Labour

Barry Gardiner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, commenting on the revelation that the Department for International Trade has signed agreements with the United States government which seek to block transparency in UK-US trade talks, said:

“These released letters show that Liam Fox’s promises to provide maximum transparency are empty words devoid of any meaning.

“He promises the country that a future trade deal with the US will not allow reductions in our standards yet at the same time he promises the Americans that documents pertaining to such a deal will be confidential, even where the guidelines for the US-UK trade working group do not require such confidentiality.

“What is the Secretary of State trying to hide from the public?

“The threat of deregulation in the context of a trade deal with the US is a very real one as we saw with the chlorine-washed chicken scandal. Labour is calling for transparency and enhanced parliamentary scrutiny of any future trade deals. Trade agreements are not just about tariffs and barriers to trade, they are about the standards, rules and regulation that determine what kind of society we live in.”

Ends

The letters are available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/arrangement-for-exchanging-information-during-the-uk-us-trade-and-investment-working-group  

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, responding to the publication of the European Commission’s guidelines on the next phase of the Brexit negotiations, said:

“The immediate priority for the Brexit talks must be to secure sensible transitional arrangements that will protect jobs and the economy.

“Labour has been clear that it would seek a time-limited transitional deal that maintains the same basic terms that we currently enjoy with the EU. That means we would seek to remain in a customs union with the EU and within the single market during this period. It means we would abide by the common rules of both.

“The Government must now follow Labour and the EU and set out its own proposals. Theresa May cannot allow herself to be wrong footed again by refusing to set out in detail the terms of the transitional deal she wants to reach. Businesses need certainty and stability from the Government, not more confusion and chaos.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on the IMF’s report out today, said:

“The IMF has today played the role of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future to remind the Chancellor that the last seven years of Tory economic failure is undermining our economy.

“They confirmed the downbeat assessment last month by the OBR, highlighting low growth, the Government’s productivity failure and neglect of the regions. The report also confirmed what we all know, that Conservative governments are good at cutting public services to give tax cuts to a wealthy few, but hopeless at investing in the skills and infrastructure our country needs to develop an economy for the many.

“As the IMF rightly points out, despite strong global growth, UK economic growth is revised down, and business growth is down despite Tory tax giveaways to big business; while working households this Christmas are struggling with rising prices and lagging wages.

“In addition, this report can be seen as further proof that the Tories have completely lost the economic argument. Austerity has failed and will only continue to undermine our economy during the Brexit negotiations.

“The next Labour government will end austerity and provide the proper investment our country needs, underpinned by our Fiscal Credibility Rule, to build a high wage, high skill economy for the many not the few.”

Today, Minister for Children and Families, Robert Goodwill bowed to campaigning pressure and committed to including foster children in the 30 hours offer from September 2018. 

Labour MP Tracy Brabin has been campaigning against the unfair exclusion of foster children from the flagship government policy. 

Tracy Brabin, Shadow Early Years Minister, commenting on the policy concession, said:

“The exclusion of foster children from the 30 hours policy was clearly cruel and wrong to everyone apart from Conservative Ministers. 

“I’m glad those Ministers have adopted Labour’s position and committed to include foster children from next year. It’s clear they wouldn’t have taken this step if it wasn’t for the pressure they faced from us, from foster parents, and from all others who cared about righting this wrong.

“Foster children are some of the most vulnerable in our society and it’ll be welcome news to foster carers that they’ll now have the same right to access funded childcare as their peers.”

Peter Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury responding to the Government voting down Labour’s amendments to the Finance Bill:

“This Conservative Government has once again demonstrated that it favours tax dodgers over tax payers, bankers over single mothers and large multinationals over public sector workers.

“This evening’s votes saw the Government block Labour’s amendments which would have required the Minister to publish an equalities impact assessment on all economic policies and forced ministers to review the tax gap.

“The next Labour Government is committed to ensuring that all our policies have equality impact assessments, and we will implement thorough measures to crack down on tax dodging under our Tax Transparency and Enforcement Programme. Unlike the Conservatives, we will create a country and an economy that works for the many and not just a privileged few.”