Teresa
Pearce, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, commenting on the news that Surrey
County Council Leader David Hodge is standing down as the Local Government
Association’s Conservative group leader, said: 

“It
appears that the row around the Tory sweetheart deal for Surrey Council has
claimed a victim with the resignation of David Hodge as the man responsible for
standing up for all Tory councils. Perhaps that’s unsurprising given the
accusations he colluded with the Government over a favourable deal not
available to other councils.

“This
doesn’t put the matter to bed however. Theresa May has failed to come clean
about the terms of the deal offered to Surrey, failed to apologise for her
Government’s misleading suggestion that there had been no such deal and would
not give the assurance that other local councils will get the same treatment.

“David
Hodge’s resignation makes the need for full disclosure from the Government more
pressing.  What we need from the Tories is a long term sustainable plan
for funding social care, rather than cosy deals for Tories councils.”

Jonathan
Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on
news that three more trusts have been put into financial special measures by
NHS Improvement, said:

“The
Government’s inept mismanagement of the NHS is pushing hospital finances to the
brink. NHS Providers have already warned this week that delivering services
within the current financial settlement is “mission impossible”. The news today
that another three hospital trusts have been forced into financial special
measures just illustrates the deepening financial challenge facing the health
service.

“Theresa
May can’t keep on forcing hospitals to choose between balancing the books and
providing safe patient care. By underfunding the NHS for so long, the Prime
Minister is putting patients at risk. The Government needs to set out a long-term,
sustainable financial settlement for the NHS which allows hospitals to provide
the top quality health services which Britain’s patients expect.”

Justin Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister,
commenting on new figures which show that hospitals have flouted caps on locum
pay, said:

“The astonishing amounts paid by the NHS for locum doctors is yet
another example of the woeful workforce planning by the Conservative
Government. There isn’t just a shortage of permanent medical staff, there’s now
a shortage of available locums to plug the gaps.

“Patients want to know that taxpayers’ money is being spent on
patient care, not padding out the profits of employment agencies. Jeremy Hunt
needs to explain what he’s going to do to deliver a long term, sustainable
workforce plan for the NHS.”

Pat Glass MP,
Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister,  responding to the National Audit
Office (NAO) report into the Government’s Road Investment Strategy, said:

“This report
shows that the Government has made a huge error of judgment. The Road
Investment Strategy was rushed out by George Osborne and David Cameron as a
gimmick for the 2015 election. It was insufficiently planned, poorly thought
out and unrealistically costed.

“This
has raised expectations with motorists and businesses that Labour warned at the
time could not be met and it is clear that the Department for Transport has
questions to answer.

“The Government
needs to seriously reconsider their plans, so that these crucial infrastructure
projects are delivered on time and in budget.”

John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on the revelations by Equality Trust that the average FTSE chief
executive earns 386 times more than a worker on the national living wage, said:

“These
shocking figures show that after seven years of Tory failure on the economy,
it’s the super-rich who’ve gained at the expense of the rest of us.

"It
also exposes the Tories’ rigged economy, where despite real earnings
still being lower than before the crash and public services like the NHS
experiencing their worst-ever crisis, they are handing out £70 billion in tax
giveaways to the super-rich and big corporations. At the same time the Tories
are cutting in-work benefits to the low paid.

"Only Labour will deliver a fair economy that doesn’t hold people back by
introducing a £10 an hour Real Living Wage, a fairer taxation system, and by
tackling excessive boardroom pay with fairer distributions of rewards
within companies.”