Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the
Labour Party, said:

“I’m pleased to announce
appointments to Labour’s Shadow Cabinet. We have a wealth of talent in our
party and the strength of our shadow team will develop Labour’s alternative
plan to rebuild and transform Britain, so that no one and no community is left
behind.”

The new appointments are:

Shadow Secretary of State for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – Rebecca Long-Bailey

Shadow Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Sue Hayman

Shadow Secretary of State for
Wales –
Christina Rees

Shadow Chief Secretary to the
Treasury – Peter
Dowd

Ends

Sarah Champion MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities,
responding to today’s statistical release from the ONS on violent
crime and sexual offences, said:  

“It is unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of women still
suffer violence in the home every year. And the official figures significantly
underestimate the true extent of the problem.

“But under this Tory Government domestic violence services are in
crisis and funding for front-line professionals is being cut.

“Ministers must do much more to ensure that every victim of
domestic abuse has access to support they need.”

Ends

Diane
Abbott MP,
Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, speaking
in response to the Home Secretary’s defence of the Government decision to end
the Dubs scheme prematurely, said:

“Labour
cannot accept this decision. This seems to breach the spirit of the law passed
with cross-party support. Accepting 350 unaccompanied child refugees is far
short of the expected 3,000.

“There
will no doubt be legal challenges to this decision. This government is not
above the law.

“In
any event, Labour commits to meeting the obligations of the Dubs Amendment. We
will restore the scheme and accept some of the most vulnerable children in the
world.”

Angela
Rayner MP, Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the Sutton Trust report into the
attainment gap between poor pupils and their better-off classmates, said:

“This
report should serve as a stark warning to the Government that their plans to
re-introduce selection at 11 will only make this attainment gap between
disadvantaged children and their peers even wider.

“Their plans to bring back grammar schools are
reckless and without evidence. Introducing wholesale selection back into the
schools system will only make life more difficult for the most disadvantaged
kids.”

“Theresa May has lost control of the NHS
this winter”: Labour reacts to latest performance data

NHS England has today published full year
2016 data for a number of key NHS indicators, including waiting lists,
ambulance response and delayed transfers, which show the health
service stretched to the limits.

The BBC has also published leaked figures
showing January’s A&E performance to be the worst since records started.

Labour said the figures showed Theresa May
was failing patients and renewed calls for the Government to bring
forward extra support for health and social care in the March budget.  

Jon Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health
Secretary, said:

“Theresa May has lost control of the NHS
this winter and patients are paying the price as target after target is missed
and standards of care deteriorate. Thousands more people are waiting for
treatment, people are stuck in hospitals even when they’re well enough to go
home, and key standards on cancer care and ambulance response times are
being missed.

“These are some
of the worst figures we have seen. Experts are saying that standards are being
pushed back fifteen years or more. Behind each of these statistics is a patient
suffering and in unacceptable discomfort. It’s making Theresa May’s utter
disregard for the dire state of the NHS all the more disgraceful.

“The Government has failed the NHS right
across the board. Urgent action is required and Labour is calling for a
sustainable funding package for health and social care to be brought forward in
the March Budget, so that the NHS and its patients never have to go through a
winter like this again.”

Ends