Labour

Emily Thornberry MP, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, responding to the High Court’s ruling that UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are legal, said:

“This is a frustrating setback, but that is all it is. It will not for one second stop us fighting for justice on behalf of the thousands of civilians killed by Saudi air-strikes, and working for peace on behalf of the millions of ordinary Yemenis currently living in fear of violence, famine and cholera.

“In particular, we must first redouble our efforts to force the UK Government to support an independent, UN-led investigation into alleged violations of international humanitarian law by the Saudi coalition, one the Government will not be able to circumvent through the presentation of secret evidence in closed sessions of court.

“And second, we must continue to demand that the Government brings forward the peace plan that the UN has been waiting for Britain to present for the last nine months, and does not treat today’s judgement as a green light to continue pushing for a military solution which can only bring more death, misery and hardship to the people of Yemen.”

Rebecca Long Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, commenting on today’s findings that the Government’s industrial strategy targets only 10 percent of manufacturing and 1 per cent of the whole economy and widens regional divides, said,

‘’The Government’s industrial strategy is simply not ambitious enough, focussing on an extremely narrow section of the UK, both economically and geographically, and contains no commitment to the levels of investment necessary to transform the economy.

“Labour’s industrial strategy has real teeth, backed up by our £250 billion National Transformation Fund, the National Investment Bank and a network of Regional Development Banks. It will be wide-reaching, centred around three pillars: national missions to address the societal issues of our time, cross-cutting policies to create a fertile ground for business activity and collaboration at a sector level for both established and potential industries.

“Only Labour has a modern, ambitious and achievable industrial strategy to rebuild and transform the economy in every region of the UK for the many not the few.’’

Commenting on new figures released by the Ministry of Justice showing 225 kg of drugs were recovered across the prison estate in England and Wales in 2016, Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon said:

“It’s clear that we have a crisis in our prisons system, with drugs use and violence continuing to be all too common.

“The Chief Inspector of Prisons recently said that our prisons are dangerous for prisoners and staff alike and are failing in their duty to rehabilitate and reform prisoners.

“These new drugs figures are yet another example of how drastic Tory cuts to prison budgets and staff numbers are driving this prisons crisis.

“Labour would begin to solve this by recruiting 3,000 new prisons officers and improving staff retention by improving terms and conditions for prison officers”

Ends

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on the Citizen’s Advice Bureau report on Universal Credit said:

“The Government must address the chaos engulfing Universal Credit. It must pause the programme to tackle the serious design flaws in UC at the same time as addressing its chaotic mismanagement.”

“The Government’s cuts to Universal Credit means that on top of the design and delivery issues, it fails to make work pay, compounding people’s ability to make ends meet. In spite of this Government’s warm words about making Britain fairer, their tax and spending choices have done the opposite.”

“Labour will invest to reform Universal Credit, under our plans to create a social security system that, like the NHS, is there for us all in our time of need.”

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, commenting on the CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn’s speech on Brexit said:

“Today’s speech from the CBI underlines what Labour has been saying for months: that Theresa May’s Brexit strategy risks a cliff-edge for the economy and is a threat to jobs and investment.

“Labour agree that we need an early commitment to ensure strong transitional arrangements, and that these should be on similar terms to those we currently enjoy. Without that commitment, and without a bridge to new trading arrangements with the EU, there will be growing uncertainty for businesses and investment decisions will be delayed.

“Labour are clear that jobs and the economy must come first in the Brexit negotiations. It is time the Prime Minister and the Brexit Secretary listened to the growing concerns from businesses and the Treasury and changed their reckless approach.”