Labour

Diane Abbott, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on a letter from the UK Statistics Authority to the Home Office, highlighting concerns over leaked  migration figures, said:

“Under this Tory Government one of the great offices of state has been brought into disrepute.

“Whether it is letters being erroneously sent out to EU nationals in order to propagate Theresa May’s risible “hostile environment”, or leaked national statistics being used to mislead the British people about the shambles that is Tory immigration policy, ministers face some serious questions.

“How can the public trust a word the Tories say on immigration when they feel the need to leak information to mask the failure of their policy?”

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, commenting on David Davis and Michel Barnier’s joint press conference, said:

“After three rounds of negotiations, real progress should have been made and in principle agreements reached on all phase one issues. Instead, the two sides appear to be getting further apart. 

“The risk of not reaching the October deadline to move on to the main negotiations is now very real; which increases the risk of Britain leaving with “no deal” in March 2019.

“No deal would be the worst possible outcome for the British people.

“Both sides need to redouble efforts and work together to reach a strong Article 50 deal and a close future partnership. If more negotiating sessions need to be added between now and the October deadline, they should be. Substantive progress and clear outcomes are urgently needed.”

Tom Watson MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, commenting on online gambling firm 888 being ordered to pay a record £7.8m penalty by the Gambling Commission, said:

“This outrageous case is more evidence of a gambling industry that needs to do more to protect vulnerable customers – not exploit them. With 430,000 problem gamblers in the UK, and over 2 million more at risk of addiction, the sector has to take responsibility and help people not to bet more than they can afford.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to reports in today’s Financial Times that the NHS is facing a £100m agency bill to boost GP numbers, said:

“This is yet another example of the Government’s financial mismanagement of our NHS and their lack of action when it comes to the GP workforce.

“Under the Tories, general practice is being stretched to breaking point, and patients are being let down as a result.

“This Government needs to come up with a workable plan for boosting the number of GPs and investing in frontline services, otherwise under the Tories, more and more taxpayers’ cash will be spent on expensive agency bills.”

Alan Whitehead MP, Labour’s Shadow Energy Minister and Climate Change, responding to reports that Ofgem will implement an energy price cap for two million vulnerable households, falling short of Theresa May’s General Election promise, said:

“Theresa May misled voters during the election by pledging to cap energy bills for 17 million households before quickly backtracking. Now she is trying to mislead people again by claiming the responsibility to introduce a cap for all households on standard variable tariffs lies with Ofgem, despite the regulator making clear it needs the government to legislate.

“Unlike the Tories, the next Labour government will offer more than empty words by introducing an immediate emergency price cap to keep household bills down, while we transition to a fairer system for bill payers.”