Peter Dowd MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commented on the publication of the draft Finance Bill 2019-20 saying;

“This Bill does nothing to end austerity or meet the challenges of our climate emergency.”

“It is a dribs and drabs Bill from the dregs of a Tory government.”

“The country cannot continue to suffer this chronic inaction.”

“The only way out of this impasse is a general election, followed by a Labour government.”

John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor, commenting on the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report released today, said:

“The Bank of England has spelled out that crashing out of the EU,
with no care and no deal, would cause real damage to households and
businesses.

“No responsible politician, genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of
families and communities, would advocate a no-deal Brexit given these
known consequences.”

Valerie Vaz MP, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons,
responding to the publication of The Bullying and Harassment of Members
of Parliament Staff report led by Gemma White QC, said:

“There is no place for sexual harassment or bullying in any
workplace. The accounts it contains are shocking and totally
unacceptable.

“The House of Commons has introduced an independent complaints
process to deal with cases of bullying and sexual harassment under the
supervision of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Labour has
supported the scheme being accessible to those with historic complaints
as well as those no longer working in Parliament.

“It is clear that more must be done to ensure that the culture of
Parliament is one where those with complaints feel supported and able to
challenge those in a position of power and authority.

“There is also a clear role for political parties which do not
directly employ Members of Parliament’s staff, but have a pastoral care
role. That is why in 2014 Labour MPs changed their standing orders to
allow staff to bring cases through the Parliamentary Labour Party as
well as being able to access the party’s complaints procedure.

“Labour thanks Gemma White QC for her report and will look seriously
at the detail of the recommendations. We will continue to work on a
cross-party basis to make parliament a modern workplace with zero
tolerance of any form of bullying or harassment.

“Labour calls on the government to ensure the necessary time in the
House of Commons to debate and implement changes to the independent
complaints process before the summer recess.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, responding to the latest NHS performance data, said:

“While the Health Secretary plays Tory leadership games, patients continue to suffer deteriorating care.

“Patients will find it staggering that this summer A&E
performance so far has actually been worse than it was in the run up to
Christmas and those stranded on trolleys in overcrowded hospitals is up
376% compared to last June.

“What’s more, the waiting list for treatment is at a record high with
patients waiting longer in pain and distress for treatment.

“This is an NHS in a year round crisis thanks to years of cutbacks
and understaffing. The Health Secretary must park his obsession with
gimmicks, gizmos and gadgets and get a grip of the plummeting standards
of patient care happening on his watch.”

Marsha de Cordova MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabled People, commenting on the announced review of social security for the terminally ill, said:

“It is welcome the Tories are finally acknowledging that their
‘six-month rule’ is cruel, arbitrary and outdated, but we do not need a
review to know it should be scrapped. The longer the government delays,
the more needless suffering and anxiety is inflicted on ill and disabled
people with terminal illnesses.

“Shamefully, between 2013 and 2018, 17,000 terminally ill people died
while waiting for a decision on their Personal Independence Payment
claims. This means people spent their last days  waiting for the outcome
of a cruel assessment without the financial support they needed.

“The government must now adopt a definition of terminal illness based
on sound clinical judgements and scrap all unnecessary assessments for
terminally ill people.”