Blog

  • Ed Miliband – 2021 Comments on Longer Working Weeks

    Ed Miliband – 2021 Comments on Longer Working Weeks

    The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Business Secretary, on 24 January 2021.

    The 48-hour week is a vital right for workers. Scrapping this hard-won protection would be the thin end of the wedge, causing working hours to spiral up, risking safety and wellbeing, and meaning many people could have less time to spend with their families.

    The future of this right should not even be up for discussion. That Ministers are clapping key workers on the front step and considering forcing a longer working week on them via the back door, shows how seriously out of step their priorities are with those of the British people.

    The Government is also failing to listen to businesses who are urging them to tackle the virus, secure the economy and protect jobs – not take a wrecking ball to the rights of working people. Conservative MPs must keep their promises and vote today in line with the needs of workers and businesses – not rip up their protections.

  • Conor McGinn – 2021 Comments on De-radicalisation in Prisons

    Conor McGinn – 2021 Comments on De-radicalisation in Prisons

    The comments made by Conor McGinn, the Shadow Security Minister, on 25 January 2021.

    With growing concerns about the links between extremists in prison and terrorists who have carried out attacks on the outside, it’s clear that the Government is failing at de-radicalisation in prisons.

    Ministers need to announce a coherent de-radicalization strategy in prisons, as well as urgently assessing how to protect the public from those who continue to pose a dangerous security threat despite being behind bars.

  • Lucy Powell – 2021 Comments on Debenhams

    Lucy Powell – 2021 Comments on Debenhams

    The comments made by Lucy Powell, the Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, on 25 January 2021.

    Seeing stores vanish from high streets across Britain will be a real blow to communities across our country, and it will be absolutely devastating for the 25,000 people who face losing their job. The pandemic has accelerated changes to the way we shop, yet the government continues to disadvantage bricks and mortar businesses against online companies.

    The support on offer for struggling businesses has been a series of sticking plasters. Unless the Government puts in place a long-term plan to help high street businesses survive this crisis and recover on the other side, we will see more well-loved high street names vanishing, and many more jobs lost.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Wider Controls of the Border

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Wider Controls of the Border

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 25 January 2021.

    The Conservative government are again dragging their feet on setting vital protections at our borders, which must involve using hotels to help prevent the importation of further strains of the virus.

    Labour has been calling for a strategic approach to tackling this awful virus and the worrying strains that are now emerging. The lack of strategy means the UK continually acts too slowly and without proper planning in place.

    This continued failure is leaving the door open to new strains of Covid, putting people at risk and undermining the sacrifices everyone is making to address this virus.

  • Angela Rayner – 2021 Comments on the Conduct of Shaun Bailey

    Angela Rayner – 2021 Comments on the Conduct of Shaun Bailey

    The comments made by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, on 25 January 2021.

    The Tory Mayoral candidate has been caught out repeatedly attempting to mislead Londoners. He seems determined to insult voters’ intelligence by bringing discredited Donald Trump style fake news to London.

    He has consistently misled over TfL finances, the congestion charge and council tax, and his latest leaflets are literally a work of fiction. Fake news, fake polls and fake leaflets will not only reflect badly on him and the Conservative Party but erode trust in politics.

    The Conservative Party must immediately apologise for the actions of their London Mayoral campaign and demonstrate that they are committed to following the law.

  • Pat McFadden – 2021 Comments on Increased Mastercard Fees Following Brexit

    Pat McFadden – 2021 Comments on Increased Mastercard Fees Following Brexit

    The comments made by Pat McFadden, the Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury, on 25 January 2021.

    The Government badly fumbled its preparations for the end of the transition period. Thanks to their last-minute approach we’ve already seen disruption at our ports and British businesses hit by new costs and taxes affecting their orders. These businesses should be at the heart of our recovery, not tied up in red tape.

    Now more unexpected costs have been revealed as online shoppers from the UK face being hit with extra charges when buying from the EU. Ministers have got to get a grip on the situation, and urge MasterCard to scrap these unfair changes – to stop British shoppers from losing out.

    This is the latest addition to a growing pile of costs and red tape for UK consumers. We’ve already seen delays at ports and a forest of extra form filling for exporters. This is a long way from what the Government promised.

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Adaptation Action Coalition

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Adaptation Action Coalition

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 25 January 2021.

    It is undeniable that climate change is already upon us and is already devastating lives and economies. We must adapt to our changing climate, and we must do so now.

    I’ll be making the need for a resilient recovery a priority of the UK’s G7 presidency this year. To make sure we get not just warm words but real change, I am today launching an all-new Adaptation Action Coalition to set the agenda ahead of COP26.

    Let’s work together to adapt, to become more resilient, and to save lives and livelihoods all around the world.

  • Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at the Climate Adaptation Summit

    Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at the Climate Adaptation Summit

    The speech made by Alok Sharma, the President of the COP26, on 25 January 2021.

    Thank you very much distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, excellencies.

    I would really like to thank the Netherlands for hosting this excellent summit. We have heard some brilliant submissions and real power to the messages that have been coming through. I also want to thank the Global Center on Adaptation – I see you have my friend Feike with you. And of course, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, for his leadership in adaptation and resilience.

    And I can tell you that as COP President this is a top priority indeed. And I know that it is the same for my dear friend Patricia Espinosa who you will hear from shortly as well.

    Building resilience into our economies and societies is absolutely urgent, and it is essential, if we are to protect human lives and livelihoods from the effects of our changing climate.

    Ultimately it requires all of us to act together: whether it’s governments or cities, or regions; businesses, investors or civil society, all of us have to act on this issue.

    Of course there is a great deal of fantastic work that is already going on.

    From cities like Port Moresby, investing in trees and mangroves to protect the City and its people from coastal flooding.

    To the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment, which represents around $10 trillion in assets.

    Driving private finance to fund resilient infrastructure and helping investors to understand climate risk which is so vital.

    And of course today, we are launching two new campaigns to focus efforts and make progress faster.

    This morning, as you will have heard, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Adaptation Action Coalition. With our partners, Egypt, Bangladesh, Malawi, St Lucia, the UN, and, of course the Netherlands.

    The Coalition will bring governments together to accelerate action ahead of COP26.

    And now it is my particular pleasure to launch the Race to Resilience campaign.

    This is a campaign that will mobilise businesses, investors, cities, civil society and others to act.

    Bringing together initiatives with the aim of building the resilience of 4 billion people across the world – that’s representing over half of the world’s population – by 2030.

    The campaign will support activities delivering for people and nature.

    For example, cities protecting people against heatwaves.

    Or small holder farmers utilising climate resilient technologies.

    And restoring deforested and degraded land.

    I would also like to thank our two brilliant Climate Champions, Nigel and Gonzalo, for the incredible effort that they have put in to make sure that this initiative happens.

    And I do think that together, these two campaigns can make a real difference to the scale and pace of adaptation and resilience across all our economies and indeed across society.

    So I will finish with an ask to everyone who is listening and watching this: the ask to governments, is please join the Adaptation Action Coalition; and to businesses, to cities, to civil society groups, please join the Race to Resilience.

    And help us, working together, to build a more resilient and better world.

    Thank you.

  • Edward Leigh – 2021 Speech on Equitable Life

    Edward Leigh – 2021 Speech on Equitable Life

    The speech made by Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, in the House of Commons on 21 January 2021.

    I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for the way that he introduced the debate, and I am proud, with him, to be a sponsor of it.

    This has turned into a saga, which has now been ongoing for decades. The facts of the original case are well known; we have seen them demonstrated again and again. There were dubious practices. This was a company that was too big to fail. Perhaps, as my hon. Friend said, there was a conspiracy to stop matters coming to light before they did. There was a culture of manipulation and concealment.

    In addition to the Treasury’s own 2004 report, there have been other reports: the report from Lord Penrose in 2001, and a report from Ian Glick and Richard Snowden. All those showed lessons to be learned, both in terms of corporate culture in financial services and in terms of the state’s role in overseeing the sector sufficiently. Everyone acknowledges that the company was primarily at fault, but the state has a role and a responsibility in regulating financial services. All business today is conducted on the understanding that ultimately, the law and the state ensure an honest and transparent playing field.

    More than a decade ago, in 2010, George Osborne announced a £1.5 billion package in compensation. These payments were to begin in mid-July of 2011, but by the end of 2011, many of my affected constituents had not received a penny. Not only were there delays in payments, but some payments were made for incorrect amounts—sometimes wildly inaccurate. These were caught not by the Treasury, but by policyholders themselves. There is also a lack of transparency over how policyholders can verify the amount they have received is correct.

    The Equitable Members Action Group has pointed out:

    “There is serious doubt over the accuracy and reliability of the methodology used by the Treasury to calculate what’s owed.”

    The Treasury insists that there were no mistakes. If so, how can Government explain inaccurate payments? One hundred and sixty complaints of inaccuracy in payment were upheld, yet EMAG reports only eight received recalculations. The Minister needs to explain how this happened.

    We must remember that many hundreds of thousands of policyholders were affected by this scandal. The Government scheme offered only partial compensation. I know that full compensation would be expensive, but as my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East said, let justice be done and let there be full transparency. People need to save for their retirement. Living off their state pension affords little comfort, and most people do not realistically expect to be able to live off it. Very few young people even think about their retirement. But these policyholders did save for their retirement. They are now getting on, and they are elderly and often vulnerable.

    Over the years, I have received terrible, sad letters from many of my constituents, some of them received as much as 10 years ago. Some of them will now, I am afraid, no longer be with us. As one said, and this was nearly 10 years ago:

    “This is a matter of urgency.”

    Another said:

    “Sadly my husband died four years ago without the assurance that…he…would ever be recompensed.”

    One wrote:

    “I am 89 years old, now a widow.”

    So I repeat the call from my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East: let us have an inquiry from the PAC, let us have the full light of transparency on this and let justice be done for some of the most elderly and vulnerable—and responsible—in our community.

  • Emma Lewell-Buck – 2021 Speech on Equitable Life

    Emma Lewell-Buck – 2021 Speech on Equitable Life

    The speech made by Emma Lewell-Buck, the Labour MP for South Shields, in the House of Commons on 21 January 2021.

    It is a real pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). I know that he, alongside the Equitable Members Action Group, the APPG, of which I am a member, and others, has campaigned extensively on this issue for several years. I also thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate.

    This scandal will affect most, if not all, constituencies represented in this place. It has been, and continues to be, a long battle for justice and recompense for those affected. Many of the victims are now elderly and exhausted from this 20-year campaign. Some of them have sadly passed away. Many of them are former key workers—people whom we in the Opposition have always known are the backbone of our country: nurses, teachers, civil servants, factory and shop workers. They are hard-working people such as my constituent, Mr John Petty.

    Mr Petty is 84 years old and a pharmacist. He was sold an Equitable Life pension plan. At the time, he felt it was a decent and reputable firm. After a career working 70-plus hours most weeks, he sold his pharmacy in 1996, looking forward to a happy retirement with his wife. However, soon after, without warning and through no fault of his own, he lost a considerable amount of his pension. At 59 years of age, he had to go back to work. Mr Petty now has to budget every year, as living costs continue to rise but his pension does not. He said: “This whole saga has been disturbing, to put it mildly.” He is not alone. There are nearly 900,000 people still waiting for their losses to be recovered in full.

    I acknowledge that in 2010, the then Government accepted the parliamentary ombudsman’s findings in full —that, between 1992 and 2000, Government Departments and regulators were responsible for maladministration, and that victims should be returned to the position that they would have been in had that maladministration not taken place. The ombudsman also found that victims had lost £4.1 billion. However, having accepted the findings in full, the Government then failed to give adequate compensation, offering only £1.5 billion. That is the crux of today’s debate. All victims should be repaid in full, and there needs to be some transparency regarding how the Treasury calculated its payments.

    I say politely to the Minister that, at a time when trust in the Government is low, the stubbornness displayed repeatedly by the Treasury in constantly dismissing requests makes it appear either to have a lack of care or to have something to hide. I and others simply cannot understand why, if the methodology used was sound and robust, it cannot be shared. Either way, it is not a good look for the Government. We call today for the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee to establish a joint inquiry into the accuracy of the payments made to victims. Surely, if that would lead to a discovery that the methodology was flawed, it would save the Minister and the Government some embarrassment if they just showed transparency now.

    We are not asking for much, but our asks would make an immeasurable difference to the victims. This is about fairness, transparency and trust. People who paid into their pensions in good faith should not be treated in this way. Those who are currently saving for their future need to know that their money is safe and that the Government will intervene if it is not. Just last year, the Chancellor said:

    “We care very much about pensioners and making sure they have security and that’s indeed our policy.”

    The Minister has an opportunity today to prove that those were not just empty words and that pensioners really are a priority. I sincerely hope he takes that opportunity.