“Today
many businesses across the country will see their business rates increase
substantially. For some firms, it will seriously threaten their viability and
continued existence. However, today it also transpires that the Government’s
inadequate measures to mitigate these effects are not even in place to help
businesses. The support fund the Government promised is reportedly not even up
and running and nor is the Government clear on how it will work.

 “The
Government’s botched business rate revaluation has created a huge and
destabilising burden for many businesses. Prior to the budget Labour announced
its Five Point Plan for business rates, which promised to set up an Emergency
Relief Fund, undo Tory restrictions on the appeals process, bring forward the
shift from RPI to CPI indexation, and remove most categories of new plant and
machinery from valuations, as well as a fundamental rethink of business rates
in the longer term. Today the Government must rise to Labour’s challenge by
taking action to defuse the ticking time bomb of business rates and bringing
forward additional transitional relief for small and medium sized firms.”

“It
appears the Justice Secretary is more concerned with grabbing headlines than
sorting out the crisis in prisons her government created.

 “It’s
no wonder ministers refused to answer questions from Labour about exactly how
many officers at each prison would benefit and by how much. They should do so
now.

 “The
Conservatives are playing politics with prison officers’ livelihoods. They
deserve a decent wage and a fair deal. The Justice Secretary must apologise
immediately.”

Richard
Burden MP, Labour’s Shadow Aviation Minister, commenting on the recent near-miss between a passenger plane and a
drone as it approached Heathrow Airport, said:

“Today’s
incident underlines why Ministers must get a move on. There were 70 reported
near-misses last year and the British Airline Pilots Association believe that
the real number is likely to be even higher.

“Last
year Labour urged the Government to take action this time last year but
Ministers have been far too slow to act. By now they should be further towards
making decisions on whether the UK should follow other countries by
establishing a compulsory registration scheme and getting systematic
geo-fencing in place to physically stop drones getting near airports and other
places where they are a danger. 

“Labour’s
approach – highlighted by our amendment to the Government’s Vehicle Technology
and Aviation Bill this month – is to get a strategy in place to both ensure
safety, and protect  innovation and the responsible use of drones, linking
in with initiatives expected to come out of the European Aviation and
Safety Agency shortly.”

John
McDonnell MP Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to news of Google’s tax bill
only amounting to just £36.4 million, said:

“This
revelation only further proves that Philip Hammond and Theresa May are more
interested in cutting Google’s taxes, than making sure they are paying their
fair share.

“It
seems that the so called “successful” tax deal with Google that George Osborne
boasted about last year has meant that they are still not paying their fair
share under his successor Philip Hammond. We urgently need clarity on HMRC’s
relationship with Google and what reassurances have been provided to the
company.

“It
is a national disgrace that by paying just £36 million in tax Google could have
an effective tax rate lower than many working families in our country. And it
exposes the complacency at the heart of this Tory Government, which is
allowing this to still continue despite last year’s scandal.

“It’s
time that the Tories got a grip of big corporations not paying their way,
instead of going ahead with £70 billion in tax giveaways to big business and
the super-rich, while cutting in-work benefits for the low paid, and
threatening to turn our country into a tax haven.

“The
truth is that the Tories have no interest in standing up for working people,
only Labour with our Tax Transparency and Enforcement Programme will bring in
full, public, country-by-country reporting.

Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, commenting on the European Council’s draft
negotiating guidelines, said:

“It’s
welcome that Donald Tusk has softened the EU’s opposition to talks on trade
taking place before the terms of withdrawal are agreed.

“Both
sides must be realistic about the scale of the task ahead and the common need
to avoid ending up without agreement. Securing a good deal for Britain’s future
must be the Government’s priority and we must be realistic about the need for
transitional arrangements.

“The
European Council President has reiterated the need for a ‘close
partnership’ in the future and it is essential to achieve that. But the Prime
Minister’s comments about trading off security cooperation and failing to
guarantee the rights of EU citizens are not a good start.

“It’s
unhelpful for either side to speculate over the scale of any payments.
There are obligations on both sides, which must be fairly settled.

“Labour
is clear that we must fight for a deal which prioritises jobs, the economy and
workers’ rights. And the Government must guarantee that dumping of regulations
covering environmental protections, social and employment rights will not
happen. People didn’t vote to live in a low wage tax haven which undercuts our
neighbours on standards and protections.”

Ends