Labour in fire, police demand

Theresa May and the Conservatives will be challenged today to show they are committed to ending “austerity” in the police and fire services by backing a Labour amendment to the Queen’s Speech.

Jeremy Corbyn said the first Commons vote of the new Parliament will be a test case for MPs’ approach to austerity, amid signals from senior Tories that the Government is set to boost public spending.

Labour’s amendment calls for an end to cuts to the police and fire services, commends their response to recent terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower disaster, backs the recruitment of more officers and firefighters, and calls on the Government to lift the public sector pay cap.

It is highly unlikely the Conservatives will back any attempts to amend the Queen’s

“Calls on the Government to lift the public sector pay cap”

Speech, which sets out the Government’s legislative programme for the next two years.

But Labour leader Mr Corbyn said: “It is plain seven years of cuts to our emergency services has made us less safe.

“Our emergency service workers make us proud at the worst of times for our country, such as the Grenfell Tower fire and the recent terrorist attacks, and deserve the pay rise they have been denied for seven years.

“Conservative cuts have failed. Labour has a different approach, which values those who look after us.”

Chancellor Philip Hammond has suggested the Government could ease austerity, stressing Tories “not deaf” to the message delivered in the election, which saw the party lose its majority after Labour promised large public spending increases.