Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Treasury Minister, responding to the publication by the EU of a tax haven blacklist, said:

“It is disappointing to see UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies mentioned as ‘on notice’ from the EU in its tax haven blacklist. The British Government said back in April that it would require Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to produce registers of beneficial ownership which would be accessible to HMRC.

“Although some have complied, others have not. Just as the UK’s own beneficial ownership register has been criticised for apparently missing some companies which it should include, this is a case of faulty implementation by the British Government and a lack of political will to stop tax dodging.

“The British Government has not earned itself many allies by trying to protect certain jurisdictions during this process. They have also consistently blocked European-wide initiatives for a public register of the beneficial ownership of offshore trusts.

"Ultimately it is in the interests of everyone to have more tax transparency and action against money laundering and aggressive tax avoidance.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Health Select Committee’s first evidence session into Brexit, said:

“The Prime Minister must urgently heed this dire warning at the Health Select Committee. It is critically important that patients’ access to crucial drugs is not restricted in any way once we leave the European Union.

“Earlier today at the Britain Against Cancer Conference, I warned of the significant unresolved questions the Government must answer regarding our future access to radioactive isotopes, as well as our future relationship with EU clinical trials regulation.

“Theresa May must also immediately safeguard the future of EU workers here in Britain and stop treating them as bargaining chips in her reckless Brexit negotiations. Failure to do so risks exacerbating the already dire crisis in our health and care system.”

Debbie
Abrahams MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary responding to
the Government’s climb down on the Universal Credit papers, said:

“Following Labour pressure, the
Government has finally backed down and made a clear commitment to hand over the
Universal Credit reports.

“This should give greater insight into
the scale of their implementation and design failures during the mismanagement
of the programme and must be published unredacted and unedited.

“Too many families have been pushed into
poverty by the Tories’ disastrous mishandling of Universal Credit’s roll out
and it is only set to get worse, with thousands facing a miserable Christmas.

“It is time we knew the true extent of
the Government’s failures with Universal Credit in order to fix the multitude
of problems.

“Labour will transform Universal Credit
to ensure it reduces child poverty and always makes work pay.”  

Diane
Abbott MP,
Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to the publication of David
Anderson QC’s report, said:

“This is
an extremely valuable report from David Anderson QC. As always, our thoughts
are with the families of the bereaved and survivors of these attacks.

“While we
know nine of fifteen plots were prevented, one of the worrying aspects of the
report is how many of the terrorists were known to the security services and
had been monitored by them. It is possible that more of these may have been
preventable. 

“MI5 and
Counter-Terrorism police have already identified improved neighbourhood
policing as a key part of their prevention strategy. The Government needs
to accept that. But they have cut police numbers and police weren’t even
mentioned in the Budget. The report also says that, after an increase in
Counter-Terrorism spending, grant allocations will be cut over the next three
years.

“Labour
will restore 10,000 police, who will be focused on community policing. We will
review the resources of the security services to focus on preventing
terrorism here in the UK. You can’t provide security on the cheap. Labour will
respond appropriately.”

Andrew Gwynne MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, commenting on reports that council
workers have been offered a two-year pay deal, said:

“Labour leaders in Local
Government have worked tirelessly to urge the Government to scrap the 1 per
cent pay cap and provide funding to give public sector workers the pay rise
they deserve.

“Local government workers provide
an important and essential service to the public, but for years they have seen
their pay held back by this Government in the name of austerity.

“Given the Tories’ harsh cuts to
local authority budgets, it is vital that additional funding is provided to
back up this pledge, to avoid simply placing extra burden on already
over-strained budgets.”