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  • Jim McMahon – 2020 Comments on Funding Agreement with TFL

    Jim McMahon – 2020 Comments on Funding Agreement with TFL

    The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 20 October 2020.

    It’s extremely worrying that despite repeated requests, the Government is offering only a papering-over-the-cracks funding package for Transport for London, with such punitive conditions.

    If the Government gives financial support to the privately operated rail network, it is inconceivable that it does not do the same for publicly owned transport providers like TfL, which need long-term secure funding during what could be a lengthy period in which they won’t be able to operate at full capacity.

    We need a comprehensive transport plan to keep our public transport moving again including giving local transport services the funding they need.

  • Angela Rayner – 2020 Comments on Free School Meals

    Angela Rayner – 2020 Comments on Free School Meals

    The comments made by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, on 21 October 2020.

    This vote is about our values as a country and whether the government, in the middle of this crisis, is happy to let our children go hungry.

    Millions of families up and down the country are facing a bleak winter of real hardship as the furlough scheme is withdrawn and further restrictions are put in place without proper support for businesses, jobs and livelihoods.

    It is a moral outrage that the government will happily spend over £6,000 a day on consultants and line the pockets of Serco shareholders in return for a Test and Trace system that has collapsed whilst leaving almost a million children in areas subject to Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions to go hungry.

    No child in our country should be waking up hungry and having to face the day worrying where food might be coming from. But if Tory MPs don’t do the right thing today this vital support will be withdrawn next week and over 1.4 million children across our country will go hungry.

  • Liz Kendall – 2020 Comments on Skills for Care’s Report

    Liz Kendall – 2020 Comments on Skills for Care’s Report

    The comments made by Liz Kendall, the Shadow Minister for Social Care, on 21 October 2020.

    Care staff have gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure our loved ones are properly looked after during this pandemic. But even before the virus stuck, social care services were stretched to breaking point with high turnover and vacancy rates and staff that are all too often undervalued and underpaid.

    Unless Ministers take urgent action, these problems will only get worse. We need a long term plan for the care workforce as part of wider reforms to fix the crisis in social care – something the prime minister has promised time and time again, but so far completely failed to deliver.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2020 Comments on Children’s Services

    Tulip Siddiq – 2020 Comments on Children’s Services

    The comments made by Tulip Siddiq, the Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years, on 21 October 2020.

    Ten years of cuts have left children’s services unable to cope with the pressures of Covid-19 and many young people are struggling to access the support they need.

    This report shows that it is deprived areas that have been hit hardest by Tory policies over the last decade.

    You can’t improve life chances for children without strong local services.

  • Kate Green – 2020 Comments on Paul Scully

    Kate Green – 2020 Comments on Paul Scully

    The comments made by Kate Green, the Shadow Education Secretary, on 21 October 2020.

    This is a slap in the face for families struggling to make ends meet.

    Rising child poverty and more families going hungry is the shameful legacy of the Conservatives’ decade in power.

    Paul Scully should apologise for his disgraceful comment and Conservative MPs should do something about this injustice by supporting Labour’s plan to ensure no child goes hungry over Christmas.

  • Anneliese Dodds – 2020 Comments on Boris Johnson and the Midlands and North

    Anneliese Dodds – 2020 Comments on Boris Johnson and the Midlands and North

    The comments made by Anneliese Dodds, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 21 October 2020.

    The Government had a chance to fix its shambolic approach to supporting areas moving into Tier 3. It said no.

    The Prime Minister said those on the lowest salaries would get 80% of their salary, but by voting against our motion he has blocked huge numbers of workers facing hardship from getting the support they need.

    Boris Johnson promised to deliver for the North and the Midlands, but he’s let them down in the middle of a pandemic.

  • Liz Kendall – 2020 Comments on Social Care Funding

    Liz Kendall – 2020 Comments on Social Care Funding

    The comments made by Liz Kendall, the Shadow Social Care Minister, on 21 October 2020.

    Covid 19 has brutally exposed the underlying problems with our system of social care. For too long care workers have been undervalued and underpaid, and families – who do so much to care for their older and disabled relatives– have been stretched to breaking point with precious little help or support in return.

    In his first speech as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson promised to fix the crisis in social care, yet his so-called plan is still nowhere to be seen. People who need care, and those who provide it, can’t afford to wait any longer – the PM must bring forward a plan to put these vital services on a sustainable footing by the end of the year.

  • Kate Green – 2020 Comments on the Free School Meals Vote

    Kate Green – 2020 Comments on the Free School Meals Vote

    The comments made by Kate Green, the Shadow Education Secretary, on 21 October 2020.

    Boris Johnson and the Conservatives have badly let down more than one million children and their families.

    No child should go hungry over the holidays, but the Government is blocking the action needed to prevent this.

    We pay tribute to Marcus Rashford and others for shining a spotlight on this incredibly important issue. This campaign is not over and the government must reconsider.

  • Ed Miliband – 2020 Comments on Businesses Becoming Insolvent

    Ed Miliband – 2020 Comments on Businesses Becoming Insolvent

    The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Business Secretary, on 21 October 2020.

    We are already seeing mass redundancies and rising unemployment, but measures to prevent businesses from becoming insolvent have helped keep the number of business closures low.

    Labour welcomed those measures. Yet Ministers cannot explain why they have pulled the plug on this protection. If it was right to help businesses stave off insolvency in June it is right now. The government seem to have moved from ‘we’re all in this together’ to ‘sink or swim’.

    Ministers claim to want to protect struggling businesses, but the decision to remove this key protection for business owners flies in the face of that claim. They must urgently change course or the risk is that we see insolvencies snowball before Christmas.

  • Ellie Reeves – 2020 Comments on Report on CPS Letters

    Ellie Reeves – 2020 Comments on Report on CPS Letters

    The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Shadow Solicitor General, on 22 October 2020.

    Communication with survivors of rape and domestic abuse is essential to maintain confidence in the criminal justice system. But this report shows a stark deterioration and a lack of Government action over the last two years.

    The fact that so few case letters are of the right quality, and so many are lacking in empathy, is a stark reminder that the Conservatives are letting down victims.

    The CPS must urgently review whether it is delivering on its commitments to ensure victims have faith that the criminal justice system will be there for them.