Party Lines: November 18th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Speaking on the Today Programme, Yvette Cooper said the need for a law requiring councils to tackle social deprivation was more acute in light of spending cuts and criticised the government’s decision to abolish such a requirement:

“What I think it would is expect councils, police, other organisations to think about the impact of their decisions on people who are disadvantaged and on low incomes. At a time when these organisations are being asked to make 20-25% spending cuts, for them to be focused on the impact that that’s going to have on disadvantaged areas I think is really important.”

Jim Murphy responded to leaked documents from the Ministry of Defence in today’s Daily Telegraph:

“There will be real surprise that the government didn’t consult our allies, didn’t consult our forces and didn’t consult the public. Decisions were stitched up in Whitehall to meet the government’s spending plans, not our nation’s security needs.”

“As a result the morale of our brave personnel has been badly damaged.”

“We all know the Defence Review created big gaps in our defence capability, and now it is clear there is a gaping chasm in the government’s credibility.”

John Healey responded to Pulse’s finding that A&E waiting times have jumped since the coalition scrapped Labour’s targets:

“These latest figures show a worrying jump in A&E waiting times since the coalition began scrapping Labour’s NHS performance targets. It’s early days, but these waiting times will add to concerns about the strains the NHS is facing. This jump in A&E waiting times shows that now is the wrong time for Andrew Lansley to embark on an untested £3 billion top-down NHS reorganisation at a time when all efforts should be going into patient care.”