Mike
Kane MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Minister, responding to the National Audit
Office’s report which has found teacher recruitment is not keeping up with
rising pupil numbers, said:

“Teacher
shortages are reaching crisis point and it is subjects that are vital to our
country’s future such as science and computing that are hardest hit.

“The
Education Select Committee, the School Teachers’ Review Body, and the last
Education Secretary have all said that the public sector pay cap is
contributing to challenges in teacher recruitment, yet the Government have
again said that they will continue to impose the cap.

“There
is no greater investment a government can make in education than in the quality
of teaching. It is time the Tories read the writing on the wall and lifted the
public sector pay cap – their continued inaction is threatening our children’s
education.”

Peter Dowd MP,
Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to today’s inflation figures, said:

“The continued rise in inflation will come as further bad news for working
families; who after 7 years of Tory economic failure have seen their wages fail
to keep up with prices.

“During a week in which we have so far seen the Government send mixed messages
on their public sector pay freeze, and their chaotic handling of Brexit, they
still have no answers to the squeeze on incomes that working households are
facing; yet Philip Hammond still plans to handout over £70 billion in tax
giveaways to big business and the super-rich over the next five years.

“Only a Labour government will protect the living standards of working people
by bringing in a Real Living Wage of £10 per hour, and an immediate end to
austerity spending cuts.“

Keir
Starmer, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, following
tonight’s vote in the House of Commons on the EU Withdrawal Bill, said:

“This is a deeply disappointing result.

“This Bill is an affront to parliamentary democracy
and a naked power grab by Government Ministers. It leaves rights unprotected,
it silences Parliament on key decisions and undermines the devolution
settlement.

“It will make the Brexit process more uncertain,
and lead to division and chaos when we need unity and clarity. 

“Labour will seek to amend and remove the worst
aspects from the Bill as it passes through Parliament. But the flaws are so
fundamental it’s hard to see how this Bill could ever be made fit for purpose”.

Ends

Sue
Hayman MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, commenting on the report of the
Special Rapporteur on the implications on environmental protections and
standards on human rights in the UK, said:

“This is
a damning and shameful indictment of the Government’s lack of action on air
quality and a stark warning ahead of Brexit of its flimsy promises on the
future of environmental protections.

“The UN
Special Rapporteur raises some extremely grave concerns in his report, most
notably regarding Michael Gove’s ‘worrying’ lack of commitment to environmental
protections post Brexit, the crippling impact of austerity on the UK’s ability
to monitor and enforce environmental standards, and the disregard for the
health of UK citizens.

“By
simply blaming our membership of the E.U. on the long list of failings outlined
in the report, the response from the government could not have been more
inappropriate or cynical.

“Michael
Gove must urgently set out his response to the concerns raised in this report
and take stronger and more immediate action on all areas of public health and
environmental concern that have been highlighted.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on reports that the Tories are to
lift the public sector pay cap for specific roles only, said:

“The next Labour government
will lift the public sector pay cap for all public sector workers and we are
demanding nothing less than that from this shambolic government. The crisis in
our public services is a crisis made in Downing Street. The pay review bodies
have been operating under the constraint of a Tory 1 per cent cap for seven
years. The pay cap must now be lifted across the whole public sector rather
than by playing one group of workers off against another.”