Tag Archives: Labour

Theresa May must spell out Tory policies after Dominic Raab gaffe

Labour is calling on Theresa May to end the confusion over funding for our NHS and schools after a gaffe by Conservative MP Dominic Raab.

On the Victoria Derbyshire programme this morning, Dominic Raab suggested money for the NHS would be found by cutting free school meals for infants.

When pressed on the issue, he said: “Well, look we’ve said things like means testing the winter fuel payment. I’m giving an illustration of the difficult decisions, like saying that we wouldn’t be subsidising free school lunches for well-off parents, we don’t think that’s the right thing to do. We’d rather the money went into teaching and the NHS.”

The suggestion the NHS would benefit is at odds with the Conservative manifesto, which says: “The savings made from [cutting free school meals] will be added to the core schools budget, meaning that every penny saved will go towards children’s education.”

Meanwhile, the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed that there is not a single penny of extra funding for the NHS in the Conservatives’ manifesto.

The latest chaos and confusion about Tory policy comes after the unravelling of their proposal for free school breakfasts, when it was found it would only amount to 6.8p per meal, and the announcement of an unspecified cap on social care costs being charged against people’s homes.

Ahead of tonight’s leaders’ debate and interview with Jeremy Paxman, Labour is challenging Theresa May to end the uncertainty by coming clean on what a Conservative government would mean:

 ·         How many pensioners will lose their winter fuel payments?

·         What will the cap be on social care costs for people with conditions such as dementia?

·         Will there be increases in National Insurance contributions and income tax?

·         Is the Institute for Fiscal Studies right to say there will be five years of austerity for the NHS?

·         How will they fund their school breakfast proposal (replacing free school meals) now their original 6.8p figure is discredited?

Ian Lavery, Labour’s National Election Coordinator, said:

“Theresa May has already thrown millions of pensioners into uncertainty over her dementia tax policy and now her funding for our NHS and schools is in disarray. If even her own spokespeople don’t know where the money is coming from or where it’s going, how on earth do they expect the British people to know?

“You can’t trust a word Theresa May and the Tories say, the flip-flopping and backsliding is getting ridiculous. There is a very clear choice at this election, between a Conservative party that is betraying pensioners, threatening tax rises for millions of families and promising five more years of austerity for our NHS and schools, and a Labour party with a fully costed plan for the many not the few.”

Labour is today (Monday 29 May 2017) calling on Theresa May to come clean with the British people and answer the most pressing questions she has failed to be straight about in this campaign. 

The Conservative manifesto has betrayed Britain’s pensioners, threatened unspecified tax rises for tens of millions of working people and set out a grim future of underfunding and understaffing for our vital public services.

Given that the Conservative leader has already broken her flagship manifesto pledge on social care, we are challenging Theresa May to be straight with voters and give clear answers to the crucial questions she has continued to duck.

 Questions Theresa May must answer today:

1.     Will Theresa May confirm that ten million pensioners will lose their winter fuel payments if the Conservatives are re-elected? And if not ten million, how many will it be?

2.     At what level will the cap be set on social care costs that those with conditions such as dementia will have to pay under Conservative plans?

3.     Will Theresa May match Labour’s pledge not to raise personal National Insurance contributions, and not to raise income tax for 95 per cent of taxpayers?

4.     Will the Conservatives confirm they are planning another five years of austerity for public services, as the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) stated last week?

5.     The Conservatives have warned they will scrap free school meals for 5-7 year olds if they are re-elected. Will they now spell out a realistic costing for their school breakfast proposal now they have withdrawn their discredited 6.8p figure?

6.     Will Theresa May confirm she is proposing not a single penny of extra funding for the NHS, as the IFS has stated?

 Theresa May has a track record of breaking her promises, flip-flopping and going back on her word. Ahead of tonight’s live televised interview and Q&A, Labour is calling on the Conservative leader to be straight with people and set out exactly what she’s planning for our pensioners, working people and school children.

Andrew Gwynne, Labour’s National Election Coordinator, said:

“The Tory manifesto has plunged pensioners and working people into insecurity, and left our public services facing the risk of further crisis. Meanwhile, Theresa May refuses to answer even the most basic questions on her policies.

“Today, Labour sets out some of the most pressing questions the Tories keep dodging. So if you get a knock at the door from the Tories or are one of the few people who isn’t a Tory party member to meet Theresa May or Philip Hammond, ask them to provide answers.

“Failure to do so will lead people to draw their own conclusions. But ultimately it proves that voting for the Tories at this election is a dangerous roll of the dice for working people and pensioners.

“Their manifesto threatened to take away winter fuel allowances, ditch the triple lock and leave pensioners facing the loss of control of their homes because of social care costs. It makes clear the Tories are planning five more years of austerity for our public services, with no guarantee to not raise taxes for 95 per cent of taxpayers.

“Having broken her flagship pledge on social care just days after she launched her manifesto, Theresa May needs to give clear answers to these crucial questions and be straight with the British people about what the Tories are actually planning.”

Labour today announces a plan to make Britain’s communities safer, by putting thousands more frontline staff into critical public services, including police, fire, prison, intelligence and border agencies.

 In the wake of large-scale Tory cuts to police and security resulting in 37,000 fewer staff, Labour will recruit:

 ·       10,000 more police officers

·       3,000 more firefighters

·       3,000 more prison officers

·       1,000 more security and intelligence agency staff

·       500 more border guards

Labour’s plans to reverse staff cuts in these agencies will return staffing levels closer to those when Labour left office.

 Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

 “Ensuring the safety of our communities demands properly resourced action across many fronts. It means upholding and enforcing our individual rights, promoting community relations, supporting our emergency services, tackling and preventing crime and protecting us from danger, including threats of terror and violence.

 “Only a Labour government will meet these challenges. As we set out in our manifesto earlier this month, Labour will recruit additional police officers, additional firefighters, additional prison officers and additional border guards.

 “We will also legislate to ensure safe staffing levels in the NHS, including for our ambulance services. Today, I am announcing that Labobur will also increase staffing levels at the security and intelligence agencies – GCHQ, SIS and MI5 – in order to better ensure our collective safety.

 “As well as full funding for our frontline and first response services, Labour will properly resource the partner agencies in other frontline public services, including schools and colleges, and local authorities. These agencies are charged with a duty to identify those individuals vulnerable to violent extremism but under the current government they have been held back and barely been able to provide their own core services. Only Labour is serious about properly resourcing our security and frontline services.”

 Labour’s pledge to increase the resources of state security and emergency services is matched by a renewed commitment to uphold the individual rights and civil liberties of the people in communities served.

 Diane Abbott, Shadow Home Secretary said:

“One of the great myths of British politics is that the Tories are the party of law and order. The reality is very different. Serious crime is up since the Tories came to office in 2010, and they have cut police numbers by over 20,000 in that time. Theresa May broke her pledge to protect the police budgets.  

“Labour will protect our communities. We will focus on rebuilding community policing, and the ties between communities and the forces that serve them for good reason. It works. Unlike many other countries where the police have long been a quasi-military force standing outside the community, we have a history of policing by consent. We need to rebuild the trust between communities and the police which has been eroded by a combination of police cuts and rising crime.

”Part of rebuilding trust will a review of the Prevent strategy and the Channel programme. Nobody disputes the need to engage communities in the fight against violent extremism but we must be mindful of the warning issued by David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, who said: “There is a strong feeling in Muslim communities that I visit that Prevent is, if not a spying programme, then is at least a programme that is targeted on them.”

Richard Burgon, Shadow Justice Secretary, said

“Labour will uphold the rights which make our communities safer, including a pledge to maintain the Human Rights Act and to strengthen judicial oversight over the powers of intelligence services. We will back up our legal protections with adequate resourcing across our security and justice systems.

“In stark contrast, the Tories have cut the staffing levels at the security and intelligence services, they have cut fire and rescue budgets by more than 30%, they have taken 20,000 police officers and 6,000 Police and Community Supports Officers out of service, they have dangerously reduced the number of staff in our increasingly overcrowded prisons and they have weakened our Border Force.”

Editor’s Notes:

 SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

 1.      Staffing levels at GCHQ, SIS and MI5 were cut by 5% in 2010 and despite planned increases have not yet returned to the levels inherited from the last Labour government.

 2.      The Conservatives have cut more than 37,000 roles to public service agencies since 2010:

·       20,000 fewer police officers

·       10,000 fewer firefighters

·       6,000 fewer prison officers

·       31 fewer staff in the security and intelligence agencies

·       1,000 fewer border guards

 POLICE AND CRIME

 3.      Since 2010, police officer numbers have been reduced by 20,000 and police community support officer numbers have been reduced by 6,000.

4.      Police budgets have been cut by £2.3bn and the government has already broken its promise to protect police funding over this last Parliament. cutting budgets by £330 million in real terms in the last two years alone.

5.      Latest figures show rises in some of the most serious criminal offences, including homicide, gun and knife crime.

 FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES

 6.      Since 2010, firefighter numbers have been reduced by 10,000.

7.      Since 2010, more than 40 fire stations have been closed and more than 130 fire engines lost, including 10 stations and 13 engines in London alone.

8.      Fire and rescue service budgets were cut by 30% from 2010-2015, with a further 20% cut planned from 2015-2020.

9.      The average response time to the most critical incidents has increased by more than 30 seconds since 2010.

 AMBULANCE SERVICES

 10.  The 8 minute target for Red Call 1 ambulance response times have not been since May 2015: Red Call 1 is the category of calls representing the most critical life-threatening emergencies. 

 BORDER FORCE

 11.  Since 2010 more than 1,000 border guard jobs were lost

12.  Since 2011 Border Force budgets were cut by 12%

13.  Since 2011 there has been an 11% increase in the people entering the UK

14.  Since 2011 there has been a cut of more than 25% to the amount on money spent for every person who crosses passport control into Britain, from £5.80 spent in 2011 to £4.43 spent in 2015

15.  The cuts to Border Force have contributed to low staff morale at UK Border Force, with one in three staff planning to leave within 12 months

 PRISONS

16.  Prison officer numbers have reduced by more than 6,000 since 2010

17.  There were 5,423 assaults on prison staff in the year to March 2017 – a rise of 40% on the previous year

18.  68 per cent of all prisons are overcrowded, holding more inmates than their usable ‘certified normal accommodation’ (CNA), with some holding more than 50 per cent over the recommended levels

19.  Self-inflicted prisoner deaths rose by 28% in the year to June 2016.

20.  65 prisoners were released in error in 2015-16 – the highest total for six years. 

DEVOLVED ADMINISTRATIONS

21. Devolved administrations would receive consequential financial settlements for those services which are devolved.

22. The Welsh Government would determine policies and priorities for devolved services as well as those services to be devolved following the election of a UK Labour Government.

23. This is as outlined in Welsh Labour’s 2017 manifesto, “Standing Up For Wales” and the UK Labour manifesto.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will visit Hackney Marshes football pitches today to highlight Labour’s manifesto commitment to ensure 5 per cent of the Premier League’s domestic and international television rights’ income is diverted to the grassroots game.

The pledge will help the next generation of players and coaches by drastically improving facilities and pitches.

Labour has also committed today to working with train operating companies, broadcasters and clubs to develop a new ‘Flexible Football Ticket’ so that fans experience minimal disruption when games are switched. This will stop fans being left with worthless train tickets and having to fork out again for new tickets when games are re-arranged at short notice.

The visit is taking place on the same day as the FA Cup Final.

The party’s manifesto also commits Labour to:

•           Put fans at the heart of their clubs – by legislating for accredited supporters trusts to be able to appoint and remove at least two club directors and to purchase shares when clubs change hands. We will also review fan participation in sports governance more widely.

•           Fix the broken ticketing market – by enforcing anti-bot legislation and implementing the recommendations of the Waterson review to ensure fair opportunities for fans to buy tickets.

•           Improve access provision for disabled sports fans – by ensuring that rapid improvements are made and by prioritising action to make clubs comply with obligations under the 2010 Equality Act.

•           Ensure that investment and support is given to grassroots women’s football so as many women and girls as possible can benefit from participating in football

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will say:

“The FA Cup final marks the greatest day of the football season. Millions of football fans across the country, including myself, are eagerly awaiting kick off this evening at Wembley.

“Despite the game we all love receiving lucrative domestic and international TV deals, the grassroots game has been shamefully starved of funding over recent years.

“Too often, youth football teams cannot find pitches to play on and when they do they are expensive and the facilities are not fit for purpose. All-weather pitches are like gold-dust and coaching badges can cost unaffordable amounts. Under these circumstances, it is no surprise we are not nurturing the talent that we all know exists within the beautiful game.

“To address this lack of funding and lack of facilities, Labour in government will ensure that 5 per cent of domestic and international TV rights money is diverted to the grassroots game. This will ensure the footballing talent of young girls and boys is harnessed, and football is a game for the many, not the few.”

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour’s Shadow Sports Minister, will say:

“Football is our national game – it brings people together from all ages and all walks of life. We have one of the most commercially successful leagues in the world, but all too often pitches and grassroots community facilities are run down and in a state of disrepair.

“Without supporters, amateurs and young players, football would be barren. As broadcast revenues and the popularity of our leagues increase, so should the support that goes back into the grassroots game. We have to make sure we can develop future British playing and coaching talent, in order to make sure our leagues stay competitive for years to come.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the Institute of Fiscal Studies analysis of the main political parties’ proposals on school spending in England, said:

“There is now no doubt about what Tory plans mean for education – our schools will see their budgets cut.

“And head teachers have warned us what the consequences will be for parents and pupils: fewer teachers, larger classes, a narrower curriculum, or even a shorter school week.

“The IFS analysis is clear: only Labour will give schools the resources they need to deliver a world-class education for the many, not just the few.”