Tag Archives: Labour

Keir Starmer, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, has urged ministers to meet the deadline for handing over the 58 Brexit impact studies to MPs tomorrow [Tuesday 28 November] or risk being held in contempt of Parliament.

Earlier this month, MPs unanimously backed a Labour motion for the economic impact studies to be released to the Select Committee for Exiting the European Union. MPs on that Select Committee will then have the right to review the impact studies and determine what information is put in the public domain.

The Speaker of the House of Commons said motions of the kind tabled by Labour “have in the past been seen as effective or binding.”

Responding to the decision, the Brexit Secretary, David Davis, said on Tuesday 7 November: “The Government is committed to providing the information to the Committee as soon as possible. I have made plain to the House authorities that we currently expect this to be no more than three weeks [Tuesday 28 November].”

If ministers fail to respond to Labour’s motion, then they risk falling in contempt of Parliament.

Parliament’s rulebook Erskine May states that “actions which…obstruct or impede” the Commons “in the performance of its functions, or are offences against its authority or dignity, such as disobedience to its legitimate commands.”

Labour is calling for the papers to be handed over, unredacted before Parliament rises tomorrow.

Keir Starmer said:

“There is huge anxiety across the country about the impact of the Government’s Brexit approach on jobs and the economy.

“Labour fully understand the importance of protecting the UK’s negotiating position with the European Union. However, the decision agreed unanimously by MPs earlier this month was about transparency and ensuring Parliament had the information it needs to hold ministers to account during the Brexit process.

“Ministers have accepted that the vote was binding and they must now respect Parliament’s decision. That means releasing the impact studies to the Brexit Select Committee in full and unredacted before Parliament rises on Tuesday. If ministers fail to act then we will have no choice but to raise this matter with the Speaker of the Commons.“

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, responding to the publication of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, said:

“This is a White Paper made up of re-announced policies and old spending commitments, showing once again that this is a Government short on details and new ideas.

“Nothing in the White Paper will help give businesses the certainty or incentives they need to invest in the face of the Government’s catastrophic handling of Brexit.”

“What detail there is concentrates on a few elite industries in which Britain already has an advantage, and will do nothing to help the millions of people who work in low productivity and low wage sectors such as retail, hospitality and social care, or those based outside the “Golden Triangle” made up by London, Oxford and Cambridge.

“After the Budget last week, the Government’s economic credibility has been shot to pieces. This White Paper falls far short of the change of direction needed to improve our dire productivity, income and GDP growth. Labour’s Industrial Strategy set out a radical programme of investment and genuine partnership between industry and government, to build an economy for the many, not just the few.”

Corbyn: Tory failure on the economy will leave workers on the National Living Wage worse off by £900 in 2020. Under Labour’s plans they will be better off by £3,000

Speaking at a press conference in Glasgow this morning, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn published new analysis showing that the Budget’s reduced projected rate for the National Living Wage (NLW) will leave the average full-time worker on the NLW £900 worse off in 2020.

In Philip Hammond’s March Budget the NLW rate for 2020 was projected to be £8.75. This week this was cut further to £8.56. This falls far short of the £9 promised by the Tories when the policy was first announced in 2015.

Relative to Labour’s plan for a Real Living Wage of £10 an hour the average full-time worker will be better off by £3,000.

• On Labour’s new living wage analysis

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, speaking at a press conference in Glasgow alongside new Scottish Labour Party leader, Richard Leonard, said:

“The Conservative government in Westminster promised prosperity and economic stability but as last week’s budget showed, they have failed utterly.

“They are simply propping up a system rigged for the few that delivers falling wages, falling growth and falling productivity, falling living standards for the many and astronomical wealth for the very few.

“Labour will do things very differently – and millions will feel it in their pockets.

“When the Conservatives rebranded the minimum wage the National Living Wage, they pledged it would reach £9 per hour by 2020.

“But pay in our country is actually falling. Think about that for a moment. Something must be very wrong when pay in the sixth largest economy in the world has fallen for a decade.

“Last week, the Chancellor admitted he now expects the National Living Wage will be just £8.56 per hour by 2020.

“Now we know the price of Tory failure for the low paid. The lowest paid  workers will be £900 per year worse off in 2020 than promised. That’s shocking and unacceptable.

“Labour is committed to a Real Living Wage of at least £10 per hour by 2020. That would make the lowest paid in our economy £3,000 per year better off in 2020.”

• Full speech

I want to offer my warmest congratulations to Richard Leonard for his election as the new leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

I know that under Richard’s leadership Scottish Labour will again bring hope and confidence to the people of Scotland.

During the leadership election Richard laid out a bold and radical agenda for Scottish Labour and showed his determination to bring real change to Scotland.

I look forward to working as closely as possible with Richard to change our society for the many not the few.

I also want to pay tribute to Anas Sarwar who I know will continue to play an important role in our Party as it develops our radical programme for government in Holyrood and Westminster.

Now our whole party and movement must campaign together, to inspire people in every nation and region of the UK, to have the confidence to be a country that genuinely cares for all.

We can all learn from Scotland’s powerful traditions, not only of socialism and trade unionism, but of working class writers and artists, who gave a passionate voice to the oppressed and the excluded against the wealthy and powerful … From Robbie Burns to Irvine Welsh, they can inspire us all and show what we can achieve.

Our party is growing here in Scotland and across every part of the UK … and we can achieve great things together … if we offer a real alternative to Tory austerity.

We know the challenges facing our country are enormous and that the Tories are incapable of tackling them.

In Scotland 260,000 children, 40,000 more than last year, are living in poverty. Health inequalities are locked in, the educational attainment gap is widening and the numbers of people in working poverty is at its highest since devolution was launched two decades ago.

The focus of politics must be on lasting, collective solutions to these problems. It’s not good enough to leave it up to the SNP to come up with some market-led fix.

The SNP government in Holyrood promised to stand up for the people of Scotland but they have offered no real alternative to the status quo. They have failed to use their powers to stop cuts to Scotland’s public services… schools… hospitals… and fire and rescue.

It is Labour that offers the Scottish people real change and a break with the failed and rigged system that has held our people back.

With a radical Labour Government in Westminster and Richard Leonard leading a radical Labour government in Holyrood we would have an unprecedented opportunity for real change…

the chance to deliver better and more secure jobs … and stronger rights at work …

… to end the public sector pay cap … that disrespects our committed public servants every day.

To end the need for food banks … and put an end to rough sleeping.

We would upgrade our economy to create wealth for all … through investment in our infrastructure, new technologies and the skills of our people … helping our small businesses … and using powers we get back from Brussels to create good jobs across all the nations and regions of the UK.

We would end tax giveaways to the corporations and the wealthiest … and instead give our vital public services, our social care system and NHS … and those engines of opportunity, our schools and colleges, the funding they need.

We would create a Scottish National Investment Bank under Scottish control with £20bn of lending power to deliver the funds to vital local projects, infrastructure and small businesses, reviving our economy after a lost decade.

We would ban zero hours contracts giving new protections to the 60,000 Scottish workers currently with no guaranteed hours.

We would no longer allow those at the top to leach off those who work on zero hours contracts, or those compelled to make sacrifices to pay their mortgages.

We would take on the tax dodgers starting with making corporations publish their tax returns. The grotesque immorality of the super-rich and multinational corporations stashing their money offshore and not paying their fair share in tax must end.

Labour is committed to build a new economy that delivers good jobs and cutting edge investment in every part of our country … and puts equality and social justice at the heart of everything that we do.

We want to live in a country that values work and the wealth creators, not a system rigged for the likes of Mike Ashley and Philip Green.

Just imagine what that country would look like. We must have the confidence, the hope and the determination to achieve it.

We can live in a country that cares for everyone, that builds social housing again and where we don’t walk by on the other side when we see people homeless on shop doorways.

We can live in a country that doesn’t crush the hopes and dreams of our young people with debt and insecurity.

We can live in a country where everybody is included and everybody’s contribution is valued.

This is the change that we know is needed both in Scotland and across Britain. The SNP have shown that they can’t do it and the Tories have shown that they don’t want to do it.

With a Labour government in both Holyrood and Westminster we can bring real change to make our society work for the many, not the few.

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to reports that Theresa May hasn’t committed to covering the full costs of the Manchester Terrorist attack, and speaking after a meeting with the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police today, said:

“This is completely unacceptable and the Government must urgently explain why they have made this decision.

“I met with the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police only today and he impressed upon me the pressure his officers are facing due to increasing demand and falling budgets.

“The Government need to stop dragging their feet and give Greater Manchester Police the resources they need.”

Sue Hayman MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, responding to the Lancashire floods, said:

“As people in Lancashire deal with the aftermath of today’s floods, the Government’s £115m cuts to flood funding this year shows they have called it dangerously wrong yet again.

“With flood management funding at a four year low, many communities are facing the very real prospect of losing their homes this winter as the Tories fail yet again to get a grip on the situation.

“Labour would give the Fire and Rescue Services a statutory duty to coordinate and respond to floods and would invest in better flood management.”