John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on today’s analysis from the
Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) that shows real wages will be no higher in
2022 than they were in 2007, said:

“This
lost decade for living standards is a damning indictment of seven years of Tory
economic failure.

“Philip
Hammond attempted to present his failing and unfair Budget yesterday as a piece
of good news for the self-employed. Today’s analysis shows that the reality for
low income self-employed people is that changes to the tax and benefit system
will leave them worse off. In the words of the IFS, National Insurance changes
yesterday “are very small by comparison”.

“What
we saw yesterday was more failure and more unfairness. After a decade of no
real wage growth on top of Tory changes to the tax and benefit system, working
people are worse off and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

“Only Labour will take the action needed
to end the Tories’ economic failure and introduce a Real Living Wage of £10 an
hour by 2020.“

Despite
promising a mandatory ‘two strikes and you’re out’ minimum six-month prison
sentence for carrying a knife, new figures from Ministry of Justice reveal that
more than 2,000 people with one or more convictions for knife possession
escaped an automatic prison sentence.

In
response, Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon, said:

“The
Tories are letting down the victims of crime by making promises they know they
cannot keep.

“Knife
crime is on the rise and the public want to be confident that people carrying
knives face tough sentences.

“Ministers
promised ‘two-strikes-and-you’re-out’ for knife possession, but a third of
adult repeat offenders are still not being sent to prison.

“Rather
than warm words and empty promises, the Tories need to make sure those who
carry these weapons are properly punished.”

Debbie
Abrahams MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on
the Social Security and Child Support tribunal statistics, said:

“These
statistics show that two thirds of contested PIP and ESA assessment decisions
are being overturned by the courts, demonstrating the total failure of the
Tories’ punitive social security regime.

“This
follows the news last week that the Government is ignoring a court ruling and
denying 160,000 disabled people the support they need.

 “We
cannot allow disabled people to bear the brunt of failing Tory austerity.
Labour will transform the social security system to ensure that, like the NHS,
it is there for us all in our time of need.”

House of Commons analysis commissioned by Labour has revealed that as of the Chancellor’s budget yesterday, women continue to be hit six times harder than men by government policies.

Sarah Champion MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, said:

“Yesterday the Prime Minister and Chancellor talked up the significance of International Women’s Day yet their warm words have amounted to nothing.

“Calls for a budget that works for women have been ignored.

“Women are still bearing the brunt of this Tory Government’s failed austerity agenda – with the 86 per cent impact figure on women remaining unchanged since last year. Things are just as bad as ever for women under this Tory Government.

“Labour calls on the Government to urgently publish analysis of the true impact of their budgets and spending announcements on women and to explain how they intend to reverse this disproportionate impact.

Under a Labour Government, all economic policies will be gender audited to ensure that we have an economy that works for all.”

Teresa Pearce, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, in response to the release of FOI letters by Surrey County Council, said:

“Despite Theresa May’s claims to the contrary, this is more evidence of the Tories secret deal with the leadership of Surrey County Council.

“There is a huge crisis in social care which todays budget won’t fix. What we need from the Tories is a long term sustainable plan, rather than sweetheart deals for Tories councils.

“Theresa May needs to come clean. We need full disclosure of the terms of the deal and reassurance that all councils will be treated the same way not just the lucky few the Tories favour.”