Peter Dowd MP, Labour’s
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on today’s IFS
report, said:

“Today’s damning indictment
on the outlook for living standards is yet more evidence of the Tory
Government’s economic failure.

“The IFS concludes that ‘we
are in the middle of a historically weak period of growth in living standards’,
with median income set to be up to 16 percent lower in 2021-22 than it would
otherwise be if the Tory Government had continued long-run trend growth.

“With a dreadful record on
living standards, and inequality and poverty set to increase, it is clear that
after seven years of economic failure the Tory Government will continue to fail
working people.

“Only Labour will take
the action needed to end the Tories’ economic failure by introducing a Real
Living Wage of £10 an hour by 2020.”

Keir Starmer MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, on the Government’s Brexit Bill amendment defeat in the House of Lords,  said:

“This is a really welcome and important step forward. For months Labour has been urging the Prime Minister to end unnecessary uncertainty for EU citizens in the UK, and I am delighted our colleagues in the Lords have sent this clear message to the Prime Minister.

“Labour believe that EU nationals should not be used as bargaining chips in Brexit negotiations. There is a growing consensus that this must be resolved before Article 50 is triggered, and the Prime Minister is now increasingly isolated.

“Labour will continue to support this simple but effective amendment when it returns to the Commons, and urge MPs on all sides of the House to do so.”

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Shadow BIS Secretary, responding to the implementation of the Trade Union Act, said:

“This is the most unnecessary and anti-democratic assault on the rights of working people in a generation.

“For a Government elected by just a quarter of eligible voters to impose a 40% threshold on public sector workers taking industrial action, is a shameless example of double standards.  

“As all working people know, the decision to take industrial action is never taken lightly. But working people’s rights need to be protected.

“This will save our economy just 0.00002% of GDP, showing that the economic case for this is rubbish. The most effective way of boosting wages and people’s living standards is through them taking collective action in their trade union.

“This Act will perpetuate the chronic low pay in our economy which costs us all through lower taxes and a higher bill for in-work benefits”

Keir Starmer MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, commenting on a report from the Hansard Society about parliamentary scrutiny of the Brexit bill, said:

“It would be wrong for the PM to allow any changes to EU-derived laws without proper Parliamentary scrutiny.

“That is why Labour have been clear that any changes must be delivered through primary legislation and with proper transparency and accountability.

“In particular we will argue that all workers’ rights, consumer rights and environmental protections derived from EU law should be fully protected—no qualifications, limitations or sunset clauses.

“The PM should listen to the warnings she has received today from the Hansard society. And she should be in no doubt that Labour will fight all the way on this”.

The plans are part of the national mission to reform education to benefit pupils. The new standards aim to promote teaching excellence and support career-long professional development for all teachers.

The new standards will:

• Develop the leadership skills of all teachers.

• Provide opportunities for teachers to develop their skills throughout their career to meet the needs of the education system.

• Better support new entrants to the teaching profession by bringing together the requirements for the award of Qualified Teacher Status and the successful completion of induction.

• Enable teachers to work together more effectively to make sure all learners benefit from excellent teaching and learning.

It is proposed that the new standards will apply to all serving teachers from September 2018 and initial teacher training programmes from September 2019. This will provide time to build familiarity with the new standards before they become mandatory.

Kirsty Williams said:

“We are working closely with the profession to help teachers and practitioners be the best they can be, while raising the standard of teaching and, importantly, raising the standing of the profession as a whole.

“The current professional standards are no longer fit for purpose and do not match my vision for our school workforce. The old system set minimum expectations that we want to move beyond.

“These new standards are about making sure teachers develop the right skills throughout their career and all those teaching in our classrooms take on a leadership role as we all work together to raise standards. This is about moving to a system of career-long development. My vision is to strengthen leadership and make sure that there is greater consistency across our schools.

“I am grateful to all those teachers, leaders and other partners who have been directly involved in developing these new standards – it is testament to what can be achieved through us working together.”