Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Labour Party on 10 October 2023.

Keir Starmer will today launch Labour’s Community Policing Guarantee to make streets safe again.

Announcing the five-point plan in his speech to Labour Party Conference, the Labour leader will pledge guaranteed town centre patrols through 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the streets.

The Community Policing Guarantee also includes new commitments to ensure local people are involved in setting local policing priorities, tough new sentencing for assaults on retail workers, tougher police action on shoplifting and stronger powers for local councils, police and courts to introduce zero tolerance zones in town centres to stop antisocial behaviour.

In his speech, Keir Starmer is expected to “call time on wasteful police procurement” which funds Labour’s plan for new officers and say that Labour’s community policing guarantee will deliver “more police in your town, fighting anti-social behaviour, taking back our streets.”

This comes as research shows 50 per cent of the public say they never see an officer on the beat – up from 27 per cent when Labour left office in 2010. Criminal damage affecting town centres is up nearly 20 per cent on pre-pandemic levels, and more than 20 million people have personally experienced or witnessed ASB in the last 12 months.

Labour’s Community Policing Guarantee

Labour will put police back in your town centres and neighbourhoods to make streets safe again, with increased patrols and 13,000 more neighbourhood police & PCSOs on the streets.

1. Police on the beat again

We’ll bring back proper neighbourhood policing by ensuring every part of the country has more local officers and PCSOs, and guaranteed town centre patrols with tougher powers. We’ll give every community a named officer they can get in touch with, so policing gets back to what it’s supposed to do.

2. Zero tolerance of antisocial behaviour

Getting tough with those who blight our towns, with new powers to ban repeat offenders from town centres and stamp out public drinking and drug use. Every local area will have a dedicated lead focused specifically on tackling anti-social behaviour.

3. A crackdown on shoplifting and violence 
We’ll reverse the Tories’ decision to downgrade the response to shoplifting under £200, making it easier to take action against repeat offenders and ending the farce of offending impunity, and creating a new specific offence of assault against retail workers.

4. Put communities back at the heart of policing

We will give local people and businesses a say in how their local area and town centre is policed, ensuring the police work with them on deciding priorities.

5. Make community policing something to be proud of

We will ensure that the path to career progression in policing is through getting to know your community – and ensure all neighbourhood officers are properly trained to be problem-solvers, not just recorders of crime. We will also work with the College of Policing and police chiefs to ensure neighbourhood policing has access to cutting edge technology and methods, including data analytics and hotspot policing.

The press release issued by the Labour Party on 9 October 2023.

Keir Starmer will today promise to get Britain its future back, saying that his five missions will usher in a decade of national renewal “totally focused on the interests of working people.”

The Labour leader will draw a contrast between his plan and the last 13 years of Tory rule, saying that with his leadership Labour will “turn our backs on never-ending Tory decline with a decade of national renewal” and give the British people the “government they deserve.”

The speech will answer the question ‘why Labour?’, explaining how economic growth, safer streets, cheaper homegrown British power, better opportunities, and a rejuvenated NHS will get Britain its future back.

Starmer will warn that the path back from 13 years of Tory decline will be hard. But he will speak with optimism and hope about Britain’s future, saying: “What is broken can be repaired, what is ruined can be rebuilt.”

He will promise that Labour will “get Britain building”, unleashing a “big build” that ensures “the winner this time will be working people, everywhere.” He will contrast this with Rishi Sunak going to Manchester last week to scrap Manchester’s train line and the failure of successive Tory governments to plan for Britain’s future.

He will also commit to fighting the next election on economic growth, saying: “An economy that works for the whole country, will require an entirely new approach to politics: mission government, ending the Tory disease of ‘sticking plaster politics’ with a simple Labour philosophy that together we fix tomorrow’s challenges, today.”

The focus on growth, building and national renewal stands in marked contrast not just to the Tories but to the way Labour has talked in the past. Starmer will tell party conference that the sweeping changes made to the Labour Party under his leadership mean it is, “a changed Labour Party, no longer in thrall to gesture politics, no longer a party of protest… Those days are done. We will never go back.” Instead, he will say, Labour is now, “a party of service… country first, party second.”

The Labour leader will also talk about the importance of the Union, saying that the result in Rutherglen has proven that Labour is the party that can unite all the nations of Britain, “reigniting the flame” to “face a modern age of insecurity” together.

Starmer will say: “There’s nothing more important. The Scottish people are not just looking at us, they’re also looking at Britain. For the first time in a long time we can see a tide that is turning. Four nations that are renewing. Old wounds of division – exploited by the Tories and the SNP – beginning to heal. Let the message from Rutherglen ring out across Britain: Labour serves working people in Scotland because Labour serves working people across all these islands.”

Speaking about how the cost-of-living crisis has impacted families across the country, Starmer will say that “we should never forget that politics should tread lightly on peoples’ lives, that our job is to shoulder the burden for working people – carry the load, not add to it.”

He will say that the test of success will be giving working people their futures back by making their lives easier, freer and more secure: “We have to be a government that takes care of the big questions so working people have the freedom to enjoy what they love. More time, more energy, more possibility, more life. We all need the ability to look forward, to move forward, free from anxiety. That’s what getting our future back really means.”

“It boils down to this: can we look the challenges of this age squarely in the eye and amidst all the change and insecurity find the hunger to win new opportunities and the strength to conserve what is precious.”

Summarising the challenge facing Britain and Labour’s response to it, Starmer will promise: “A Britain strong enough, stable enough, secure enough for you to invest your hope, your possibility, your future”, and one where people can be “certain that things will be better for your children. ”

“People are looking to us because they want our wounds to heal and we are the healers. People are looking to us because these challenges require a modern state and we are the modernisers. People are looking to us because they want us to build a new Britain and we are the builders.”

The press release issued by the Labour Party on 9 October 2023.

Labour has announced a sector deal for the automotive industry as part of their modern industrial strategy which will give British industry its future back.

The party’s comprehensive plan, drafted in partnership with industry, addresses issues at every stage of production, from securing resilient supply chains and a skilled workforce, to supporting British manufacturing, to removing the barriers for consumers to transition and increase demand for electric vehicles.

The sector deal will secure British automotive manufacturing for decades to come, generating two million electric cars and creating 80,000 high skilled jobs. This will be first of several plans for sectors key to achieving the party’s missions to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7.

Labour’s plans will also be a much welcome boost for motorists wishing to make the switch to cheaper to run electric vehicles in a cost of living crisis. The plan will ensure access to charging points and introduce new clear battery stickers to help consumers understand real life range and battery health when they buy second hand electric vehicles.

Labour’s auto strategy will deliver:

• New battery factories with priority planning permission to get spades in the ground
• Support colleges to specialise in technical skills needed to build electric vehicles
• Provide ten year funding cycles for automotive R&D, to match that given to aerospace
• Set binding targets and redirect funding to ensure reliable charging coverage in every part of the UK
• Introduce clear battery stickers on new electric vehicles giving customers real life range times
• Standardised battery health tests so customers can buy second hand electric vehicles with confidence
• Quality standards on data on charging apps to bring all the information needed together in one place
• Push government to work with European partners secure a delay on the Rules of Origin requirements
• Secure critical mineral partnerships with ally countries
• Tackle uncompetitive energy prices through our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower delivering a cheaper, zero-carbon electricity system by 2030.

Jonathan Reynolds MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, said:

“Growing up in the shadow of the Nissan plant in Sunderland I know the impact good manufacturing jobs have for communities. Every family deserves the chance to have an affordable, reliable car in their driveway. Labour knows the value of vehicles to our economy and society – that’s why we have a plan to drive the British automotive industry confidently into the future.

“Battery factories on our shores, reliable charging networks in every part of the country, secure supply chains, increased consumer demand and 80,000 more high skilled jobs. Labour has a plan to give British industry it’s future back.”

The press release issued by the Labour Party on 9 October 2023.

Labour will give Ofwat the powers to ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses who are found to pump significant levels of raw sewage into our precious rivers, lakes and seas.

Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, Steve Reed MP, has outlined plans to end years of Conservative negligence and put the water industry under “special measures” to end the sewage crisis once and for all.

Expanding the regulatory powers of Ofwat, water bosses who fail to meet high environmental standards on sewage pollution will be met with significant sanctions to ensure they cannot profit from breaking the law.

While the Tories have allowed Britain’s waterways to become an open sewer, under Labour’s new plans, Ofwat would have been able to block six out of nine water bosses’ bonuses last year due to high levels of pollution into our rivers, lakes and seas.

This comes as water companies asked customers to pay an extra £156 a year, despite water bosses pocketing millions in bonuses. According to company reports, executives at UK water companies were paid nearly £10 million in bonuses last year.

This is part of Labour’s wider plan to put the water industry under “special measures” to end the Tory sewage scandal by 2030. This includes:

• Ensure that water bosses will face personal criminal liability for extreme and persistent lawbreaking
• Introducing severe and automatic fines for illegal discharges that water bosses cannot ignore

• Forcing all companies to monitor every single water outlet.

Steve Reed MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, said:

“The water industry and its regulatory framework are broken after 13 years of Tory government – with stinking, toxic sewage lapping up on our rivers, lakes, and seas.

“It is shocking that during a cost-of-living crisis, consumers are now being expected to pay the price, whilst CEOs are pocketing millions in bonuses.

“This Conservative government is too weak to tackle this scandal. They cut back enforcement and monitoring against water companies releasing this filth, and are now failing to prosecute bosses when they are blatantly breaking the law.

“Labour will turn the page on years of Conservative negligence. With Labour, the polluter – not the public – will pay. Labour will give Ofwat the powers to ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses until they have cleared up their filth.”

The press release issued by the Labour Party on 9 October 2023.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will today (Monday 9 October) promise working people they will be better off with Labour as she announces once in a generation reform as part of the party’s pledge to get Britain building again.

Addressing the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool, Reeves will vow to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure for digital connectivity, laboratories, and energy – to drive growth, create jobs and unlock private sector investment.

The reforms would include:

·       Speeding up the planning for critically important infrastructure by updating all national policy statements – which set out what types of projects the country needs – within the first six months of a Labour government

·       Fast tracking the planning process for priority growth areas of the economy, such as battery factories, laboratories, and 5G infrastructure

·       Ensuring local communities get something back by providing businesses and communities with a menu of potential incentives, which could include cheaper energy bills

·       Tackling unnecessary, egregious, and time-consuming litigation by setting clearer national guidance for developers on the engagement and consultation expected with local communities

·       Strengthening public sector capacity to expedite planning decisions by raising the stamp duty surcharge on non-UK residents to appoint 300 new planning officers

Reeves will say that “the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative Party”.

The last Labour government delivered HS1 on time, under budget and at a cost of £50million per mile, comparable to France and Japan. Under the Conservatives, HS2 has failed to be delivered and cost the taxpayer £400 million per mile, making it the most expensive railway in the world.

Analysis by the engineering consultancy ARUP calculates that by following best practice infrastructure projects can be delivered 25 per cent cheaper and 20 per cent quicker than now, and deliver a better deal for taxpayers, businesses and local communities.

She will also pledge to restore business investment as a share of GDP to the level it was under the last Labour government. This would mean an additional £50 billion more every year in the British economy by the end of the decade – the equivalent to £1,700 per household.

In her speech, Rachel Reeves is expected to say:

“Labour’s task is to restore hope to our politics. The hope that lets us face the future with confidence, with a new era of economic security because there is no hope without security.

“You cannot dream big if you cannot sleep in peace at night. The peace that comes from knowing you have enough to put aside for a rainy day and the knowledge that, when you need them, strong public services will be there for you and your family.

“The strength that allows a society to withstand global shocks because it is from those strong foundations of security, that hope can spring.

“The choice at the election is this. Five more years of the Tory chaos and uncertainty, which has left working people worse off or a changed Labour Party ready to strengthen Britain’s foundations, so working people are better off.”

On Labour’s plans to get Britain building again, she is expected to say:

“If we want to spur investment, restore economic security, and revive growth. Then we must get Britain building again.

“The Tories would have you believe we can’t build anything anymore. In fact, the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative Party itself.

“If the Tories won’t build, if the Tories can’t build, then we will. Taking head on the obstacles presented by our antiquated planning system.

“Since 2012, decision times for national infrastructure have increased by 65 per cent, now taking four years. Labour stands with the builders not the blockers.

“So today I am announcing our plans to get Britain building. A once in a generation set of reforms to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure for energy, transport, and technology. To fast-track battery factories, life sciences and 5G infrastructure and to tackle the litigation which devours time and money before we ever see shovels in the ground.

“And to make sure that when a local community hosts critical national infrastructure, they will feel the benefits, including lower energy bills.

“It is time we had a government with ambition for our communities. A government siding with the builders not the blockers. A government that will get Britain building again.”