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Tag: Comments

  • Andy Burnham – 2010 Comments on David Cameron’s Policy on School Sports

    Andy Burnham – 2010 Comments on David Cameron’s Policy on School Sports

    The comments made by Andy Burnham, the then Shadow Education Secretary, on 20 December 2010.

    David Cameron and Michael Gove have spent weeks seeking to justify a bad decision with dodgy statistics. Gove’s overruling by the Prime Minister is a victory for thousands of young people, teachers and athletes, and is a warning to this Tory-led Government that it cannot simply do what it likes. But this package from the Conservative-led Government, after weeks of scrabbling round for funding to save something it branded a “complete failure”, only raises one cheer at best.

    So today, in conceding the success of Labour’s School Sports Partnerships, the Government has nevertheless failed to put in place a proper funding package that will allow us to capitalise on the excitement of the 2012 Games. We are still looking at the prospect of fewer children playing sport in the run up to the Olympics, and no answer on what will happen to school sport following the Games.

  • Ed Balls – 2010 Comments on Proposed Cuts to the Met Police

    Ed Balls – 2010 Comments on Proposed Cuts to the Met Police

    The comments made by Ed Balls, the then Shadow Home Secretary, on 22 December 2010.

    Sir Paul [Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner] is absolutely right to air his concerns about the funding cuts and unprecedented challenges the Metropolitan Police faces. Like police chiefs across the country Sir Paul has been put in an impossible position by a Conservative Home Secretary who failed to fight the corner of the police in the spending review.

    House of Commons Library figures show that the Met faces a real terms cut in government funding of over £330m in just two years. That’s a cut of over 15 per cent – most of which is in the year of the Olympics – and with more cuts to come in the two years after that.

    Ramming through cuts to policing of this speed and scale at a time of rising public protest on our streets, an ongoing terror threat and the security challenge of the 2012 Olympics is a reckless and dangerous gamble by this Conservative led government. It will undermine the fight against crime across the capital and take unnecessary risks with national security and the safety of our communities.

    It’s time the Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May and the Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson started standing up for our police.

  • Douglas Alexander – 2010 Comments on Liberal Democrats and Welfare Policies

    Douglas Alexander – 2010 Comments on Liberal Democrats and Welfare Policies

    The comments made by Douglas Alexander, the then Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on 23 December 2010.

    I have written today to Lib Dem ministers offering immediate talks in the New Year on Privy Council terms to work together to make the government’s welfare policies fairer.

    David Cameron’s own ministers are now on record as saying his plans for child benefit are unfair and ill thought through. And his Business Secretary thinks policies are being rushed and not properly implemented.

    Working together we can change complaints expressed in private into public policy changes.

    We have little time to waste as next month the government is bringing forward a welfare bill so I’m offering immediate talks in New Year.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2010 Comments on Chris Patten Chairing the BBC Trust

    Ivan Lewis – 2010 Comments on Chris Patten Chairing the BBC Trust

    The comments made by Ivan Lewis, the then Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, on 23 December 2010.

    We note the rumours which are circulating about favoured candidates for the chairmanship of the BBC Trust.

    At a time when the independence of the BBC is threatened by the ill concealed hostility of David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt, it is essential that the new chairman is above accusations of political bias.

    If the Conservative led government is serious about new politics, no appointment should be confirmed until the favoured candidate is scrutinised by the DCMS Select Committee.

  • David Miliband – 2004 Comments on Conservative Plans for Education

    David Miliband – 2004 Comments on Conservative Plans for Education

    The comments made by David Miliband, the then Schools Minister, on 28 June 2004.

    The Tories are committed to an agenda of cuts, privatisation that would lead to lower standards in schools.

    The basic principle of Tory education policy is to cut money from state schools to subsidise private education. Their plans would take at least £1 billion out of schools to set up a bureaucratic voucher scheme and subsidise private education.

    The Tories are making no commitment to raising standards in schools and they have even admitted that they would be ‘proud’ to see standards fall under a Conservative Government.

    It is also clear that Tories continue to be at complete sixes and sevens on their plans. They cannot agree by how much taxpayers will subsidise private education. They cannot agree on the deadweight cost of their plans. They cannot say what the value of their voucher is. And they cannot say whether the voucher will be worth more for poorer families, more for children with learning difficulties, or more in areas like London, where schools’ costs are higher.

    To add to the confusion, the Tories are now saying they would abolish admission procedures, leaving heads with the task of making up selection procedures. By abolishing catchment area rules every parent who wants to send their child to their local school faces a lottery, not knowing on what basis their child will be admitted. At the same time, heads and local education authorities will have to invent criteria to make their decisions, causing chaos across the system.

    Whilst Labour’s programme of investment and reform is raising standards across the board, the Tory agenda of cuts and privatisation would lead to lower standards in our schools.

  • Ed Balls – 2008 Comments on Increased Funding for the School Food Trust

    Ed Balls – 2008 Comments on Increased Funding for the School Food Trust

    The comments made by Ed Balls, the then Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, on 5 February 2008.

    There are no quick, overnight solutions to improving the way we eat as a nation. I make no apology for introducing tough nutritional standards for school food – there is nothing more important than our children’s well-being. I want every young person to be able to make informed choices about healthy eating for the rest of their lives.

    The School Food Trust is at the forefront of improving take up of school dinners. It continues to make massive progress in raising school food quality and supporting local authorities and schools in changing the attitudes of parents and young people.

  • Kemi Badenoch – 2022 Comments on Housing

    Kemi Badenoch – 2022 Comments on Housing

    The comments made by Kemi Badenoch as part of her leadership bid, published by the Telegraph as part of a longer article on 16 July 2022.

    We need new homes in the right places. We need them to spread prosperity, give the next generation a stake in the future and allow families to grow. We also need to recognise that pressure on housing comes from increased migration and from families breaking up. Solving these interlinked questions needs honesty and rigour.

    On housing, we’ll never get the homes we need where we need them if we insist on ever-higher inflexible top-down housing targets. We need to bring people with us by delivering infrastructure first and insisting new homes are built to a higher standard and look more beautiful. We need to break the stranglehold of the identikit cartel of land banking house builders.

    But we need to consider the demand side of housing, not just the supply side. People – rightly – recognise that building more homes while doing nothing to bring immigration down is like running up the down escalator. We’ll never get to where we need to with that approach, and we won’t persuade people to accept more homes if it is being done due to immigration failures. If we can bring immigration down to a sustainable level, we can then protect green spaces for our children and precious agricultural land.

  • Kemi Badenoch – 2021 Comments on the National Windrush Monument

    Kemi Badenoch – 2021 Comments on the National Windrush Monument

    The comments made by Kemi Badenoch, the Communities Minister, on 15 October 2021.

    I want to congratulate Basil Watson on being selected to design the National Windrush Monument. The government is very pleased to be sponsoring this commemoration.

    His design will celebrate and honour the contribution of the Windrush generation, right at the centre of our nation’s capital.

    The Monument will become a permanent place of reflection and inspiration for all, reminding us of our shared history and heritage.

  • Ursula von der Leyen – 2022 Comments on Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

    Ursula von der Leyen – 2022 Comments on Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

    The comments made by Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, on 1 August 2022.

    On the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, we commemorate the hundreds of thousands of Roma victims of the Holocaust who suffered and were murdered under the Nazi regime.

    We may never forget the Roma persecution during the Holocaust. We also cannot turn a blind eye to the challenges and discrimination Roma minority is still facing.

    We work closely with our Member States to fight anti-gypsyism. This year we will present a first assessment of the national Roma strategies. In our Union, we strive for openness, tolerance and respect for human dignity for all people.

    Only with this spirit can we fight racism and discrimination.

  • Dominic Raab – 2022 Comments on Construction of First Secure School

    Dominic Raab – 2022 Comments on Construction of First Secure School

    The comments made by Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, on 29 July 2022.

    This secure school is a first. It’s effectively a school with prison walls around it that will give the stubborn hard core of young offenders, who need to be in custody, the tailored curriculum and mental health support they need to turn away from crime and get into training and work.

    It’s the right thing to do for them and the public, driving down reoffending, and making our streets safer.