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  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Letter to Priti Patel on Her Personal Conduct

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Letter to Priti Patel on Her Personal Conduct

    The letter sent by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, to Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on 4 March 2021.

    Dear Priti,

    I write in relation to the confirmation today that the Government has agreed to settle the claim of Sir Philip Rutnam.

    This comes after Sir Alex Allan’s review in November 2020 found that you broke the Ministerial Code by bullying.

    This means that taxpayers are being forced to foot the bill for unacceptable behaviour from the Home Secretary.

    As a result, it is vital that there is the maximum possible transparency around this issue, so I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions urgently:

    – How much money in total has been spent on this case by the Government, including on legal fees? It has been reported that the settlement itself was £370,000, inclusive of Sir Philip Rutnam’s legal fees.

    – How much money has been spent, so far, in preparation for the upcoming, and related, FDA union legal case?

    – Since July 2019, how many cases related to bullying of officials have been opened in the Home Office?

    – What progress has been made in implementing new systems to minimise bullying at the Home Office?

    This whole episode continues to raise serious questions about standards of behaviour, responsibility and leadership at the highest level of Government. This is particularly clear in relation to the shameful response to Sir Alex Allan’s findings, which resulted in the adviser on standards resigning rather than the person he found to have broken the Ministerial Code. It is also clear that this continues to have consequences, not least for the taxpayer.

    The Government has shown no care for the impact on workplaces up and down the country, where measures are being taken to address the issue of bullying, where this series of events must seem incomprehensible.

    I await your urgent response.

    Yours sincerely,

    Nick Thomas-Symonds MP
    Shadow Home Secretary

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Priti Patel’s Behaviour

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Priti Patel’s Behaviour

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on the Sir Philip Rutnam case on 4 March 2021.

    Taxpayers will be appalled at having to pick up the bill for the Home Secretary’s unacceptable behaviour.

    The Home Secretary still has very serious questions to answer about her conduct and the FDA union’s legal case continues.

    The Prime Minister has shown terrible judgement. It can’t be right that his adviser on Ministerial Standards resigned when he found that the Home Secretary bullied colleagues, while the Home Secretary herself remained in post.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2021 Comments on the Vulnerable Children and Young People Survey

    Tulip Siddiq – 2021 Comments on the Vulnerable Children and Young People Survey

    The comments made by Tulip Siddiq, the Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years, on 4 March 2021.

    The Government has treated children as an afterthought throughout this pandemic. Vulnerable children face greater risks during lockdown, so it is extremely concerning to see this decline in referrals to children’s support services.

    The Government has clearly not learnt lessons from the first lockdown when many vulnerable children were left without support.

    Instead of doing everything possible to identify children at risk of slipping through the gaps, Ministers are turning their backs allowing Government funding for a programme reaching these vulnerable young people to end this month.

  • Louise Haigh – 2021 Comments on the Prime Minister and the Northern Ireland Protocol

    Louise Haigh – 2021 Comments on the Prime Minister and the Northern Ireland Protocol

    The comments made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on 4 March 2021.

    Northern Ireland faces real challenges as a result of the Prime Minister’s deal, but they must be addressed through political leadership.

    The Prime Minister must take personal responsibility for finding lasting solutions that lower tension and make the protocol work. Unilaterally undermining his own agreement has only provoked further instability.

    He should show leadership and hold urgent talks with all parties to the protocol, and Northern Ireland’s political parties, to ensure the voice of all communities is being heard loud and clear.

    The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is the basis on which communities have lived in peace for two decades. It has endured because cooperation is the only way – that must be the focus.

  • Anneliese Dodds – 2021 Comments on the Budget and Public Services

    Anneliese Dodds – 2021 Comments on the Budget and Public Services

    The comments made by Anneliese Dodds, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 4 March 2021.

    Yesterday’s Budget is unravelling fast. After a year when our key worker heroes kept the country going, it’s incredible that the Chancellor couldn’t find a penny more for our schools and hospitals. Instead we got a whopping £30.1 billion cut in day-to-day health spending in future years, when the NHS will be struggling with the post-Covid backlog.

    We need to learn the lessons of this pandemic, not go back to the insecurity of the past. But this Chancellor has the wrong priorities and is totally out of touch with what this country needs.

    This Budget was a test of character for Rishi Sunak. He failed it.

  • Ed Miliband – 2021 Comments on the Industrial Strategy Council

    Ed Miliband – 2021 Comments on the Industrial Strategy Council

    The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Business Secretary, on 4 March 2021.

    The Business Secretary has revealed his true agenda and now we can see plain as day his devotion to the market and his aversion to supporting industry. Scrapping the Industrial Strategy Council is another sign of what’s to come – a binned industrial strategy and a Government that simply gets out of the way.

    Now we have a Secretary of State for Industrial Strategy that doesn’t believe in an industrial strategy – that’s no surprise after yesterday’s Budget which failed to support our manufacturers and a green recovery.

    Labour believes in a strong partnership between businesses and government, actively working together to grow industry, create wealth and jobs, and tackle the issues facing our society including inequality and the climate emergency.

  • Liz Kendall – 2021 Comments on Social Care

    Liz Kendall – 2021 Comments on Social Care

    The comments made by Liz Kendall, the Shadow Social Care Minister, on 4 March 2021.

    There was nothing in the Budget on social care, despite everything that has happened during this pandemic and the Prime Minister’s promise on the steps of Downing Street to fix the crisis in social care more than 18 months ago.

    Today the Chancellor claimed this gaping hole is because the Government is trying to build cross party consensus about the way forward. Yet this has not been discussed or even raised with Labour’s front bench team, despite our repeatedly asking the Care Minister about this issue.

    Our society and economy need a care system that is fit for the future. Ministers must bring forward plans for reform as a matter of the utmost urgency and deliver on their promises to the British people.

  • Richard Burgon – 2021 Comments on More People Paying Income Tax

    Richard Burgon – 2021 Comments on More People Paying Income Tax

    The comments made by Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, on 7 March 2021.

    The Tories are to make an extra 1.3 million low paid workers start paying income tax.

    We need a progressive tax system that targets the super-rich & the corporations making super-profits out of this crisis – not the low paid.

    This Tory attack on the low paid must be opposed.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2013 Comments on Venezuela

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2013 Comments on Venezuela

    The comments made by Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North, on 5 March 2013.

    Thanks Hugo Chavez for showing that the poor matter and wealth can be shared.

    He made massive contributions to Venezuela and a very wide world.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2021 Comments on Stamp Duty

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2021 Comments on Stamp Duty

    The comments made by Thangam Debbonaire, the Shadow Housing Secretary, on 4 March 2021.

    The Conservatives have shown once again they have the wrong priorities, giving tax breaks to landlords and second homeowners while failing to tackle runaway house prices and build truly affordable housing.

    After a decade of failure on housing, we needed a Budget that put us on the road to recovery and addressed the fundamental flaws in the housing market. Instead we got reheated policies with no new ideas on housing.