Join with Labour to Save Our Sure Start

Labour is today joining forces with families across England in a campaign to Save Our Sure Start children’s centres from David Cameron’s plans to cut their funding and prevent access to these valuable services for families on middle and modest incomes.

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls launched the campaign today as he welcomed the opening of the 3,500th Sure Start children’s centre for parents and children across England.

Families are invited to show how much they love their Sure Start centre at a new website www.saveoursurestart.com.

The Tories would cut Sure Start from families on middle and modest incomes. Instead of the universal service Labour has created for all families, the Tories have said they would cut £200 million each year from the Sure Start budget – which could see one in five children’s centres being forced to close.

Labour’s campaign is backed by ordinary families, children’s champions and celebrity mums, including Arabella Weir, Jo Brand and actress Michelle Collins. Michelle Collins, celebrity Labour supporter and former EastEnders star said:

“There’s nothing more important than giving all children the best possible start in life.

Tory plans to publish local government pay challenged

Sir Jeremy Beecham challenges LGA Conservatives on Cameron’s proposals to identify individual local government pay packages.

David Cameron has announced a raft of requirements for local councils to follow, including the publication of all individual items of public expenditure over £500, publish every procurement contract they sign and publish online the details of all local government staff pay packages over a threshold of around £60,000.

Responding to the proposals, Sir Jeremy Beecham, Labour’s Leader in Local Government, said “These proposals from David Cameron, the self-proclaimed champion of localism, are an unnecessary bureaucratic burden and an infringement of the privacy of thousands of public servants. Is he singling out local government as an easy political target? It’s surprising he’s not suggesting that every public body from schools to hospitals, colleges to universities should do the same, so that the details of every head teacher, GP or senior academic is also online, together with vast numbers of contracts, large and small.

It’s time for the Tories to come clean on schools

Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, is today urging people to take a long hard look at the Tories plans for schools.

He is challenging the Tories to come clean on how they will pay for their two flagship schools policies – new ‘free market’ schools and a national ‘pupil premium’.

Earlier today, Ed Balls set out to Parliament further details of funding for schools up to 2013, following the Pre-Budget Report announcement that funding for Labour’s frontline priorities will be protected, including schools, Sure Start and 16-19 education.

Ed Balls MP said: “Labour’s Pre-Budget Report made clear that while there will be tough decisions to halve the deficit within four years, we will protect frontline funding for our priorities, including schools, Sure Start and 16-19 education.

Securing the recovery, not putting it at risk

Labour publishes A Future Fair for All: Securing the recovery, not putting it at risk.

Alongside a speech by Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, on the economy, the Labour Party today published A Future Fair for All: Securing the recovery, not putting it at risk.

The document sets out the choice that Britain faces between growth and increasing prosperity with Labour, or a decade of austerity, low growth and low employment under the Tories.

Gordon Brown said:

“There is nothing pre-ordained or automatic about the upturn, either here or around the world. While we have come through the worst of this dreadful storm, the waters are still choppy. There are still real risks to the recovery. And we must be alive to them.

Take a long hard look at the Tories on crime

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.

Tory NHS plans could see 4 million evening and weekend GP appointments cut

Labour today set out plans to improve GP access by abolishing GP practice boundaries. But Conservative plans to let GPs cut their opening hours could see more than 4 million evening and weekend GP appointments lost.

Labour’s Health Secretary Andy Burnham MP said:

“People should take a long hard look at what the Tories say their plans are for the NHS. Evening and weekend opening hours are a keenly felt benefit for the millions of patients who need to be able to see a GP at a time that’s convenient to them. Hard-pressed families will be shocked to discover that for all his talk about understanding the concerns of real people, David Cameron is actually planning to cut as many as 4 million GP appointments at the evenings and weekends.”

Michael Foot – statement from Ray Collins, Labour Party General Secretary

Ray Collins, General Secretary of the Labour Party, on learning of Michael Foot’s passing away said:

“Michael Foot’s passing is very sad news for the Labour Party and the wider movement. As leader of our party, a Labour Minister, a writer and a man he was a tireless campaigner for social justice, whose intelligence, charm and courage will be remembered for years to come.

“As Michael Foot himself said, government by consent is the most sacred cause of all. As a young man I was fortunate to see at first hand Michael’s own skill in government, when as Secretary of State for Employment, with Jack Jones of the T and G, he forged the Health and Safety at Work Act which protected millions of working people from injury and illness.

“It is a mark of Michael Foot’s quality as a man and the scale of his contribution to public life over almost seven decades that it is hard to summarise in a single sentence. He was possibly one of the few writers who could. As well as pivotal biographies, Labour Party members will remember the clarity and passion of his writing against the appeasement of the 1930s, nuclear weapons, or Apartheid and in support of social justice.

Michael Foot – statement from Gordon Brown

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.

David Sparks elected Leader of Labour in Local Government

Councillor David Sparks (Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council) has been elected as the new Leader Elect of the LGA Labour Group. He won in a contest with Councillor Peter Box (Wakefield Metropolitan District Council) and Councillor John Merry (Salford City Council).

Sir Jeremy Beecham, Labour’s Leader in Local Government, said:

“I am delighted to welcome Councillor David Sparks as Leader Elect of the LGA Labour Group. David will take over the leadership after I stand down at the LGA Conference in July. He has worked tirelessly and effectively over the years on behalf of local Labour in Dudley, in the West Midlands, and nationally as part of the Leadership team at the LGA. I know he has the experience and skills to lead the LGA Labour Group and will continue to fight the corner for Labour Councillors within the LGA, the Labour Party and the media.

“In the potentially turbulent political and economic times ahead, it is more important than ever that Labour in Local Government has a strong collective voice, anchored both in the communities we represent and in the values we as a party cherish.

Instead of paying UK tax Ashcroft has been helping the Tories “buy this election”

Responding to Lord Ashcroft’s statement published earlier today confirming his ‘non-dom’ tax status, 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.