Labour

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on news that three more trusts have been put into financial special measures by NHS Improvement, said:

“The Government’s inept mismanagement of the NHS is pushing hospital finances to the brink. NHS Providers have already warned this week that delivering services within the current financial settlement is “mission impossible”. The news today that another three hospital trusts have been forced into financial special measures just illustrates the deepening financial challenge facing the health service.

“Theresa May can’t keep on forcing hospitals to choose between balancing the books and providing safe patient care. By underfunding the NHS for so long, the Prime Minister is putting patients at risk. The Government needs to set out a long-term, sustainable financial settlement for the NHS which allows hospitals to provide the top quality health services which Britain’s patients expect.”

Justin Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, commenting on new figures which show that hospitals have flouted caps on locum pay, said:

“The astonishing amounts paid by the NHS for locum doctors is yet another example of the woeful workforce planning by the Conservative Government. There isn’t just a shortage of permanent medical staff, there’s now a shortage of available locums to plug the gaps.

“Patients want to know that taxpayers’ money is being spent on patient care, not padding out the profits of employment agencies. Jeremy Hunt needs to explain what he’s going to do to deliver a long term, sustainable workforce plan for the NHS.”

Pat Glass MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister,  responding to the National Audit Office (NAO) report into the Government’s Road Investment Strategy, said:

“This report shows that the Government has made a huge error of judgment. The Road Investment Strategy was rushed out by George Osborne and David Cameron as a gimmick for the 2015 election. It was insufficiently planned, poorly thought out and unrealistically costed.

“This has raised expectations with motorists and businesses that Labour warned at the time could not be met and it is clear that the Department for Transport has questions to answer.

“The Government needs to seriously reconsider their plans, so that these crucial infrastructure projects are delivered on time and in budget.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on the revelations by Equality Trust that the average FTSE chief executive earns 386 times more than a worker on the national living wage, said:

“These shocking figures show that after seven years of Tory failure on the economy, it’s the super-rich who’ve gained at the expense of the rest of us.

“It also exposes the Tories’ rigged economy, where despite real earnings still being lower than before the crash and public services like the NHS experiencing their worst-ever crisis, they are handing out £70 billion in tax giveaways to the super-rich and big corporations. At the same time the Tories are cutting in-work benefits to the low paid.

“Only Labour will deliver a fair economy that doesn’t hold people back by introducing a £10 an hour Real Living Wage, a fairer taxation system, and by tackling excessive boardroom pay with fairer distributions of rewards within companies.”

Richard Burgon MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, commenting on the Tory Government’s plans to build four new prisons, said

“We need modern prisons fit for the modern age. But simply replacing one prison with another prison doesn’t deal with the overcrowding crisis. No amount of press releases can distract from that.”