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Tag: Speeches

  • Kate Green – 2021 Comments on Lifetime Skills Guarantee

    Kate Green – 2021 Comments on Lifetime Skills Guarantee

    The comments made by Kate Green, the Shadow Education Secretary, on 12 May 2021.

    The Government’s skills promises are inconsistent and illogical, shutting out sectors where we already have a skills shortage.

    The Conservatives have overseen a decade of decline with skills and training opportunities disappearing. This Queen’s Speech is a missed opportunity to deliver a bright future for young people across our country.

    Labour’s is committed to helping every young person make a strong start to their working lives with quality training and employment opportunities ensuring they can develop the skills our economy needs.

  • Angela Rayner – 2021 Comments on the Future of Work’s Report

    Angela Rayner – 2021 Comments on the Future of Work’s Report

    The comments made by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, on 13 May 2021.

    As a starting principle, work must provide a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work and employers must uphold both their legal and moral duties to treat their staff with dignity and respect.

    Under the Conservatives good, well-paid jobs that you can raise a family on and that provide security have too often been replaced by insecure and zero-hours jobs that offer only poverty wages, exploitation and mistreatment of workers.

    The Government’s neglect of employment rights has meant that surveillance and intrusive technologies usually associated with the gig economy are becoming commonplace. There is an urgent need for an Employment Bill that strengthens rights to ensure workers are protected to keep pace with changes in practice, including the use of algorithms to manage people.

    Coming out of this pandemic, the future of work must mean shifting the balance back towards working people and a new deal for workers.

  • Alok Sharma – 2021 Joint Statement with Spanish Deputy Prime Minister

    Alok Sharma – 2021 Joint Statement with Spanish Deputy Prime Minister

    The joint statement made by Alok Sharma and the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister on 12 May 2021.

    Today, despite the extraordinary times we are facing, we jointly reaffirmed that it is crucial that we reinforce and demonstrate that domestic and multilateral action needs to be accelerated on the way to COP26 in Glasgow.

    We underscored our determination to closely cooperate and lead by example through our own socially just energy and ecological transitions, and highlighted the need to encourage increased climate ambition, especially from the world’s major economies, in a context of cooperation and global solidarity.

    COP26 will be a crucial moment for establishing continued trust in the multilateral process for addressing climate action. In this context, we exchanged views on UNFCCC Negotiations, taking into account the need to reach a balanced outcome in Glasgow which lays the foundations for an African COP in 2022.

    We discussed the importance of scaling up international climate finance and private investment for both mitigation and adaptation as well as the crucial role of finance in enabling action and ambition – on both emissions and resilience – in all countries. This will be crucial in building the trust of developing countries ahead of COP26.

    Following Spain’s hosting of COP25, we also discussed the COP26 Presidency’s commitment to working with all countries to finalise the Paris Rulebook and successfully advance wider negotiations issues, including the elements required to drive increased ambition and transparency. We discussed how Spain can help drive progress on all of these fronts resolving that it is critical to work closely with all parties in order to ensure the success we need in Glasgow.

  • Christopher Pincher – 2021 Comments on Protections for Renters

    Christopher Pincher – 2021 Comments on Protections for Renters

    The comments made by Christopher Pincher, the Housing Minister, on 12 May 2021.

    From the beginning of the pandemic, we have taken unprecedented action to protect renters and help keep them in their homes.

    As COVID restrictions are eased in line with the Roadmap out of lockdown, we will ensure tenants continue to be supported with longer notice periods, while also balancing the need for landlords to access justice.

    Crucial financial support also remains in place including the furlough scheme and uplift to Universal Credit.

  • Priti Patel – 2021 Comments on the Draft Online Safety Bill

    Priti Patel – 2021 Comments on the Draft Online Safety Bill

    The comments made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, on 12 May 2021.

    This new legislation will force tech companies to report online child abuse on their platforms, giving our law enforcement agencies the evidence they need to bring these offenders to justice.

    Ruthless criminals who defraud millions of people and sick individuals who exploit the most vulnerable in our society cannot be allowed to operate unimpeded, and we are unapologetic in going after them.

    It’s time for tech companies to be held to account and to protect the British people from harm. If they fail to do so, they will face penalties.

  • Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on the Draft Online Safety Bill

    Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on the Draft Online Safety Bill

    The comments made by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 12 May 2021.

    Today the UK shows global leadership with our groundbreaking laws to usher in a new age of accountability for tech and bring fairness and accountability to the online world.

    We will protect children on the internet, crack down on racist abuse on social media and through new measures to safeguard our liberties, create a truly democratic digital age.

  • Iain Stewart – 2021 Comments on the Draft Online Safety Bill

    Iain Stewart – 2021 Comments on the Draft Online Safety Bill

    The comments made by Iain Stewart, the Minister for Scotland, on 12 May 2021.

    The recent sports social media protest against racist abuse of footballers underscored the need to crack down on harmful content online and hold tech companies to account.

    From protecting children from online dangers to tackling abuse on social media, this UK Government bill represents an important step forwards in making the web a safer place for everyone in Scotland and across the whole UK.

  • Alister Jack – 2021 Comments on the Queen’s Speech

    Alister Jack – 2021 Comments on the Queen’s Speech

    The comments made by Alister Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland, on 12 May 2021.

    This is a Queen’s Speech which delivers for people in Scotland, and right across the United Kingdom, as we focus entirely on recovering our economy and our public services from the devastating effects of the Covid pandemic.

    The Prime Minister and the UK Government have been working tirelessly on the pandemic, putting in place an unprecedented level of financial support, and securing millions of vaccine doses for people in all parts of the country. At all times we have prioritised both lives and livelihoods.

    The UK Government will continue to lead our recovery from the pandemic, as we Build Back Better and level up opportunities right across the UK.

    We will continue to support top level R&D, encourage our businesses to innovate, and create vital new and green jobs. We will invest directly in Scotland’s communities, building on the success of our £1.5 billion City Deals programme with Freeports, better connectivity, and a new UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

    And Scotland’s businesses will continue to benefit as, outside of the EU, we strike new trade deals around the world.

  • Angela Rayner – 2021 Comments on Covid-19 Inquiry

    Angela Rayner – 2021 Comments on Covid-19 Inquiry

    The comments made by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, on 11 May 2021.

    We welcome this commitment and will hold the Prime Minister to it.

    It must be entirely open and truly independent, have the trust and confidence of bereaved families, and cannot be an exercise in the Government marking its own homework.

    We went into this pandemic with the foundations of our public services and our communities weakened by a decade of Conservative governments. We must learn lessons from that, as well as from how the crisis has been handled.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2021 Comments on Government Letting Workers Down

    Rachel Reeves – 2021 Comments on Government Letting Workers Down

    The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 11 May 2021.

    To meet the challenges facing us as a country the Government must plan for the future.

    Our economic foundations were not strong enough going into the pandemic and as we thankfully emerge from it, people deserve something better than before.

    We need a transformation of our economy, so all workers have not only the skills they need, but fair pay for a fair day’s work, and greater security and opportunities for the future.

    That’s got to be a major test of this Queen’s Speech and one the Government looks set to fail.

    Labour would deliver a fair recovery, by valuing those who have kept our country moving, helping British industries to thrive and by creating good quality jobs in every community as we decarbonise our economy.