Debbie
Abrahams MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, commented on the
Prime Minister’s refusal to back Labour’s call for a pause to Universal Credit
on Marr saying;

“More
empty words will do nothing for those being pushed into poverty by the Government’s
flagship social security programme.

“The six
week wait for payment of Universal Credit is a punitive policy introduced by
this Government, it can be changed.

“I wrote
to the Secretary of State calling for a pause to Universal Credit roll out
weeks ago, and yet nothing has been done.

“Months
have passed since Mrs May claimed she would help those struggling to get by. We
are yet to see anything that amounts to action to support the 13 million people
living in poverty in the UK.”

John
Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to the Tories’
announcement to extend the Help to Buy scheme, said:

“This
is yet another policy from the Tories that will only help the few, not the
many. 

"Britain
is suffering from a housing crisis, with home ownership at a 30-year low and
900,000 fewer under 45s now owning a home since 2010.

"Young
people held back by a broken housing market don’t need Theresa May’s gimmicks
but the mass building programme of genuinely affordable homes to rent
and buy that Labour put forward in our manifesto.”

Angela
Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, responding to the Tories’
announcement on freezing tuition fees, said:

“The fact
Theresa May thinks she can win over young people by pledging to freeze tuition
fees only weeks after increasing them to £9,250 shows just how out of touch she
is.

“Another
commission to look at tuition fees is a desperate attempt by the Tories to kick
the issue into the long grass because they have no plans for young people and
no ideas for our country. They are yesterday’s party.

“The next
Labour government will scrap tuition fees entirely and introduce a National
Education Service for lifelong learning for the many not the few. “

Sue
Hayman MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, commenting
on the announcement that the government intends to bring forward legislation to
increase maximum sentencing for animal cruelty cases, said:

“I am
pleased that the Government has decided to follow Labour’s manifesto commitment
to increase maximum sentencing for the worst cases of animal cruelty.

“We know
that judges have complained for some time that they want to hand down tougher
sentences to those guilty of abusing animals. The current six-month maximum
sentence is simply inadequate for the severity of some of these terrible
crimes.

“While
this is a step in the right direction from this Conservative government, they still
have a long way to go to prove their credibility on animal welfare following
Theresa May’s declared support for fox hunting and their recent shocking and
poorly regulated roll out of the badger cull.

“We will
be monitoring the Government closely to make sure they implement this
policy having previously announced and failed to deliver on a ban on ivory
trading and wild animals in circuses.”

Returning
from a day of talks in Northern Ireland with Union leaders, management and
politicians about the Bombardier/Boeing tariff crisis, Barry Gardiner MP,
Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, said:

“The
government must wake up to the fact that this is a major crisis for Northern
Ireland. Bombardier represents 40 per cent of all the GDP produced by the
private sector in Northern Ireland; these 4,000 jobs are the economic bedrock
for so many families and communities. Yet the company is now facing a
calculated and cynical attempt from Boeing to eliminate a competitor.

“Today
it was made abundantly clear that for months civil servants and politicians in
Northern Ireland were explaining their case to Tory ministers too pre-occupied
with a post Brexit U.S. trade deal to listen, and who chose to swallow the
American line that Bombardier were at fault and that Boeing were willing to
negotiate when they clearly were not.

"Theresa
May’s government must now summon Boeing’s Global Chief, Dennis Muilenburg, to
an urgent summit and seek a meeting with the US government to get sensible
negotiations back on track and this vicious and baseless case taken off the
table.”