Budget response from Labour.

Pensions
 
Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“George Osborne has tried to bury his £3 billion ‘Granny Tax’ raid on pensioners over the next four years. The freeze in the personal allowance for pensioners will see 4.4 million pensioners who pay income tax losing an average of £83 per year next April. And people turning 65 next year will lose up to £322.

Today Labour publishes ‘21st Century Defence’, a consultation paper, to launch the Labour Party Shadow Defence Review.

Labour will review the threats the UK faces, assessing the Government’s defence policy against recent events and expert opinion and seeking to define a long term vision for UK defence policy. 

In response to the news of Colonel Gaddafi's death, Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

"The death of Colonel Gaddafi marks the end of a tragic period in Libyan history marked by brutality and repression.

"This was unavoidable and inevitable. Throughout these events I haven’t called for Liam Fox’s resignation but just the full truth.
 
“Governments must have rules and Ministers must have standards. Liam Fox fell foul of the standards and he broke the rules. It was clear early on that he had breached the Ministerial Code.
 

A national e-petition has been launched this morning by Unite and GMB BAE Systems workers in support of 3,000 BAE Systems workers who face redundancy. You will recall the news on this issue breaking during Conference week. 

The e-petition can be found at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18283

Today Labour publishes an independent report produced for Labour’s Shadow Defence Team, ‘Ideas for Future UK Defence Procurement’.


This is the first piece of detailed work to be produced from the Labour Party’s official policy review process, led by Liam Byrne MP, which is reporting to Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, in 2012.

The review was set up by Jim Murphy MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, and Michael Dugher MP, Labour's Shadow Defence Minister, last year. An independent Review Team was established and this final study will be submitted to the Labour Party to inform the work of the Shadow Defence Team as they produce a comprehensive review of defence policy.