Stephen Morgan MP has called for urgent government action on growing bottlenecks and delays, as Labour reveals a dossier detailing Tory ‘Backlog Britain’, on everything from driving licences and passports to major infrastructure projects bringing Britain to a halt.
With waits at the passport office leaving renewals taking ten weeks; queues at Dover; and holidaymakers spending hours and hours at airports, there are fears that ‘Backlog Britain’ will mar long-awaited family summers.
Hold-ups are also hitting the NHS, with waiting times for A&E, cancer, dentistry and mental health services getting longer and longer. With a build-up in the courts, prosecutions and justice for victims are also on hold.
Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden, who will open a parliamentary debate on the issue today, has accused the Conservatives of being “a government without grip – it doesn’t function, it only campaigns.”
He has blamed the Prime Minister’s inability to plan and his sticking plaster, low growth, high tax approach to the economy as the root cause of ‘Backlog Britain’.
The City MP’s postbag has seen a growing number of cases regarding passport renewal delays and driving licence issue hold ups, causing constituents a great deal of stress and anxiety as the summer holidays approach.
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said:
“Instead of providing some security for our economy and planning for the future of our country, the Tories are lurching from crisis to crisis, opting to focus on campaigning to keep Mr Johnson in Downing Street instead of getting on with the job at hand.
“Tory Ministers promised to level up Britain, but instead they’ve given us ‘Backlog Britain’ and are leaving Portsmouth behind, with the day-to-day consequences being further delays to basic services we all rely on like passports and driving licences.
“They need to stop making new promises they know they can’t deliver, and concentrate on delivering those they’ve already made. The Conservatives have lost grip – they’re out of touch and out of ideas.”
