Labour

Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health, commenting on mental health announcements in Theresa May’s Speech to the Conservative Party Conference, said:

“The burning injustice that remains in mental health is that underfunding means services are failing too many people.

“An independent review of the Mental Health Act is long overdue and to be welcomed but, far from being better funded than ever before, more than a quarter of CCGs have under-spent their mental health budgets for 2016/17. 

“A Labour Government would invest more money in mental health and ring-fence budgets so that money for mental health reaches the front line rather than being siphoned off for other priorities.”

Rebecca Long- Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, responding to Theresa May’s re-announcement of an energy price cap, said:

 ‘Today, after pressure from Labour and her own backbenches, Theresa May has finally been forced to recognise that  the energy market is broken. But her response doesn’t go nearly far enough.

 “It is unclear if responsibility for action has again been passed to OfGem, with no commitment on when or how action will be taken. Yet again the country is left confused about whether the Prime Minister will honour her election promise.

 “Labour has been clear that we would introduce a clear emergency price cap whilst taking the bold measures needed to reform our broken energy market in the long run such as bringing energy back into public ownership.”

Jon Trickett MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, responding to Theresa May’s to Conservative Conference, said:

 “This was supposed to be the speech where Theresa May relaunched her flailing Premiership but it only confirmed her failure.

 “She admitted Britain faces great problems but all she has to offer are watered down versions of Labour’s ideas, reheated policies, and empty promises.

 “On housing there were warm words but nowhere near enough action, on tuition fees she talked of a “review” but failed to mention that the Tories trebled them to over £9,000 and on energy bills, she provided no clarity after months of confusion and u-turns. And there was nothing at all to deal with the crisis the Tories have created in the NHS, nor to deal with the fact that working people’s wages have flat-lined under the Tories.

  “Rather than apologising to her party, Theresa May should have taken the opportunity to apologise to the public for a record of failure for the many which has left Britain worse off.

  “Conference season has shown us that the Conservatives are yesterday’s party; Labour is setting the agenda. With bold, mainstream plans like scrapping tuition fees, building a million new homes and public ownership of the energy system, Labour is the only party who will deal with the challenges facing the country. We will build a Britain for the many not the few.”

Barry Gardiner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, responding to Liam Fox’s Conservative Party speech said:

“Today’s speechwas an opportunity for the Secretary of State to allay business and industry’s fears about the structure of our future trade relations. A serious politician would have addressed the threat to 4,000 jobs in Northern Ireland by the American decision to impose a 220 per cent tariff on Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft.

“His facile suggestion that “Free Trade in Action” will increase variety for consumers and reduce prices will ring hollow to those who fear what it could mean for British jobs, given the Conservative’s failure on Bombardier.

“Fox has had more than a year to bring forward a trade white paper that sets out a proper road map for business export and inward investment. Today would have been a sensible time to introduce some of its key ideas. Instead we got meaningless bravado from the government’s most policy-light minister.“

Kate Osamor MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, responding to Priti Patel’s speech to Conservative Party Conference, said:  

“Priti Patel’s speech was incredibly thin on substance.  

“She made no commitments to better resource and staff DFID so it can properly oversee private sector contractors or to ensure other government departments actually raise their game and fix the cross-government aid spending chaos. Priti Patel implied she will seek to change the international aid rules in October to divert Official Development Assistance meant for the world’s poorest to “British citizens in our British territories”, instead of funding the territories’ Hurricane Irma recovery from across Whitehall.  

“Labour will continue to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on overseas development assistance, and develop a targeted development agenda to tackle global inequality and poverty, to build a world that works for the many, not the few.“