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.”