Tom
Watson MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport, responding
to the Government’s review into gambling stakes and prizes and social
responsibility measures, said:

 “This
response from the Government is deeply disappointing. 

 “Ministers
have squandered a real opportunity to curb highly addictive Fixed Odds Betting
Terminals, which can cause real harm to individuals, their families and local
communities. After months of delays they’ve simply decided to have another
consultation.

 “And
instead of taking firm measures on the proliferation of gambling advertising,
on TV and online, the Government have again been found wanting. 

 “Britain
is suffering from a hidden epidemic of gambling addiction. The measures
announced today will do very little for those suffering from gambling addiction
and for the millions, including hundreds of thousands of children, who are at
risk of developing an addiction.

 “Labour
is committed to reducing the maximum stake for FOBTs to £2 a spin and will ban
gambling company advertising on football shirts.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s
Shadow Health Secretary, responding
to the Health Foundation’s warning that NHS workforce planning is ‘not fit for
purpose’, said:

“Theresa May has overseen an
unprecedented workforce crisis in the NHS. This latest warning is the
culmination of an incompetent strategy, which has left our health service with
a shortage of 40,000 nurses, 3,500 midwives and 10,000 GPs.

“For years the Tories have taken
NHS staff for granted and asked them to do more for less, resulting in a
recruitment and retention crisis which threatens patient care on a daily basis.
Evidently the Government’s hope of recruiting 2,000 extra foreign GPs by 2020
looks thoroughly unlikely.

“The public is under no illusions:
a repeat of last winter is entirely intolerable. In next month’s Budget the
Government must take urgent action to secure a sustainable workforce in our NHS
in years to come.”

John McDonnell MP,
Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on analysis published today by the IFS on the public
finances ahead of the Budget, said:

“The IFS have today
confirmed seven years of Tory austerity policies have failed to drive up
investment and productivity, with serious potential consequences for the public
finances. Tory economic failure means wages and salaries are lower today than
when they came to power, and still falling, whilst their mishandling of Brexit
is now also adding to the uncertainty around future borrowing plans.

“Instead of dragging
millions of ordinary people through the endless misery of Tory spending cuts,
the Chancellor now needs to make a decisive break with past Tory failure and
end austerity. If he cannot, Labour stands ready to govern, end the appalling failure
of Tory austerity and build an economy that works for the many, not the few.”

Barbara Keeley
MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health, commenting on
the Government’s record on Mental Health, following Jeremy Hunt’s appearance on
the Andrew Marr show, said:

“Jeremy Hunt’s
remarks bear no resemblance to the reality of our mental health services; the
Tory Government’s record on mental health has been dismal. 

“Mental
health nurse numbers have fallen, more than a quarter of CCGs underspent their
mental health budgets for 2016/17 and some children are waiting as long as
eighteen months to be treated.

“The
Tories will not be taken seriously on mental health unless they invest more in
services and ring-fence budgets, as Labour pledged to do at the General
Election.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to reports that PRO companies have paid little or no tax, said:

“It has been clear for some time that PFI is an inefficient and opaque system for delivering public services. PFI companies are profiting at the expense of our public services: if they are also avoiding their tax while doing so, the Government must immediately take action to end this scandal by banning shares in PFI companies being bought up by corporations based in tax havens.

“Labour under Jeremy Corbyn will end the PFI racket, bringing existing contracts back in-house, and delivering more money into our public services more accountably, transparently and efficiently.”