Party Lines: October 5th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today’s comments from Labour politicians were mostly focussed around the risk of cuts. Vernon Coaker responded to Michael Gove’s conference speech by attacking him over BSF, Gordon Brown spoke out on the risk of defence cuts and Yvette Cooper spoke out on welfare reform. Meanwhile Andy Burnham continued to sharpen his criticism of Andrew Lansley’s NHS restructuring.

Following the keynote education speech at Tory Party conference from Michael Gove – which suggested that schools could be opened in disused office blocks – shadow schools minister Vernon Coaker responded, saying:

“The promise of opening up a handful of schools in disused education department office blocks will be of no comfort to the 700 communities and over 700,000 children who have seen their promised new school building cancelled by the coalition government.”

“On the day when three local councils launched legal action against the government to challenge the cancellation of their school building programmes it is typically heartless that there was not a single mention of Building Schools for the Future from Michael Gove, let alone an apology for the hurt and damage he has caused.”

“This is another ill-thought out gimmick from the Education Secretary to distract attention from the true impact of his policies on some of the most deprived communities in our country.”

As the tussle between Liam Fox and David Cameron over defence spending continues, Gordon Brown has weighed in – arguing that cutting spending on aircraft carriers could prove more costly that completing them. According to the BBC, Brown was in Rosyth dockyard in Fife today, and said:

“We have 1,500 people who are serving the country here who are building and assembling parts of the aircraft carriers and they will be essential to the defence of Britain in future years.”

“We’ve got 170 apprentices here who have been taken on specifically for the aircraft carrier and they deserve the right to know that the work that they’re doing, which is of great national importance, is going to continue.”

Speaking to BBC’s Daily Politics show today, Andy Burnham questioned whether or not a re-structure of the NHS is neccessary:

“I would give all my attention to local services. It’s right to invest in reablement at home, but what I would not do is subject the NHS to huge and unnecessary reorganisation. It’s the last thing the NHS needs and it will cost £3 billion.”

Yvette Cooper attacked George Osborne’s benefit reforms, saying that they constitute a “shocking attack on children”:

“Government ministers clearly have no idea of the pressures ordinary parents face and how hard people are working to support their children. For sixty years there’s been a consensus that we all depend on the strength of future generations and society as a whole should help support children as they grow. Now the Tory Liberal coalition is ripping that up and leaving families to sink or swim. This gives the lie to the idea that cutting the deficit much faster will help the next generation — they are the ones paying the biggest price right now.”