Tag: Keir Starmer

Comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 28 July 2020.

We are lucky to have many world-class tourist destinations across the UK. But the jobs crisis facing tourist towns is stark.

There are fantastic domestic options for British holidaymakers, but the crucial summer season has been cut short. With many businesses still unable to reopen fully, the Government’s one-size-fits-all approach to jobs risks these towns falling through the cracks.

We need a targeted extension of the furlough scheme for the hardest-hit sectors and proper support in place to help those who are unemployed back into work. People are worried about their job prospects. The Labour Party is focused on fighting for every job and every part of the country.

The text of the comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 17 July 2020.

We all want society to reopen, we all want our economy to start growing again. So we’ll look at the details of this plan. But the key now is confidence. Do the public have confidence in the measures the Government have put in place? Do businesses have confidence in the advice that’s been given? And can we have confidence that the Government’s scientific advisers support these measures? This can’t be done on a wing and a prayer. It requires a credible plan, and national leadership.

On local lockdowns:

Labour has long been arguing that we need local control of lockdown. We need data to our local representatives, our local authorities. They need the powers to take the necessary measures. This is what will drive confidence, and this work with local authorities should have be done a long time ago.

Mayors across the country, local authority leaders across the country, are saying what we need is the data so we know precisely what’s going on, on a day-to-day basis, on a street-by-street basis, or we need the power to take action, rapidly. That’s what they want most of all.

On NHS winter funding:

What I didn’t hear from the Prime Minister this morning was any extra money and funding for social care. And what we can’t do again is to leave social care out of the priorities as we go into the autumn and the winter. So where was the money for social care?

Text of the comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 16 July 2020.

The Government’s failure to protect our care homes at the start of the pandemic was a national shame. I pay tribute to care staff who did everything they could but were left without tests or protective equipment.

An independent inquiry was always inevitable. But the Prime Minister must now guarantee that social care will be a key area of focus for that inquiry.

We also need action now ahead of a possible second wave this winter. We need to get to the bottom of what happened in care homes so that lessons can be learned, and lives can be saved. We cannot afford for the same mistakes to be made again.