16 to 2020–21—that increase is £4.5 billion.”

House of Commons, Health Select Committee
Report, Impact of the Spending Review on health and
social care, 19 July 2016 https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhealth/139/13904.htm#_idTextAnchor008

5
more years of privatisation

  • Around one third of NHS contracts since the 2012 Health
        and Social Care Act have gone to private sector providers

(Source: Iacobucci G (2014). A third of
NHS contracts awarded since health act have gone to private sector, BMA
investigation shows. BMJ 2014;349:g7606)

  • At current growth rates, private provision of
        healthcare in NHS England will increase to £18.4bn by the end of 2021/22.
        Since the last full year of the previous Labour government, private
        provision of healthcare in NHS England has more than doubled, from £4.1bn
        in 2009/10 to £8.7bn in 2015/16

(Sources: House of Lords Answer to PQ
5389, 11 March 2015; DH Annual Report and Accounts, Table 10, p 40, 21 July 2016)

5
more years of cuts

  • The Tories spending plans increase NHS spending by an
        average of 1.2 per cent per year between 2015/16 and 2022/23, compared
        with Labour’s spending plans that will increase NHS spending by an average
        of 2.3 per cent per year.

“The NHS needs an average of 1.2 per cent
to just keep pace with age-adjusted population growth, the Tories plans means
the NHS will get this, but nothing more.”

IFS, General Election 2017: IFS manifesto
analysis, 26 May 2017

  • Under the Tories the UK would face the lowest period of
        spending increases in NHS history.

“A real increase of £8 billion over the
next five years would extend what is easily the lowest period of spending
increases in NHS history to 12 years”

IFS, General Election 2017: IFS manifesto
analysis, 26 May 2017

  • This has resulted in the IFS saying that Conservative
        plans for the NHS may well be undeliverable.

“Conservative plans for NHS spending look
very tight indeed and may well be undeliverable.”

Institute for Fiscal Studies, Press
Release, 26 May 2017 – https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9259

  • While the influential health charity, the King’s Fund
        says that cuts are having an impact on frontline care.

“The budget for NHS England is projected
to rise by more than £8 billion in real terms between 2015/16 and 2020/21,
technically meeting the manifesto commitment to fund the implementation of the
NHS five year forward view. However, the budget for the Department of Health –
the definition used by previous governments to measure health spending – will
increase by only £4.6 billion over this period. Cuts in areas of health
spending that have not been protected are having an impact on frontline care.”

The King’s Fund, 12 May 2017, https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/articles/government-pledge-nhs-funding 

Funding

  • Funding for Labour’s New Deal for NHS Patients will be
        met from Income Tax on the top five per cent of earners with additional
        funding from Corporation Tax, higher rate insurance premium tax on private
        medical insurance and Labour’s National Transformation Fund of capital
        expenditure.
  • The lifting of the public sector pay cap, will be
        funded from a proportion of our previously announced gradual increases in
        Corporation Tax.
  • As part of Labour’s National Transformation Fund, £10
        billion across the course of the Parliament will be used for capital
        investment in the NHS, matching the estimated need identified by NHS
        Providers.
  • In total this represents a cash boost of £37 billion
        for the English NHS across the course of the Parliament.