Karin Smyth, MP for Bristol South, this week supported measures proposed by the Labour Party Treasury team to end the Tory Government’s backlog Britain.
During an Opposition Day debate the Labour Party demonstrated how after 12 years of government the Tory Party has run Britain into the ground. People are having to wait excruciating lengths of time for everything including passports, driving licences, airport queues and court trials. Public services we used to take for granted are no longer working.
Some examples of Backlog Britain:
- HMRC temporarily shut its phone lines for callers at the end of last year to deal with huge backlogs.
- The police are facing rising delays in charging cases, with the median number of days between offence and charge tripling since 2016 (14 days to 44 days), and rising for rape cases from 282 in 2019 to 374 in 2021. Crime is up 18% and prosecutions are down 18% since the last election (December 2019).
- Delays at the passport office mean people are now being asked to leave ten weeks before renewing – with 35,000 people waiting over ten weeks in the first quarter of the year.
- By the end of last year 25% of cases had waited over a year to come to court, with the backlog in crown courts increasing by 25% over the past five years. A third of all crown courts had seen backlogs rise by over 50%.
- Labour research has found that the typical delay between an offence of rape and the completion of the resulting criminal case rose to 1,000 days in 2021 for the first time. In some areas, survivors are waiting more than three years for justice. Meanwhile, over the past four years, rape prosecutions in Wales and England have fallen by 70%.
- There are now over 1.2 million people waiting for diagnostic tests and scans, a rise of 135,000 since the Government started rolling out its diagnostic centres. 267,000 people have been waiting long that the NHS target of 6 weeks.
Karin Smyth MP supported the Labour Party motion in the House of Commons which passed without division.
Karin Smyth, MP for Bristol South, said:
“We are now living in Backlog Britain where the Tory Government has run our public services into the ground. Public services that we used to take for granted are now crumbling and letting people down. Those who work within them are trying their best but have little to no support from the Government.
“These delays aren’t just an inconvenience they pose a real threat to public safety, security and prosperity. The longer the queues at airports the harder it is for Bristol South businesses to trade. The more time people wait for justice the more dangerous our streets become.
“The reason for the public realm becoming tatty and falling apart is clear for all to see: a Prime Minister focused solely on maintaining his premiership. Cabinet Ministers are keeping him afloat instead of telling him to go and getting on with the job. Only a Labour Government will deliver the public services and economic growth we need to get the country moving again.”