Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KEIR STARMER
Answers your questions.. & gives his recovery plan
KEIR Starmer has answered the questions that matter most to YOU, our readers.
Voters from across the country were given the chance find out how the Labour leader would deal with the issues affecting their lives.
Here’s how he responded…
Hannah Peters, 30, nurse: Would Labour consider an immediately effective pay rise of 15% for NHS staff?
Hi Hannah, Britain’s key workers have got us through this crisis. I want to thank you for all you have done. It’s not good enough for politicians to simply pay lip service. Clapping outside our houses on a Thursday didn’t pay the bills.
I would give a pay rise to our key workers – not just because it’s the right thing to so, but because it makes economic sense as well. If you freeze pay, that’s less money families and households will have to spend during Britain’s recovery.
Hannah Cox, 36, small business owner:
You have proposed giving start-up loans to 100,000 new UK businesses and creating a new “British recovery bond” – but what support will you offer to existing businesses and business owners to keep their staff on and operating?
Hannah, small businesses will be the engine of Britain’s recovery. We’ve got to support them and I’ve got a plan to do just that.
First of all, that means extending business rate relief and the VAT cut and making the furlough scheme smarter, so it helps people back into work.
Businesses tell me all the time they are hugely worried about the amount of debt they’ve taken on during the crisis – that’s got to be reformed.
And then in the long term we must ensure we are doing everything we can to allow our fantastic British businesses to flourish all across the country. It’s only through gearing towards growth that we will bounce back.
Sophie Coleman, 27, trainee clinical psychologist:
How will Labour improve our overstretched and under-funded mental health services, especially with the fallout of the pandemic?
Sophie, this is such an important question. Covid has taken a mental toll on us all. Over the last decade, people have become more comfortable talking about mental health – that’s fantastic.
But I’m afraid the provision from government simply hasn’t kept up with the times. It’s no good telling people to speak out about their problems if we don’t match it with the support they need.
Labour would give mental health parity with physical health – that’s why I put Dr Rosena Allin-Khan in charge of this area for Labour. As an NHS doctor, she will be a fantastic first-ever Secretary of State for Mental Health.
Poppy Hasted, 60, disability rights campaigner, who has MS: How will you help people like me, who are bed-bound and feel invisible in society, to enter the job market and feel their opinions are important? much disabled people have to offer. For a decade, we have had promises that social care would be fixed – but it still hasn’t been.
It goes beyond just ensuring services are funded and legislation is up to date – it’s got to mean making sure disabled voices are in the room when decisions are made and that we begin to hardwire disabled access through society.
At the speech I gave this week, for example, we ensured there was someone doing BSL alongside it. That’s a tiny change but it can make all the difference for so many people.
Leanne Scott, 41, life coach: Are you in favour of a second referendum on Scottish independence?
Hi Leanne, every time I am in Scotland, people talk to me about improving Scotland’s schools, its health, its businesses and jobs. They talk about addressing the climate emergency and getting through Covid. The constitution rarely comes up.
I don’t believe separatism has the answers for a child living in poverty in Glasgow, a business owner facing closure in Dundee or parents who are worrying about the decline of schools across the country. That’s why I simply don’t think we should be focusing on another divisive referendum in the teeth of a pandemic and the deepest recession in 300 years.
Anjum Peerbacos, 38, teacher: Would you prioritise teachers in the vaccine roll-out so that they are protected when children return to school?
Hi Anjum, I said to the Prime Minister about a month ago that we should use the half-term to vaccinate all school staff. We could have done it throughout the week and it would have barely made a difference to the rest of the roll-out because of the numbers involved.
I’m disappointed that didn’t happen. We all want our schools open as soon as possible and this seems like one of the obvious steps we should take. If a teacher gets coronavirus – even a very minor case – it causes huge disruption because they are out of school for a
couple of weeks while they isolate at home, classes get cancelled and it is the kids and their families that suffer as a result.
Pat Mulligan, 45, wedding host: What tailored support will you give to the hospitality sector to help businesses recover after the pandemic?
Pat, the treatment of hospitality during this crisis has been shocking. I don’t think the Government realises the planning that goes into re-opening a pub.
It takes weeks of preparation, making orders and getting staff back. To then have that taken away at the last minute is devastating, both financially and emotionally.
I want to see support last until health measures are over – but I want to go much further, with a Fightback Fund for high streets and hospitality.
The Government has been given back billions from supermarkets in recent months – surely it’s just common sense that it should go to support businesses that haven’t been able to re-open, such as hospitality?
Lucie Scott, 52, teacher:
After the publication of the Stephen Lawrence report, you pledged that a race equalities act would be created under Labour. What would this look like?
Hi Lucie, this is a great question. A Race Equality Act was the first piece of legislation I announced as Labour leader because I want this to be a top priority for the next Labour government.
As I said in my speech this week, we can’t accept the fact that if you’re from black, Asian or minority ethnic communities you’ll face structural racism and discrimination at every stage of your life.
We’ve got to be ambitious with this Act – it has to tackle every aspect of structural racism – and l am currently working with Doreen Lawrence to make sure we get it right.
Theo Freedman, 25, trade union officer:
What practical, concrete steps will you take to ensure the trade union link is maintained and Labour remains the party of workers?
The Labour Party was founded by trade unions, and it is my intention to make Labour the party of working people and their communities once again.
We are strengthening the relationship with unions – for example, we have just launched a power-at-work taskforce to look at how the pandemic has affected working people, and what solutions can be put forward for the recovery.
Janet Clarke, 79, retired: The population is getting older. How will you ensure we have enough staff to keep the NHS running? We have a shortage of about 40,000 nurses.
Thanks for this question, Janet. We’ve got to do everything possible to protect our NHS and secure it for the future, and that starts with looking after our staff. They have been real heroes during this crisis and are now at the front line of the brilliant vaccine roll-out.
The NHS didn’t have enough staff going into this crisis, with a record 100,000 vacancies, and staff were already stretched to the limit.
The removal of the nursing bursary has also
been a disaster. We have got to give all our key workers a pay rise, and we need a proper workforce strategy so that we can get the NHS up to strength and ready for the challenges of the future.
Rather than another reorganisation, we would focus now on cutting waiting lists for patients.
Lois Hoyte, 28, single mum:
How will Labour make childcare work for single parents who are home-schooling and don’t always have access to “bubbles”?
Thanks, Lois. It is really tough for single parents who are trying to juggle work with home-schooling, especially if they have no access to family or friends.
That’s why I called on the Government to introduce a legal and enforceable right for working parents to request paid flexible furlough, with employers expected to grant this request.
This would have given more parents the chance to protect family finances and be able to focus on their kids. Too often during this pandemic, families have been an afterthought, when they should have come first. We want that to change.