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News From Labour |
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 | Take a long hard look at the Tories on crime - Johnson |
When it comes to crime, David Cameron is more concerned with headlines than policies. That’s why he talks Britain down by deliberately misleading the public about crime figures even though his party has been censured by the Statistics Authority for doing this. The reality is the Conservatives have voted against Labour’s measures to fight crime including opposing changes to the retention of DNA evidence – making it harder for the police to catch criminals. And they have campaigned against the use of CCTV which reduces the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour. Alan Johnson MP, Labour’s Home Secretary said: “Labour wants to see a future fair for all and today I am setting out the tough action we are taking to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. “While crime has been cut by over a third since 1997 and Labour is protecting front line policing the Conservatives have refused to say if they would protect the police budget. “Labour is clear about what we will do to keep people safe –the Tories’ refusal to reveal their own plans should not go unchallenged. Nor should their election candidates be able to continually mislead the public with dodgy crime statistics. “I am urging people today to take a long hard look at the Tories’ policies on crime and particularly the fact that they would make it harder for the police to use DNA to catch criminals. Our hard hitting short film exposes how weak the Tories are when it comes to fighting crime....
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| Michael Foot - statements from Gordon Brown and Ray Collins |
Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, commenting on the news that Michael Foot has passed away, said: "Michael Foot was a man of deep principle and passionate idealism and one of the most eloquent speakers Britain has ever heard. “He was an indomitable figure who always stood up for his beliefs and whether people agreed with him or not they admired his character and his steadfastness. “The respect he earned over a long life of service means that across our country today people, no matter their political views, will mourn the passing of a great and compassionate man. “All his life, Michael campaigned and fought for the ideals he believed in. I remember fondly my time with him and Jill Craigie, the love of his life - they both inspired me with their passion and kindness. They leave behind so many people whose grief overwhelms us today. “While Michael was a brilliant thinker – a first rate journalist and a celebrated biographer – he always knew that for the people and causes he had entered politics to represent, the Commons was not simply a forum for debate but the theatre of change. “As Leader of the Labour Party in the most difficult circumstances he was a respected and unifying figure who sought to steer it through turbulent times. And his record as a Labour minister and champion of working men and women will always be a tribute to his convictions and a source of pride...
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| For the last ten years the Conservatives have been concealing the truth - Straw |
Jack Straw MP, Labour's Justice Secretary, said: "Lord Ashcroft was initially turned down for a peerage. He was only granted his peerage on the basis that he would return to live in the UK, become fully resident, and that he would pay tax in the UK on his wider income. "Today Lord Ashcroft has been forced to admit that he has not complied with this promise and that for the last ten years the Conservatives have been concealing the truth. "Instead of paying tax in the UK on all his earned income, he has been channelling millions into the Conservative Party to help them buy this election. This is precisely what you'd expect from the old Tory party of the 80s and 90s. It just goes to show that rather than having really changed his party, David Cameron has kept it as it was. "Today David Cameron claims he proposed to change the law to force peers to pay full tax. He did not. The Tories' initial amendment left open an 'Ashcroft loophole', which would have allowed non-dom peers to avoid paying tax on their foreign income. Instead, it was this Labour Government which took action to ensure that in future every peer and MP is treated as a fully resident UK taxpayer."...
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| Action on anti-social behaviour |
Labour’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has set out the how the Government will step up the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour. Labour has taken tough action to bring down crime by over a third since 1997 but the Prime Minister said that there was still more to do – especially around anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime. The Prime Minister called on local authorities and police authorities to match the Labour Government's commitment to protecting police funding and maintain a strong police presence on the country's streets, which is key to reducing fear of crime. Gordon Brown said: "We were the first to recognise the damage that antisocial behaviour was doing to the soul of our communities. We were the first to address it. We were first to legislate to tackle it. And we will be the first to crack it. “Because I know that while we've made real progress, people are still worried about anti social behaviour. And if they are worried, I'm worried. “So that means stepping up our fight against those who terrorise our neighbourhoods; intimidate decent people on our streets; and seek to make us fearful in our own homes. “Let me tell you there is no place and no excuse for those who perpetrate antisocial behaviour in my Britain.”...
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| Gordon Brown's speech to Welsh Labour Conference |
Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, today addressed the Welsh Labour Conference. Gordon Brown said: Thank you friends – and let me say today that our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Chile who have suffered their country’s worst earthquake in 50 years. The people of Chile are in agony today, and Britain stands ready to help. And friends I wanted to talk about what we’ve achieved together – a Labour-led Welsh administration working with a Labour Government – a partnership that has changed Wales for the better and forever. You should be proud of the pioneering Proact and React jobs investments that have saved and created thousands of jobs. And for children and families, a nursery and early learning revolution that is transforming thousands of children's lives. For school children, the largest ever school modernisation programme in the history of our country. For Welsh teenagers and adults a modern skills for work strategy a million miles away from the so called youth opportunities of the Tory years. For young couples starting out, funds to deliver more than 6000 affordable homes. For travel throughout Wales, new investment in our railways and in the Ebbw Vale railway line – a key line connecting our communities, closed under the Tories and re-opened with Labour. And for our older heroes – Welsh Labour made Wales the first nation of the UK to offer free bus travel for pensioners. In so many ways Labour Wales has led...
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| Today's Conservatism looks more and more like a toxic cocktail of Tory traditions - David Miliband |
David Miliband MP, Labour's Foreign Secretary, today continued the themes of Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour Party's Spring Event in Warwick last weekend and exposed the lack of vision and change at the heart of the Tory Party. In a speech to Demos this afternoon, David Miliband spoke of the values that drive Labour's vision of a future fair for all and the threat that the Conservatives pose to the country. David Miliband said: "New Labour said the values never change but that the means need to be updated. The Tories want it the other way around. They say the values have changed, but, miraculously, the policies should stay the same "I recognise the Tory difficulty. We faced it after 1994. You need to reassure people you are not a risk; and you need to offer change. But while we promised evolution not revolution in the short term, like sticking to Tory spending limits, we offered a platform for radical change in the medium to long term, from the minimum wage to school investment. Cameron's got himself facing the other way round. The heart insisted on radical change in the short term - cuts in inheritance tax for the richest e states, a marriage tax allowance, immediate cuts in public spending, bring back fox hunting. But after that, the head gives the impression that it really doesn't know what to do, other than press pause on reform, offer a £1 million...
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| Tories plans will block investment and wreck the recovery - Healey |
John Healey MP, Labour’s Housing and Planning Minister responding to the Tories' planning green paper released today, said: "David Cameron can dress it up in whatever post-bureaucratic rhetoric he chooses. But when it comes to the crunch, the Tories planning proposals will be about as welcome as a hole in the head to a construction industry wanting greater certainty about its future. "Put simply, the Tories plans will block investment and wreck the recovery. "Given the chance to put these shoddy proposals in place, the Tories will put firms out of business, building workers on the dole and the ambitions of many thousands of would-be apprentices on the scrapheap. "It is also clear from this document that the Tories don’t care about building the affordable homes Britain needs, with councils being given free reign to abandon any such commitments and shatter the dreams and aspirations of young families in need." On the broader credibility of the Tories planning proposals, John Healey MP said: "If you were in any doubt about the Tories real priorities, the relative attention they give to dealing with travellers over supporting new sources of renewable energy – nine paragraphs compared with three – tells you all you need to know about how little Cameron’s Conservatives have changed." John Healey also commented on Tory proposals announced earlier today, attacking the Government for presiding over what they describe as ‘an unfair system of parking fines’. He added: "It's typical of the two-faced Tories to be saying one thing...
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| Gordon Brown's speech to Labour Party Spring Campaign Event |
Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, today addressed the Labour Party's Spring Campaign Event. Gordon Brown said: You know somebody asked me the other day what my secret weapon was for the election. I think they were expecting me to say those airbrushed posters – The greatest money Labour never spent. But do you know what our secret weapon actually is? Our beliefs, and the policies that flow from them. Because this election will be won or lost not on who has the best PR but whose values best reflect the aspirations of Britain’s mainstream majority. And the coming contest is a big choice; a choice about who’s best for Britain’s future. And you have to ask yourself, why am I looking forward to this contest more than David Cameron? It’s because only New Labour has a plan for Britain - substantial, costed, practical - how we can realise Britain’s values in a future fair for all. And yes New Labour has a record we can be proud of, that in every community in the country we see new schools, new hospitals, more teachers, more doctors, more nurses, more police, new Children's Centres. That’s the change the Tories never talk about, but that’s the change we see: - The NHS renewed and lives saved; - Jobs created and families held together and; - Schools built and potential unlocked. Yes we can be proud of the Britain we’ve been building together – dreams achieved, ambitions realised,...
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| Gordon Brown's speech to the Progressive Governance Conference |
Speech by Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party at the Progressive Governance Conference Over the last decade Policy Network has performed a momentous role in the development of progressive thinking, bringing us together as a global progressive family. Few organisations could have achieved more in such a short space of time. And in particular, let me say what an honour it is to welcome Prime Ministers Stoltenberg and Zapatero to Britain. Prime Minister Stoltenberg has been a global leader on development and climate change and let me thank him and Norway for their pioneering initiatives on health education and environment. And Prime Minister Zapatero has inspired the world with his passion and programme for social rights, his commitment to equality for women, and his determination that Spain will lead in international aid for the poorest countries of the world. By the actions they have taken, founded on the progressive beliefs they hold, both Prime Minister Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Zapatero have changed the world for the better and forever and we are very proud of all that they have achieved. And today, I want us to imagine what people will say of us all, a century from now. People look back on the moments that are the turning points in world history. 1789. 1848. 1945. 1989. Only in retrospect do people see the significance of the times they are living through. But in the last two years our world has been suffering not just an...
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| Hilary Benn challenges Cameron on Hunting Ban |
Thousands of people who back the ban on fox hunting today joined Hilary Benn MP, Labour's Environment Secretary, in signing an open letter to David Cameron calling on him to drop his pledge to abolish the ban and to make clear if he also plans to repeal the ban on stag hunting and hare coursing. Hilary Benn organised the mass letter in under 24 hours through the website www.BacktheBan.com, which brings together members of the public in support of the fox hunting ban. 2,000 people had signed up to the letter within only 2 hours of his request and the list of signatories is growing all the time. Thursday 18 February 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the hunting ban coming into force. 75% of the British public support the ban, and the RSPCA have stated that the Hunting Act has been a success. Hilary Benn MP said: “David Cameron’s plan to repeal the hunting ban shows that beneath the gloss the Tories haven’t changed. Five years ago, Labour banned fox hunting, stag hunting and hare coursing because there is no place for animal cruelty in a modern, civilised society. Making animals tear each other apart is cruelty, not sport. “The ban has worked and has allowed people to continue riding with hunts without the cruelty previously involved. In the countryside and the cities a huge majority of people back the ban and none of the pro-hunt lobby’s dire predictions have come true. "David Cameron’s personal opposition to the hunting...
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