We’re running a bit late today, mainly because a number of these releases were embargoed until after midnight…

• Tory cuts are forcing schools to beg and borrow from communities – Moran
• Lib Dems: Tories failing to fund adult social care
• Tory cuts driving down quality of care homes
• Govt must act to prevent another Windrush
• Make school uniforms gender neutral – Lib Dems
• Davey: End ‘right to rent’ checks and Hostile Environment
• Swinson: PM’s guarantees to protect workers’ rights not worth the paper they’re written on

Tory cuts are forcing schools to beg and borrow from communities – Moran

Responding to reports that parents are being asked to pay for staff wages and books by schools, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Layla Moran said:

These stories are becoming all to common.

Schools are having to beg and borrow from their communities to make ends meet. But some schools especially in poorer areas don’t have a parent body who can afford to help plug the gaps.

This is the raw reality of this Government’s failure to engage on the school funding issues. It’s time we funded our schools properly.

Lib Dems: Tories failing to fund adult social care

Responding to the reports from the LGA that council tax rises in 2019/20 will not bring in enough money to prevent the need for further cutbacks to adult social care, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Judith Jolly said:

The current way the Tories are running the care system is unsustainable. As it becomes more and more difficult for people in the UK to get the help they need, it becomes clear something needs to change, and it needs to happen now.

For months the Liberal Democrats have been calling on the Conservative Government to publish the Social Care Green Paper so that we can begin to address this crisis. But instead the Tories have delayed and delayed this since the summer of 2017 as they fail to address the ballooning funding gap for adult social care.

The Liberal Democrats are ready and willing to challenge the problem in social care. We will transform the care older people receive and reduce the inequality in provision. We will put a penny in the pound on income tax to directly invest in social care as a first step to address the funding problems.

Tory cuts driving down quality of care homes

Responding to the report from Independent Age stating that the quality of care homes has worsened in the last year in more than a third of local authorities (37%), Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Judith Jolly said:

We are now seeing the serious consequences the Tories’ cuts are having on the care older people receive. It is unacceptable that older people and families are having to choose between one poorly-performing care home and another poorly-performing care home.

The Tories’ sustained cuts to local government funding is contributing to the fall in standards of care, as is their failure to publish the Social Care Green Paper.

The Liberal Democrats are ready and willing to challenge the problems in social care. We will transform the care older people receive and reduce the inequality in provision. We will put a penny in the pound on income tax to directly invest in social care to reverse the deterioration in care.

Govt must act to prevent another Windrush

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee’s Report on the Windrush Generation and the Home Office, Liberal Democrat MP and member of the Public Accounts Committee, Layla Moran said:

The Windrush Scandal demonstrated the extent of the Home Office’s indifference to the human impact of its hostile environment policies. The Conservative Government’s continued failure to put things right for the victims of this scandal is shameful.

The Government must meet the urgent housing requirements of members of the Windrush Generation, as well as providing them with proper compensation.

We must ensure that this scandal never happens again, but the Settled Status scheme for EU citizens risks leaving many thousands of them facing the same problems as the Windrush Generation after Brexit. The only way to prevent it is to end the hostile environment completely and take responsibility for immigration away from the Home Office and its toxic culture.

Make school uniforms gender neutral – Lib Dems

Today (6th March), Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Layla Moran will introduce a Bill on gender neutral school uniforms to mark International Women’s Day.

Commenting on her Presentation Bill, Ms Moran said:

The Conservative Government must take a step into the twenty-first century. It is harmful that in some cases schools are still dictating what children can and cannot wear just because of their gender.

This is not about forcing girls to wear trousers or boys to wear skirts. We must support all children to feel happy in what they wear to school. It is also important that transgender and non-binary pupils feel they can dress comfortably.

Liberal Democrats demand better. It’s high time that all children were given the option of which school uniform they want to wear. We must create a culture of acceptance in our schools where all students are confident and comfortable no matter what they choose to wear.

Davey: End ‘right to rent’ checks and Hostile Environment

Responding to the Immigration Minister’s written statement on the Right to Rent Scheme, published today, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said:

What will it take for the Tories to reverse their nasty, discriminatory Hostile Environment policies?

The Windrush Scandal should have been enough. Last week’s High Court judgement that the ‘right to rent’ checks breach human rights should have been more than enough.

But still Tory Ministers refuse to budge. Worse, they are now wasting taxpayers’ money on a legal appeal to keep their pointless, discriminatory ‘right to rent’ checks.

The Liberal Democrats demand better. We demand an end to the Hostile Environment and an effective, compassionate fix to the immigration system.

Swinson: PM’s guarantees to protect workers’ rights not worth the paper they’re written on

Responding to the Government’s announcement that Parliament will be given a vote on adopting future EU rules on workers’ rights, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and former Employment Relations Minister Jo Swinson said:

This is yet another desperate attempt by the Prime Minister to save her deal by bribing Labour MPs.

Her so-called guarantees to protect workers’ rights are not worth the paper they are written on. There is nothing stopping a future Conservative government from ripping them to shreds.

The PM claims credit for shared parental leave but I was the one fighting Conservative Minister after Conservative Minister so we could make shared parental leave a reality for families.

Trusting the Conservatives to protect workers’ rights would be like trusting a fox to guard the hen house. The only way to protect the millions of workers in the UK is to stay in the European Union.