Labour

Tom Watson MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, commenting on Google’s record fine for its shopping service, said:

“This ruling has been a long time coming and is a vindication of long running concerns about Google’s anti-competitive, unfair practices.

“When a company wields such power that it is effectively the gateway to the internet, it is the duty of regulators and lawmakers to verify that power is being exercised fairly. This ruling makes clear that Google shopping has not been operating fairly and could open the door to other investigations of similar examples of market distortion by the company.  

“This ruling rights an unfair wrong, making this a good day for fair competition and consumers.”

Ends

Notes

·         Today the European Commission has handed Google a record fine of 2.42bn euros ($2.7bn; £2.1bn) after it ruled the company had abused its power by promoting its own shopping comparison service at the top of search results.

·         Google’s unfair advantage has been a source of long running concern with Tom Watson writing about the issue in 2013 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/14/google-competition-searching-solution

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on the Prime Minister’s decision to drop her manifesto commitment to ending the ‘triple lock’ on state pensions and cutting the Winter Fuel Payment from ten million pensioners, said:

“We welcome that the Prime Minister has been forced to drop these punitive austerity measures, which would have hit the living standards of millions of older people.

“This marks another decisive blow against this Government’s failing austerity agenda, which was not supported at the general election.

“After refusing to last week, the Work and Pensions Secretary must now rule out any future threat to the ‘triple lock’.

“This Conservative chaos and confusion shows that only Labour can be trusted to guarantee older people a secure and dignified retirement.”

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, commenting on the Tory-DUP deal, said:

“The price of Theresa May’s political weakness is now becoming clear. The same Conservative Party which spent the recent election campaign saying there was no money available for the crisis in the NHS and schools has now found at least £1 billion to buy a Parliamentary majority, with some reports suggesting it could be as much as £2bn.

“As this is additional spending beyond that laid out in the Spring Budget, the Chancellor must now come forward with an explanation as to how it will be funded. In the context of a forecast increase in Government borrowing this year, the public must be told whether this additional spend will be funded through spending cuts elsewhere, additional tax rises or more borrowing.

“There are also important questions to be answered about the implementation and fiscal consequences of devolving corporation tax, VAT and Air Passenger Duty, as well as what this could mean for other devolved administrations.

“Let’s call this grubby deal what it is: this is a straightforward political bribe to desperately prop up Theresa May in office.

“This Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in May’s party’s interest to help her cling to power.”

Owen Smith MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, commenting on the release of the Tory DUP Deal, said:

“Labour argued at the election just a few weeks ago that public services require extra funding across the UK, so I welcome the announcement today that additional funding has now been found for Northern Ireland.

“However, the deal between the Tories and the DUP throws up all manner of questions, not least whether more money can now also be found for schools, hospitals, social care and emergency services in desperate need of cash in England, Scotland and Wales.

“Most important of all, does this deal help or hinder the process of restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland? Already, it is clear that other parties in Northern Ireland consider the deal to compromise the ability of the British Government to be truly impartial as stipulated under the Good Friday Agreement.“

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, responding to the Conservative-DUP deal, said:

“Austerity has failed. Cuts to vital public services must be halted right across the UK, not just in Northern Ireland.

“The Government must immediately answer two questions. Where is the money for the Tory-DUP deal coming from? And, will all parts of the UK receive the much needed additional funding that Northern Ireland will get as part of the deal?

“This Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in May’s party’s interest to help her cling to power.”