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.”