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Re: Press Office | Labour Party

Post by Ashton Edwards »

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From the Labour Party Press Office

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Labour Launches National Care Service Proposal

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Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary Ashton Edwards announces Labour's plan for National Care Service to provide support for those with social care needs, at a meeting of AgeUK, a charity that helps older people, in London.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAMDEN - Ashton Edwards, MP for Kensington and Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, announced Labour's plan to deliver a National Care Service over the course of a few years in a speech to the AgeUK* charity in London. The plan seeks to build on promises that have been made to refine the social care system; today, public assistance is only available to a small proportion of adults, including those over the age of 65, who need levels of care beyond what is provided by the NHS.

The Government had previously hinted at a consultation paper before the end of 2019- a document which did not materialise, leaving the current Government with no announced proposal for tackling social care reforms.

According to AgeUK, 1.4 million older people go without the care they need for essential everyday tasks such as getting washed or dressed. And those who try to get care are often left without help given a strict means test for public assistance.

The proposal would include immediate actions: restoring funding to local authorities to provide social care which have suffered due to austerity-related cuts to services, increasing the pay and benefits for those involved in social care work, and fully funding personal care at home for all adults over age 65 in need.

These initiatives would build towards a National Care Service wherein all needed care is provided for without charge at the point of use. And while national work needs to be done on coordination, service delivery will remain with local authorities as it does now, consistent with Labour's "Every Community Counts" initiative.

Labour is ready to take action, Edwards said in his speech, and it's time to move past the policy consultations, the green papers, and the white papers that have been proposed and published going back to before 2010.

Edward’s full remarks are reprinted below.
”I had considered opening with a poignant quote from a poem by Robert Browning- though I’ll admit I think I first heard it from John Lennon- that said ‘Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.’ It seemed as though it would be a great way to get attention and start a speech.

“I was disappointed to see that this had been used before- by Jeremy Hunt, two years ago. So I should apologize at least for stepping on his toes.

“But in that speech two years ago, Mr. Hunt said, in effect, that we had a lot of work to do to make the poignant line meaningful for millions in this country. In response to that, he pledged another green paper about what could be done about social care. That pledge would merely add to a pile of documents- more than a dozen White Papers, Green Papers, and consultations- about what we need to do and add little to the forward progress of providing social care.

“What is perhaps the strongest condemnation of that pile of documents on social care that has not resulted in meaningful reform actually comes from this group. The fragmented and rather poorly managed funding of social care- blame that ought to be placed almost solely on the shoulders of the national government- has become so bad that AgeUK has, on its website for discussing how to pay for social care, frequently-asked questions about whether someone should worry about losing their home to pay for care or whether they can give away their home to qualify for benefits.

“Benefits which are already paltry as is.

“And in laying out a plan that would result in another green paper, Mr. Hunt said that we as a country could do better. A country that has seen millions turned away from assistance in paying for care. A country where people leave the workforce to take care of family because there’s no one else there to do it- and where those who leave work as carers for sometimes no funding at all. A country where care home providers- when you can find them- are failing financially or failing to provide the quality and dignity of life that everyone deserves. A country where- like in my home constituency of Kensington- the council sells off a publicly-funded home to a private concern where penthouses are going for a minimum of £3 million.

“Well, we can do better. To get there, we're also going to do better than another green paper. Labour has proposed a National Care Service. And while there will be consultations and efforts to make this work, we’re also ready to start acting now.

“In the immediate term, this means that we’re going to expand funding for local authorities which are the providers of social care. First, we’re going to make up the £6 billion that is needed to bring care up to the level that it was at in 2010- right as austerity started to pull care support away from those in need. We know that the demand for social care services has grown, and we know that the Government has long asked for local authorities to do more with less. This new funding is going to get councils the resources they need to approve applications for assistance- rather than having to turn them down for lack of funds.

“In the immediate term, we’ll use £1 billion in funding to expand allowances and support to carers through local councils. These efforts will have the target of ensuring that those who care for others get compensation on par with the National Health Service. This both provides a meaningful thank you to those who are standing up to care for family, friends, and loved ones, and will help attract care workers into a field where there’s already a shortage of workers. I respect those who are willing to give up careers in order to care for those that they’re close to. Those individuals are just as much heroes as the front-line workers in our NHS, and they absolutely deserve to be rewarded and treated that way.

“And lastly, in the immediate term, we’ll use £10 billion to actually start expanding care. Currently, in order to qualify for aid on social care costs, the total value of your assets- including your home if you own it- is around £24,000. If you own- not make, but just own- more than that, your odds of getting meaningful financial help for social care are slim. It’s why AgeUK has to put up advice on whether you might need to sell or give away your home just to access basic social care. We’re going to immediately raise that to £125,000, and continue to raise it with inflation. That’s going to unlock access to care for a half a million adults who have no choice but to either face catastrophic costs on their own or go without. We’ll also put a cap on lifetime out-of-pocket expenses at £25,000; the moment you’ve paid that much- even if you already have- then our National Care Service will be funding the care you need from then on.

“This funding will also allow us to make personal care at home absolutely free for every adult over the age of 65, and provide a stipend equal to that amount for those who are in care homes. This personal care will be there to help with getting dressed, with cooking, with cleaning- with the services that people may need help with around their own homes on a day-to-day basis. Our funding will make sure that the pain or difficulty of doing tasks at home is no longer a barrier to a quality lifestyle for pensioners- because the last thing anyone should be worried about is whether they’ll have the strength or the ability to do those tasks alone.

“Our efforts in this end are just the start. They’re things that we can do easily enough… and that’s when it’s time for us to roll up our sleeves and get to work making a National Care Service that helps everyone.

“Over the course of the next few years, we’ll be phasing out the means test and lowering the lifetime costs cap. We’ll extend the payment of free social care to all adults. We’ll be raising the wages and benefits of caregivers to recognise their efforts on helping those who need it most. And we’ll expand the ability of local authorities to provide care services themselves- so that we’re not stuck relying on the £3 million care homes that almost no one in this country can afford. Local authorities will have the power to buy up underperforming or failing care service providers and given funding to start their own services as well to boost the availability of critically-needed care services

“We’ll also be working to put in place standards of care, a system to ensure those standards are met, and rules that help local authorities work more closely with the NHS on coordinating a combined approach that will help reduce the costs but also ensure that every adult who needs social care and medical care can get treated and cared for. Instead of having to worry about who to contact when you need a service, instead of worrying about dozens of different caregivers for different needs, every adult who needs one will have all their health needs assessed, shared, and most importantly covered- at no cost to that adult.

“A system like this is a large undertaking. There are questions to be answered about eligibility, about how to best deliver services, about how to ensure that this system is going to be around for the long term. They’re answers we’ve been working on, and they’ll include conversations with caregivers of health and social care, with those receiving care, and with groups like AgeUK and others that represent those who are most vulnerable but who will also benefit the most from this National Care Service.

“Some of the structures are already there. Through Health and Wellbeing Boards, local authorities and local NHS commissioners and providers already build relationships that we’ll need for a truly universal National Care Service to work. These boards also represent and will be open to carers and those in need alike. We’ll strengthen these institutions and ensure they’re funded to make sure that we can deliver a high standard of care across the country.

“And as part of Labour’s ‘Every Community Counts’ campaign, this also lives up to our promise to ensure that communities are the ones given the voice on how to deliver care to the people who live there. Care decisions should be made closest to those receiving them; this is how you get the best health outcomes and the best support for those in need.

“Through National Insurance contributions, we’re already making sure that there’s some funding available for health and that we can appropriately ringfence funding so it goes to where it’s needed. We’ll need to expand what we’re asking for- particularly from working age adults- to help pay for care, but by making sure that we have a fully-funded system, then it will always be there, for everyone.

“This year is the 72nd birthday of the NHS. And there were many challenges that had to be faced, questions answered, in setting up a system that has become a world-class example of what could be for other countries. But we addressed those challenges and developed a system that Britain is rightfully proud of.

“Our NHS is an example of the saying that what comes easy won’t last… and what lasts won’t come easy.

“Each time a Government puts out a green paper or a white paper or a consultation, they’re looking for that easy answer. A Government that promises they can do all this in one bill and without working with service providers and those in need, they’re looking for the easy answer.

“Our proposal is not an easy answer. It will take time and effort to implement. But we’ve been supported already by the work of so many: AgeUK, which has put together great resources to help people find care where it’s available now. The King’s Fund, which has put together some potential paths forward. Scotland, which has had free personal care at home for some time now. Carers, who have shown us that there is unending compassion in the United Kingdom towards those in need and who have shown me that we can do this. And those in need, for never staying silent, for pushing for all of us to find the best within us. But our National Care Service can last.

“And then, 72 years from now, when another speaker is talking about the NCS and the collaborative approach to health and wellness that we’re building on, they can cite Robert Browning and say ‘Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.’

“And with our work, they’d finally be right.”
*- Approved by Amelia
Ashton Edwards MP
MP for Kensington (2017-) | Labour
Shadow Foreign Secretary (2020-2021)
Shadow Health and Social Affairs Secretary (2020-2021)
Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary (2019-2021)

Shadow Health, Education and Social Care Secretary (2019-2020)
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Re: Press Office | Labour Party

Post by Dr. James Webster »

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From the Labour Party Press Office

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Dr. James Webster on Labour's vision for a New Economy

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LONDON - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Labour’s James Webster, spoke at event hosted by Bloomberg Live. He laid out Labour's vision for the future of the economy and how we can grow the economy while bringing prosperity for all. He condomed the last decade of austerity measures that have left wages flatlining, and millions of Britons underemployed or working on zero hour contracts. He argued for real investment into a green economy, infrastructure, education and more to help harness the productivity and the hard working attitude of the British People. Calling for a Government that focuses on bringing back long term growth.

Please find a full transcript of James's speech below:
Since being appointed Shadow Chancellor I have met with a lot of people, people who continue to work hard to provide for their families. People who just want to get ahead. The hardworking drive of Britons is something that we can all take great pride in. However, the economy that has been created since the financial crash, through a decade of Austerity, has made life nearly impossible for them. Something that the Tories missed in the era of austerity is the true human cost of cuts. When you cut programs designed to help workers, you keep wages flat and families are forced to do more with less. When you cut education, you rob children of the tools they need to build their own futures. When you sell off the NHS, you make it that much harder for someone to see a doctor when they need it or get treated. When you take police off our streets, our communities suffer in silence as they become increasingly unsafe. Those issues may not be a problem for the slashers on the government benches that order the cuts, but they are for the people of Britain. I think most people in Westminster have forgotten the human element of the budget, favoring a tax race to the bottom instead of giving people the support they need. It’s high time we had a new and ambitious economy that will help everyday Britons to provide for their families, take care of themselves when they get sick, and to give a brighter future to their children. Instead of more of the same, we need an economy that favors the security of all Britons. A system built around the principle of success for all. One that pushes for real growth instead of doubling down on the same failed practices of this lost decade.

Recovery isn’t just about whether people are at work. Recovery is making sure that every Britons has the best possible chance to succeed with their hard work. Over 3 million Britons are underemployed, more than at any point during the Great Recession. That is a real failure of the post recession economy. We saw everything on the table as far as cuts to social programs - funding was stolen away from every department under the Government’s premise that it would lead to a quicker economic recovery. We now have the proof that this belief was entirely flawed, and entirely political. Whilst growth stagnated, infant mortality rose for the first time in two generations. Over four million children live in poverty. It’s not that people aren’t working hard, but it's that the economy this government has piloted doesn’t give them the pay they need to lift themselves up. I’m sick and tired of them saying that other people’s economic situation can be solved by working harder. People are working hard. They are just not receiving any help to get themselves ahead. Given how many Britons are working flat out just to keep their heads above water shows that if we built an economy that supports instead of destitution, then Britain would thrive. The economy is made up of real people with real stories, and it’s time that their government stopped kicking them down, and instead helped them up.

And the economy isn’t just not working for average Britons; it’s barely working for businesses. It certainly hasn’t worked for the people whose wages and profits have stagnated over the past decade. The very structure of the economy they built does not allow our country to grow. Austerity has shrunk the economy, and taken the winds out of its sails. If you don’t believe me, let us look at the UK’s international rankings. This government has played with our Global Competitiveness ranking; on which we are down since 2016. The Ease of doing business index, which goes back before the recession, dropped us from 6th in 2007 to 9th in 2019. As wealth gets further consolidated in the hands of the few, how can you continue to support this faux-competition in the economy? The Conservatives have shrunk the British economy. I say enough is enough.

It’s time for a fresh vision. It’s time for a vision that makes the right investments in infrastructure and throughout our economy that will help our economy grow throughout all of Britain. It’s time for a vision that looks at social programs and sees the people behind them. That looks at the struggling people in this country and thinks about how they can help them. That looks to create long term and sustainable growth that increases the wealth of all Britons, and provides long term economic security.. We need to look to the future with a vision of hope and hard work. People are struggling in this country, and it’s time we stopped looking at it - and started changing it. It’s time that we evaluated future social programs for how they can help improve the lives of people, and not just numbers on a page. We need to rebuild the principle that when working people succeed, Britain does too. I believe that we have no higher patriotic duty than to make sure that every person, in all parts of this country, will see the effects of an economy that is genuinely built for them. Let’s bring on an age where everyone can get a fairer share of the wealth they work for.

Labour will build a new model for the economy. We recognize the problems of today, and would not waste time fixing them. We need real investment in our infrastructure to make it easier to get to work, to log in, and to connect with customers throughout the UK and abroad. Real investment requires trust that we will follow through. No cancelling projects after running election after election on their completion. The Labour party will finish HS2. We will invest in rail infrastructure throughout the UK especially in the communities that need it most. We are going to expand the NHS so that it can be more efficient and provide better coverage and treatment for many years to come. And we are finally going to tackle the overcrowding in our classrooms and address the massive teacher shortage that we have in this country. The people that make these services work and strengthen the public sector are long overdue a real increase in their wages, and it’s high time that a government delivered them one. We won’t stop there, we need to make sure that our streets are safe by making a real investment to tackle knife crime. Social care in this country needs to be addressed, and my great friend Ashton Edwards announced our plan to create a National Care Service starting with those above the age of 65 and slowly expanding care each year. Part of the new economy is that we will create a high paying green collar sector. We are going to work alongside the private sector to build the green revolution with Britain at the center of it. Our Social Wealth and Credit program will provide loans to the vital New Economy and Green revolution industries. Britain can be a leader in the production of electric cars and airplanes, clean energy, and more - if we make the investments in the research and development of the technologies today. We must do more to address climate change. Fight for cleaner air in the UK, which means less asthma and other health conditions associated with poor air quality. We have pledged to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2030; we cannot achieve that goal on lofty promises alone. We will invest in renewables to achieve energy independence, so that we are no longer reliant on foreign oil. By making people healthier, well educated, and more secure, productivity will increase allowing our businesses to be more competitive on an increasingly global scale. As people are becoming more productive we will make sure that they receive fair compensation for their work. We will raise the National Living Wage to truly live up to its name. Our new economy will make the UK economy competitive throughout the world, and deliver for people right here at home.

When working people succeed, Britain succeeds. That is why we need a vision that looks at the people who make up the economy, instead of just abstract balance sheets. I find that I quite agree with the words of Robert Kennedy. For too long we have surrendered community excellence and community values for the accumulation of material things. Our Gross Domestic Product includes the pollutants we put in the air, the waste we put in our water. It measures the knives bought to threaten our communities, and the advertisements made to sell us more products. However, it does not count the health, education, or the fun our children have. It doesn’t include the arts, strength of our communities, our trust in our leaders, our devotion to our country, nor does it measure our compassion. Often what's not counted is what's most important to a family. It’s time to look past just the numbers, and really build an economy that works for everyone. One that doesn’t accept child poverty. One that fights for safer streets. One that puts the future of our environment first. Where we can make it easier for people who work hard to succeed. Where we regain competition in our economy, and bring real prosperity to Britain again. It’s time for a new economy where everyone counts, and we can all look to the future and have hope once again.
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Re: Press Office | Labour Party

Post by Emily Greenwood »

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From the Labour Party Press Office

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Emily Greenwood calls for a new, positive unionism: "We belong together because we're stronger together."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MERTHYR TYDFIL - Labour leader Emily Greenwood spoke passionately about her vision for the Union in a speech given at Merthyr Tydfil, the former seat of her first predecessor, Keir Hardie and joint first seat in Britain to elect a Labour Member of Parliament. Emily unveiled several policy elements towards building a more cooperative, constructive Union, arguing that the Union goes beyond constitutional or political questions. Commenting on the symbolism of the location before her speech, the Leader of the Opposition said: "Keir Hardie was a born Scotsman elected to represent a Welsh working-class community. He worked tirelessly to build a better Britain for working people and vulnerable communities all across the country, and it is in that spirit that I want to see the Union: bringing our nations and the people who make those nations together to strengthen us all."

Please find a full transcript of Emily's speech below:
Ladies and gentlemen,

When I was 18 years old and had just left sixth form, my friends and I decided, as so many of our age, to celebrate our A-levels and go on a trip together. Where so many of our classmates got on a plane to the sun, we decided on a different plan: we’d go on an adventure to properly see our own country, on foot from Land’s End to John o’Groats. It’d take us months - months in which we learned a lot about ourselves and eachother, valuable life lessons, and made new friends all over the country that we’d meet on the road. I cherish those memories - not least because this was when my husband and I first got together. But that is a story for another time.

Because that journey helped me to discover the Union - and in these days when we’re all talking about it, and it’s even made the hallowed ranks of the Great Offices, it’s a lesson I feel I need to share. Because we seem to have arrived at a point where any conversation we have about the Union, and unionism, devolves into an argument about politics and the constitution.

But when you crisscross this country from its one end to the other, you start to notice hints that it isn’t like that. The scenery changes; the accents meld into eachother; the businesses you see might look different from place to place; you can have a violent disagreeement about how to eat scones. But still, somehow, it all feels like home. They’re all deeply, indelibly British, part of the same family of nations and regions within those nations. It’s not just because you know you’re still in your home country, or pay across the land with pounds bearing the head of our Queen, or that on some holidays you’d see the Union Jack displayed wherever you were. It’s a deeper sense of home you feel in the welcome at the local pub, the solidarity of our communities, our pride in where we come from, its landscape and people, our delight in quirky traditions whether we share them or not, our sense of fairness and willingness to help.

Whole books have been written on why we are this way, on how being on this island together has made us who we are. All I know is that wherever you are in Britain, it will still feel like home - diverse, yes, but familiar.

That is why we’re a Union. It is why I am a unionist. And it is why we cannot afford to reduce the Union to politics and constitutions. The Union may have started because we came to have the same monarch and a single government in their name, but what’s keeping it together and makes it succeed is much older. It’s a sense that flows not from London and Westminster to all corners of our country between Land’s End and John o’Groats, but rather the other way round - from and between our communities and nations. A sense of solidarity in every community and between every community, that for all our differences, we belong together because we are stronger together.

I passionately believe that to defend the Union, you need to put this principle front and centre. No grand office, no constitutional argument, no imposition can hope to be as strong. For the Union is not something that can be imposed top-down - it has to be built bottom-up. And when devolution started, not a long time before I made my long walk from Land’s End to John o’Groats, that is what we started building - a renewal of the union to be bottom-up, not top-down.

We’ve grown more diverse since then. Gone are the days when Scotland and Wales would elect the same government at Holyrood and Cardiff as we have at Westminster. And you know, that’s alright - our country is a big place, and diverse at that. The needs of Glasgow are not the needs of Birmingham or London, and the needs of a rural community in Clwyd are not the same as the needs of the Home Counties. But instead of celebrating that diversity, we’ve seen Conservative governments at Westminster, out of fear or political expediency, withdraw in the same old top-down divisive discussion: should we stay or should we go? Fly the Union Jack or the national flag? Call it Union or Regions Secretary?

It’s a false choice, and its effect, intended or not, is to rob the Union of its soul and make it a pure political construct that stirs the passions but does not stir the heart. As a unionist, I want Scotland and Wales to stay. But I do not want my determination to prevent a breakup of the Union to distract attention from the real fight: making it worth it for all the parts of our family of nations to stay in the Union. And we know it works because it has worked - because when Scotland voted once in a generation on whether to leave the Union, we promised to make it work for them, and they stayed. And we delivered on that promise.

But we must do more than that. Scotland and Wales are not like England. They face their own challenges, from the former mining towns in Wales to struggling cities in Scotland’s central belt. Their local economy has struggled, and will struggle because of Brexit. I refuse to see them lose out, and will see to it that our Brexit Communities Fund will help communities wherever they are thrive during and after the Brexit transition. But at the local level, it’s about jobs and businesses, hard-working Scots and Welshmen and their families who may have different needs if they lose their job than Westminster policy can provide. Solidarity is strong in Scotland and Wales - and that is why Labour will devolve social security policy and greater powers over taxation to them, so they can lead the way.

And we know that greater powers work for Wales and Scotland - we’ve seen it in Wales, where Mark Drakeford’s Labour government is showing all how a devolved administration can make these powers work to solve local problems overlooked for far too long by Westminster. Opponents will sneer that they should use their powers to the full extent first before we consider new ones. They are missing the point. Devolution is not based on what you use - it should be based on what you need. It is not for Westminster to lecture, but to empower. And the plain fact of the matter is that Scotland and Wales need to have the power to meet the challenges of the post-Brexit economy head-on - and Labour will deliver on this.

It’s not just in Scotland or Wales’s interest to do this - but in all our interests. A stronger Scotland and Wales means a stronger Britain - it’s that simple. But it goes deeper than that. Problems in Wales and Scotland may take their own form, but there are many common challenges we face. Take the problem of social care and the ageing population which we all have. Thanks to devolution, Scotland has already taken strides in tackling this issue. And though it’s not perfect, the experiences north of the border will help us solve these problems in Wales or England as well. Wales has led the way in abolishing prescription charges, followed by Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Like we learn to solve our life’s problems in our families, so our family of nations must learn from eachother and work together to tackle our common challenges as well. That’s how it started, with ministers from the devolved governments and Westminster meeting eachother frequently on the issues in the Joint Ministerial Committee. Look at how it’s going. The sub-committees stopped meeting several years ago. Meetings of the plenary have been ad hoc and sometimes infrequent. And at Westminster, we saw the departments for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland rolled into a Union Department headed by a man who wishes to tell the nations how to govern themselves rather than empower them, as though we were back in the days of Thatcher and the poll tax. We saw a Prime Minister violate the devolved power of Wales over education to hoist the Union Jack above schools.

We can do better than this. And that is why, as Prime Minister, I won’t just convene the JMC regularly. I will give it a statutory basis and reform it to be a true forum for cooperatively solving our problems and exchanging best practices. This doesn’t come out of nowhere - many countries where local governments wield such powers as in our devolved system have a system like this. We’ll make the JMC into a Council of Ministers, chaired not by the Prime Minister but rotating between the governments of the United Kingdom. Meeting in all parts of our United Kingdom. With formal decision-making powers where the boundaries between devolved and reserved powers are concerned, and in those areas where different rules in different parts of the UK lead to questions. A place where we can have the perennial discussion about funding in a constructive manner. A body to coordinate, to cooperate, and to learn. That is more meaningful to the preservation of the Union than the status of any office, no matter how great.

The Tories have shown their colours: confrontation, not cooperation. Lecturing, not learning. Division, not unity. Labour offers a different, positive unionism. One that doesn’t talk down to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but gives them the powers they need to make devolution count. We’ve spent so long talking about politics and constitutions that we forget one thing: when we put power in the hands of the Scots, the Welsh and the Northern Irish to govern their own affairs, we charted a new course for the Union that better reflects its unique strengths: its unity in diversity. The Union was never about Westminster, but about all those communities up and down this country whose unique strengths are more than the sum of its parts. Devolution reflects that - and needs to keep reflecting it. That is the true duty we have as Westminster politicians to preserve our union.

So that, when another group of wanderers traverses our island nation, they’ll see Britain for what it is: a diverse place, full of beauty in its landscapes and strength in its communities. A place where every community counts, where we’re stronger together than we are apart. Where the laws governing each place’s school or hospital, business or planning, are made by those best able to tackle the local challenges - and where we learn from eachother how we can tackle common challenges.

We’re stronger together, because we belong together. And we belong together, because we’re stronger together. That is what I learned twenty years ago. That is what Britain is. So let’s stop this sterile polarisation that drives us apart. Let’s make Scotland count, let’s make Wales and Northern Ireland count. Let’s make politics count for all parts of the United Kingdom, directly or indirectly. Let’s bring Britain back together - so that every community counts in this family of nations, no matter where you are.

Thank you.
Emily Greenwood MP
Labour MP for Copeland (2010-present)
Shadow Minister for Schools (2013-present)

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In previous versions, twice Leader of the Labour Party, once Prime Minister
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Re: Press Office | Labour Party

Post by Dr. James Webster »

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From the Labour Party Press Office

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Dr. James Webster reveals Labour's Shadow Budget

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LONDON - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Labour’s James Webster, recently unveiled Labour's Shadow budget in a press conference to the media. The shadow budget would fund the National Care service, increased benefits, invests in Infrastructure, tackling knife crime and giving a pay increase to our Public Service Heroes. The Shadow Budget would also abolishes tuition fees, and make sure that rural and coastal communities receive the subsidies that they got under the EU to make the transition as seamless as possible.

Please find a full transcript of James's speech below:
Only a few months ago I called for a New Economy for Britain, one that made real investments into the lives of our citizens. One that provided a real chance for all people in Britain. This shadow budget is the start of the Labour movement’s vision for a better economy for all. Making real investments in our economy. A budget that lowers the day to day deficit and includes no shadow cuts or any other secret cuts. The future of the economy will be decided over the next few years and if we do not fight for a greater stronger economy for all now. Less and less money going to those who need it. It’s time Britain had a real change, not the electioneering knock off version that the Tories are using to fix problems they spent the last decade creating. Our shadow budget would make a real investment in our economy and will serve as the foundation for creating a stronger Britain, where every community counts.

Ultimately I’m not here to announce the creation of any new massive flashy projects. No Webster Airport, Greenwood Tunnel, or Giant sea bridge to try to win votes. No, I'm here because I want the investment Labour makes to focus on how we can improve the lives of all Britons. A bold vision of investment into our economy, with the goal of improving the lives of our citizens. That means real investment into people’s lives. Investment into police to make people safe. Investment into pensions and social programs to make sure people have the help they need. Investment into schools so that our children have the best education possible. Our healthcare so that people can have healthier lives and the environment so people have clean air and water.

Firstly, I think there is a clear difference between our real investment into the British Economy, and the Tories desperate plea to save their disastrous government. In the Home Office we were not looking to purely penny pinch to save money for the flashy investments. We on the other hand included the 200 million pounds to fight knife crime that is needed to address the growing crisis. We also made sure to include a 5% increase in wages for our Public Service heroes, including our Police officers. Police officers themselves said they need this raise to retain officers and really end the hemorrhage of officers the Tories started. The Tories made big promises on how they were going to fight knife crime, but they forgot to provide the budget they callously forgot to provide the funding to keep people safe.

We need investment in people’s lives, and to help those most in need. That is why all work and pensions received a base 5% increase in Labour’s shadow budget. That would mean 5% more for pensioners. More money to help job seekers. More housing support and more money for disability. Along with expansion of both the Child Benefit and Child Credits to 25 pounds and 85 pounds respectively. Our parents need a hand, and Labour would deliver for them. We will also help our elderly by increasing the Winter Fuel payment to 250 pounds. It’s a shame how many buzzwords and big promises the Tories make only to abandon those promises mere months later. They should have increased the payments more than just 1.3% in real terms. We need to do more for our elderly and make sure that they have the fuel they need to keep warm in the winter.

While the news has made a big deal out of the Tories expansion of the NHS, they didn’t go nearly far enough. Not only that but even though they promised reform, they failed to deliver any changes to social care. They failed to build any new hospitals. Our health plan would build 19 new hospitals which will strengthen the health and well being of Britons. We would also add another 1.5 billion pounds into the NHS in various aspects to improve health including more funding for research, education, and training, as well as for Emergency and Ambulatory Services. We would make sure that the first step in the creation of a National Care service is funded, including free personal care for anyone over the age of 65, as outlined by my great friend Ashton Edwards in his announcement “[the] personal care will be there to help with getting dressed, with cooking, with cleaning- with the services that people may need help with around their own homes on a day-to-day basis.” This will be paid in large part by a 1% increase in the National Insurance. The Tories have gone so far to admit there was a problem. From two Health and Social Care ministers promising action and this budget shows that they callously chose to do nothing.

On education, our actions are very simple: we increased free childcare hours to 15 for all 2-3 year olds, and free hours for 1-2 year olds to 5 hours. The Labour party will continue to work towards expanding childcare hours. Along with the abolition of tuition fees and making sure to expand the grants that go to our higher education programs. People who want to go to get a university education should not be limited on whether or not they can afford to. We also will not introduce any ex post facto taxes like a grad tax on our students. We also expanded funding for Research Councils and adult skills. Labour will always fight to improve education from cradle-to grave.

For day to day infrastructure we continue to look for areas where we should be doing more. As such we would provide 50 million more into insulation projects and invest 550 million more than the Government into renewable investment. We need cleaner air and to meet our climate targets, which only happens through real investment in renewable energy. This combined with further investment in the future will create thousands of green British jobs. Our Infrastructure investment includes both rail and bus subsidies, which will allow more people to use public transit lowering the overall carbon in our atmosphere. We will give the first real expansion of funding to London Transport since Boris Johnson was their mayor. London transit is close to being the first public transit for a capital city in the world to turn a profit; it’s time we gave them a hand in achieving that goal.

For capital infrastructure we would provide 3 billion pounds to start our Rail plan that would improve rail infrastructure throughout England and Wales. It remains unacceptable that both in the Southwest of England and the North of England trains barely go faster than a car. If we are going to save our planet we need to encourage people to use trains and that only happens if they are convenient to use. While the Tories were only able to find an extra 500 million for HS2 after their constant flip flops on it, Labour would make a real improvement into our infrastructure. Our infrastructure will never improve if we continue to do the bare minimum.

Finally and most important of all, we turn to EU subsidies, and notice I guess the complete lack of a plan from this Government. They’re hoping that voodoo economics saves rural and coastal communities. On one hand the Government talks about how much better farmers and fishermen will be outside of CAP and CFP, however on the other the Government decided that they shouldn’t pick up the slack of lost EU subsidies. This is ultimately a giant mistake and massive shame on our Government. To decide that the communities they say have the most to gain from their Brexit, should not receive the crucial help they need is a complete return to callousness that has always governed Tory fiscal policy, and should be looked to as the model of what a Tory budget would look like should they return to a majority and feel secure. Losing the subsidies will put our rural and coastal communities at a severe disadvantage compared to European farmers. The shock could be quite damaging to those communities and the Tories are penny pinching to completely cut them in one budget.

For a budget being touted by Tory members exactly like a Labour budget would be, I must admit, on taxes they went above and beyond to attack the working classes, such as with their extremely regressive increases in the Tobacco and alcohol excise taxes. Comparatively we sought to only increase them a mild amount, and will work once inside the Government to do more to discourage smoking by using methods that have worked in other countries, instead of looking to tax the poor for the addictive properties of these substances. Our shadow budget would fight climate change more by raising the carbon price to 8 pounds per kilogram. We are going to make sure companies see the real social cost of Carbon and do more to help decarbonize Britain. To help fund the massive investment we have made in Britain we will bring up corporate taxes to just under the G7 average and introduce a new 50p top rate at 150k pounds.

Whereas the Tories went for flashy investments and cuts where they could find them, we went for a budget that would ultimately make Britain a stronger country. Ultimately our Shadow budget is our answer on how we could improve the lives of the British people. From making sure that we deliver on our promises to bringing real social care to this country. We would make sure our communities are safe against knife crime by actually making sure our police stay in their jobs and have the funding to address knife crimes. By abolishing tuition fees so that all students who want to go to university can. By making sure the communities that have the most to lose from Brexit are protected against that. We offer a complete investment into our economy, the Tories offer a short term investment built around trying to make their government survive.
Shadow budget
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