Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow
Transport Secretary,
responding to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling’s Yorkshire Post article on
transport in the North, said:

“Grayling’s decision to wash his
hands of the North’s transport problems is a huge insult to commuters and
businesses.

“It’s true that the North can play
a larger role in determining and delivering its own transport priorities, but
only if it’s backed with funding from central government – an unlikely prospect
while Chris Grayling holds the purse strings.

“The Tories have a track record of
underinvestment and broken promises. London receives £1500 per person more in
transport spending than the North, but far from addressing this disparity the
Tories are making it worse by scrapping upgrades to the TransPennine
route.  

“Many people will be furious at
being told they should ‘take control’ whilst the government pulls the plug on
hundreds of millions of pounds worth of improvements to the region’s rail links
and presides over huge inequalities in transport spending between the North and
South.

“The North needs its fair share of
investment, not words of encouragement from Chris Grayling.

“That is why Labour has pledged to
help transform the economies of the North, underpinned by a £10bn commitment
for Crossrail for the North.”

Ends

New
analysis by Labour has revealed that almost a million (972,000) households in
England are paying more than a third of their incomes in mortgage costs – an
internationally recognised standard of housing affordability – despite record
low interest rates.

In
response, Labour has pledged to provide 100,000 new affordable FirstBuy homes
for first-time buyers over its first five years in government – a new class of
housing sold at prices set so that mortgage costs are affordable to households
on local average incomes.

Labour’s
new analysis drawn from the official English Housing Survey comes after
official figures earlier in the year revealed that the number of households
headed by someone aged under 45 who owns their own home has fallen by an
astonishing 900,000 since 2010 to just 44 per cent.

Current
Conservative policies to help first-time buyers are failing, with no fresh
ideas and Ministers stalling on plans they’ve previously announced:

–      
Almost
three years after announcing the Government’s flagship new ‘starter
homes’  not a single one has been built

–      
Help
to Buy has been heavily criticised for not focusing on first-time buyers on
ordinary incomes, with the majority of recipients saying they could have bought
a property anyway

Statistics
released earlier this year revealed that the level of homeownership in Britain
has now fallen to a 30-year low.

Labour’s
Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey MP said:

“The cost
of the housing crisis means that young people looking to buy a home of their
own are being locked out of the housing market.

“After
seven years of failure, the Conservatives have no plan to fix the housing
crisis. Homeownership has hit a 30-year low and the number of under-45s who own
their own home has fallen by over 900,000.

“Labour
would bring in a big New Deal for first time buyers including ‘first dibs’ on
new homes built in the local area and 100,000 new discount FirstBuy Homes which
are priced at a level linked to local average incomes. Labour offers help to
the many aspiring first-time buyers on ordinary incomes and hope that things
can change.”

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, commenting on the Government’s
latest Brexit policy paper on enforcement and dispute resolution, said:

“Any
final deal with the EU that protects jobs and the economy will require an
effective and robust dispute resolution mechanism. This will inevitably involve
some form of independent court.

“The
Prime Minister’s ideological insistence that there can be no future role
whatsoever for the ECJ or any similar court-like body risks preventing the deal
Britain needs. It has already held back a sensible and early agreement on
issues such as Euratom and EU citizens.

“But the
repeated reference to ending the “direct jurisdiction” of the ECJ is
potentially significant. This appears to contradict the red line laid out in
the Prime Minister’s Lancaster House speech and the government’s white paper,
which stated there could be no future role of the ECJ and that all laws will be
interpreted by judges in this country.”

Kate
Osamor MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for International
Development, commenting on the International Day for the Remembrance of the
Slave Trade and its Abolition on 23 August, said:

“Today we
remember the struggles of millions of slaves who, through everyday resistance
over decades, brought about the abolition of slavery and showed the power of
collective action.

“But there
are still 45.8 million people locked in modern slavery, including in child
slavery, trafficking and sexual exploitation. It is estimated that illegal
profits are to the tune of US$ 150 billion globally.

“Theresa
May’s government is right to make this a priority. But it must do more to
address the root causes of modern slavery, and not treat its symptoms in
isolation. Only a Labour government will bring the international
leadership and cooperation needed to tackle labour exploitation and
deregulation, combat trafficking, and raise standards on supply
chain transparency.”

“Even George Osborne recognises that the Tories’ chronic
underinvestment in transport is holding the North back. 

“It takes longer to travel by train from Liverpool to Hull
than from London to Paris, yet the government spend £1500 more per head in
London than the North. 

“Rather than addressing these disparities, the Conservatives have
abandoned the North, having just pulled the plug on
the full electrification of the TransPennine route.

“Investing in transport is essential to rebalancing the economy
and boosting growth across the country. That’s why Labour has pledged to
upgrade the rail network throughout Britain, including a £10bn commitment for
Crossrail for the North.”