Peter
Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to
reports that the Treasury sought to conceal pay statistics, said:

“The
Conservative Government’s divide and rule tactics must end.“

“Phillip
Hammond has sought to pit private sector workers against public sector workers,
to justify a pay cap which has seen real wages slashed in our public services.

“The
figures revealed by the GMB today show that last year public sector wages were
below the private sector, despite Hammond continuing to publicly demonise our
public servants.

“Hammond’s
subterfuge on public sector pay cannot be allowed to continue. Labour is
committed to seeing parliament and the hard working public sector workers
receive the answers they deserve around this Tory stitch-up.”

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to Sajid
Javid’s comments on the housing crisis on the Andrew Marr Show this morning,
said:

“If hot air built homes, Ministers would have fixed our
housing crisis. Any promise of new investment is welcome, but the reality
is spending on new affordable homes has been slashed since 2010
so new affordable housebuilding is at a 24 year low.

"Rather than set more targets they can’t meet,
Ministers should back Labour’s plan to build 100,000 genuinely affordable homes
a year, including the biggest council housebuilding programme in more than 30
years.”

Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Social
Care,
responding to a leaked draft of this year’s Tory manifesto, said:

“This leaked draft manifesto shows just how damaging the Dementia
Tax could have been for people in need of care.

“But the danger for people facing catastrophic long-term care
costs isn’t over. It seems from social care minister Jackie Doyle-Price’s recent
comments that the Tories are still considering this disastrous policy.

“Labour will build a sustainable National Care Service funded by
sharing risk across the population to avoid people facing catastrophic costs
for care.“ 

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, John Healey MP, responding to Sajid
Javid’s refusal to fund the retro-fitting of sprinklers in high-rise buildings on the Andrew Marr Show, said:

“Conservative Ministers
were told four years ago to get sprinklers retro-fitted into high-rise
buildings following two fatal tower block fires, but failed to act.

"Today,
even after the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower, Sajid Javid has
confirmed the government is still refusing to provide any funding to
install sprinklers. This is a neglect of government’s responsibility to
worried residents across the country. 

“Ministers should act
now and help fund these vital fire safety measures, starting with the highest
risk blocks.”

Responding
to the announcement of a call for evidence on improving the
home-buying process, John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, said:

“Another
week and another call for evidence on failings in the housing market, but these
feeble proposals show that Ministers just don’t get the scale of the problems
facing homebuyers. 

"This
smacks of a political diversion from the hard facts of the Tories’ housing
record. Home-ownership is at a thirty year low and the number of
younger home-owners is in freefall, but Ministers can only come up with a
‘call for evidence’ on improving the home-buying process. 

 "Compare
the Tories’ feeble gesture to Labour’s plans – 100,000 discounted homes for
first-time buyers, a cut in stamp duty, first dibs on new homes for local
people and new protections for home-owners.

 “This
is a government out of touch and out of ideas. Conservatives know housing
was a big part of why they did so badly at the election but after seven years
of failure Ministers still have no plan to fix the housing crisis.”