UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2020

  • Lisa Nandy – 2020 Comments on the Russian Intelligence Services

    Lisa Nandy – 2020 Comments on the Russian Intelligence Services

    The text of the comments made by Lisa Nandy, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, on 16 July 2020.

    The reported actions of the Russian Intelligence Services are wrong and should be condemned. The Labour Party is committed to working with the government to protect the UK’s national security and safeguard our institutions from foreign interference – none more so than those leading the international effort to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

    The long-overdue Russia Report must now be made public, and the Foreign Secretary comes to the House of Commons and provide MPs with concrete steps that will be taken to protect the UK from these kinds of foreign cyber-attacks.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2020 Comments on Nursery Education

    Tulip Siddiq – 2020 Comments on Nursery Education

    The text of the comments made by Tulip Siddiq, the Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years, on 16 July 2020.

    It was a pleasure to visit Bessborough Nursery and Pre-School and hear from parents about just how important childcare is to them, both for the development of their children and so that they can get back to work.

    Nurseries are going to be crucial for our economic recovery, yet we did not hear a word from the Chancellor about childcare in his statement last week, despite a growing crisis that threatens the closure of a quarter of all providers. We’ve already lost 14,000 childcare providers in the last five years, and we simply cannot afford to lose any more.

    Labour is arguing for targeted support for the childcare sector to prevent a wave of nursery closures, which would devastate working families and set back out economic recovery.

  • Kate Green – 2020 Comments on Universities Restructuring

    Kate Green – 2020 Comments on Universities Restructuring

    The text of the comments made by Kate Green, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, on 16 July 2020.

    Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on universities, but they continue to provide the research and skills our country needs to move past the crisis.

    Today’s announcement shows that the Government is willing to let cherished institutions fail, with catastrophic consequences for local and regional economies.

    Instead of using this crisis as an excuse to centralise control over universities and force through cuts to courses, the Government should pledge that no university will be allowed to go bust.

  • Julian Lewis – 2020 Comments on Expulsion from the Conservative Party

    Julian Lewis – 2020 Comments on Expulsion from the Conservative Party

    The text of the comments made by Julian Lewis on 16 July 2020, following his expulsion from the Conservative Party.

    Because the ISC (Intelligence and Security Committee) is a special committee, I feel constrained in what I can say. However, the following points are relevant.

    1 – The 2013 Justice and Security Act explicitly removed the right of the Prime Minister to choose the ISC chairman and gave it to the committee members. I remember this well, as I served on the committee from 2010 to 2015 and took part of the legislation through the Commons myself on behalf of the committee. There is no other Conservative MP in the House of Commons with any past experience of working on the ISC.

    2 – It was only yesterday afternoon that I received a text asking me to confirm that I would be voting for the Prime Minister’s preferred candidate for the ISC chair. I did not reply as I considered it an improper request. At no earlier stage did I give any undertaking to vote for any particular candidate.

    3 – In recent days, the official Number 10 spokesman explicitly denied that the Government was seeking to ‘parachute’ a preferred candidate in to the chair, stating that it was a matter for the senior parliamentarians on the committee to decide. It is therefore strange to have the whip removed for failing to vote for the Government’s preferred candidate.

  • Alok Sharma – 2020 Comments on Protecting Jobs

    Alok Sharma – 2020 Comments on Protecting Jobs

    Text of the comments made by Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, on 15 July 2020.

    The UK’s internal market has functioned seamlessly for centuries. When we exit the transition period at the end of the year, we want to ensure the most successful political and economic union of nations in the world continues to grow and thrive.

    This plan protects jobs and livelihoods. Without these necessary reforms, the way we trade goods and services between the home nations could be seriously impacted, harming the way we do business within our own borders.

    Ensuring businesses will be able to continue trading freely across all four corners of the UK without the burden of inconsistent regulation or additional costs will be essential as we fire up our economic engines as we recover from coronavirus.

  • Michael Ellis – 2020 Comments on Low Sentences

    Michael Ellis – 2020 Comments on Low Sentences

    The text of the comments made by Michael Ellis, the Solicitor General, on 16 July 2020.

    The ULS scheme allows anyone, including victims of crime, to ask for a review of certain sentences they believe are too low.

    A sentencing exercise is not an exact science. In the vast majority of cases, judges get it right. While we are seeing fewer complaints about sentences, the scheme is still important to ensure that certain cases can be reviewed where there may have been a gross error in the sentencing decision. This brings comfort to many victims and their families.

  • Lucy Powell – 2020 Comments on Airlines and Refunds

    Lucy Powell – 2020 Comments on Airlines and Refunds

    The text of the comments made by Lucy Powell, the Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, on 16 July 2020.

    Ultimately the law says that refunds should be offered to customers and the airlines and travel industry should be offering them where consumers want them. That’s why we’ve called on companies to comply with consumer rights as part of our conditions for a bail out of the aviation industry.

    However, the Government must do much more to step in with sector specific support so that we don’t see the collapse of the industry with customers money disappearing and the tax payer footing the bill.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2020 Comments on Labour Market Statistics

    Bridget Phillipson – 2020 Comments on Labour Market Statistics

    The text of the comments made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 16 July 2020.

    Every lost job is a personal tragedy now and a hammer blow to public finances in the long run.

    Last week the Chancellor should have targeted support to the sectors worst affected by this terrible crisis. Instead his blanket approach won’t deliver for those who need it most.

    The Government still has time to grasp the scale of the challenge and change course. It must act now before it’s too late.

  • Alison McGovern – 2020 Comments on Fan-Led Review of Football

    Alison McGovern – 2020 Comments on Fan-Led Review of Football

    The text of the comments made by Alison McGovern, the Shadow Sports Minister, on 16 July 2020.

    Like other challenges in our country, Covid-19 has magnified the long-term structural challenges for football. The crisis has showed sports organisations are at the heart of their communities and no community deserves to lose a much-loved football club.

    What happened at Wigan Athletic perfectly makes the case for why we need reform and why it cannot wait any longer.

    This must be a project for the whole of the UK, so we are urging the Government to develop a framework that enables Scottish football to be included – the issues in football north of the border have plenty of overlap with those in the rest of the UK.

    If the Government wants to deliver on its manifesto pledge for football fans, the first step must be to explain what fan-led means in practice, who will take part and, most importantly, when we can expect change. This must be genuinely driven by what fans want and need, from the grassroots up.

    This crisis has shown cracks in so many areas of our society after a decade of Conservative governments. Football is no different.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2020 Comments on Expulsion of Julian Lewis from Conservative Party

    Alistair Carmichael – 2020 Comments on Expulsion of Julian Lewis from Conservative Party

    Text of comments made on Twitter by Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, on 15 July 2020.

    Having failed to install a loyalist, PM now running scared of scrutiny. This is an overreaction, likely by Dominic Cummings rather than the Chief Whip. PM must stop interfering and the committee must publish the #RussiaReport now. All MPs must stand firm against No10 power grab.