Labour

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on today’s worse than expected GDP figures, which represent the weakest first half of a year since 2012, said:

“Today’s GDP figures reveal weak growth under a weak government, and expose the last seven years of Tory economic failure.

“Growth for the first half of 2017 is below expectations, and it follows continued data showing working families are being squeezed with wages not keeping up with prices.

“The truth is that the Tories’ austerity cuts have undermined working people’s living standards and weakened the UK economy.

“Only a Labour Government has a strategic plan of investment to boost growth, underpinned by our Fiscal Credibility Rule; which will help build a high wage, high skill economy that works for the many not the few.”

Sue Hayman MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, commenting on the Government’s plans to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040, said:

“We have had seven years of illegal air pollution under this Conservative Government who have only acted after being dragged through the courts.

“Despite the scale of the problem of illegal air pollution, we are presented today with further consultations and delays, a squeamish attitude to clean air zones, shunting the problem onto local authorities and no detail about how the Government’s 2040 target will be achieved. With nearly 40 million people living in areas with illegal levels of air pollution, action is needed now, not in 23 years’ time.

“This all comes after years of cuts to grants for electric vehicles and just days after the Government announced scrapping the electrification of rail lines and the introduction of diesel trains.

“A Labour Government will introduce a new Clean Air Act to drive challenging emissions reduction targets, introduce a network of clean air zones and invest in greener, integrated public transport systems for the long term.”

Justin Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, commenting on the latest NHS Workforce and Vacancies Statistics, said:

“Theresa May has overseen an unprecedented workforce crisis in the NHS. Her incompetence has left our health service with a shortage of 40,000 nurses, 3,500 midwives and 10,000 GPs.

“For years the Tories have taken NHS staff for granted and asked them to do more for less, resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis which threatens patient care on a daily basis.

“Frankly the Government’s solution of hiring expensive agency staff or asking hard-pressed existing staff to cover extra shifts is not in the best of interests of patients or medical professionals. 

“The public is under no illusions: a repeat of last winter’s crisis is simply intolerable and Theresa May must now take urgent action to secure a sustainable workforce in our NHS.”

• Labour analysis shows that the weekly cost of holiday childcare has risen by over 50 per cent across the UK;
• Greater London, the North East, and the West Midlands are the worst affected areas;
• Over the same period, official figures suggest that wages are lower in real terms than they were in May 2010 when the Conservatives took office.

Labour analysis shows that, across Britain as a whole, the average weekly cost of childcare has risen by over 50 per cent from 2010 to 2017.

In the North East, the worst affected area, the average weekly cost of childcare has more than doubled, while the West Midlands has seen an increase of 82 per cent and Greater London an increase of 73 per cent.

Over the same period, official figures suggest that average weekly earnings have fallen in real terms, leaving working families paying a greater proportion of their income to cover the cost of childcare.

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, speaking at a visit to the Wishing Well community project in Crewe, will say:

“The Tories are quite simply failing working parents, who are seeing the cost of their childcare skyrocket, their wages fall, and their Government failing to give them the support they need.

“Childcare costs have shot up since the Conservatives took office in 2010, and both wages and Government support have failed to keep pace with either the cost of childcare or the needs of families.”

Sue Hayman MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, commenting on the House of Lords EU Environment Committee report on animal welfare, said:

“Vets play a key role in ensuring the humane slaughter of animals and the proper certification of animal shipments. With EU nationals making up more than 90 per cent of slaughterhouse vets, the concerns expressed in the report today about vet numbers after Brexit should cause the Government to lay out plans for the long term recruitment and retention of vets.

“The Conservatives seem to have a problem with animal welfare and food standards, with a manifesto commitment to bring back fox hunting and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox appearing to support importing chlorine-washed chicken as part of a US-UK trade deal.

“Labour calls on the Government to secure the inclusion of high farm animal welfare standards in any trade agreements negotiated after Brexit.“