Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, this week supported measures proposed by the UK Labour Party Treasury team to end the UK Tory Government’s backlog Britain.

During an Opposition Day debate the UK 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:

1. HMRC temporarily shut its phone lines for callers at the end of last year to deal with huge backlogs.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. 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%.
5. 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%.

Chris Elmore MP supported the UK Labour Party motion in the House of Commons which passed without division.

Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, said:

“The UK Tory Government has presided over the creation of Backlog Britain. Public services we took for granted have been run into the ground by a government that couldn’t run a bath if it tried.

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 Ogmore businesses to trade. The more time people wait for justice the more dangerous our streets become.

The Prime Minister is too distracted in his futile attempts to keep his premiership afloat to act. His Cabinet Ministers have become sycophants eager to keep his ego over inflated. Only a UK Labour Government, working with our Welsh Labour Government, can ensure Britain gets back to work and the backlog lifted.”

Notes to editors:

The Opposition Day debate motion stated:

That this House notes that UK economic growth is forecast to grind to a halt next year, with only Russia worse in the OECD; further notes that GDP in recent months is down while inflation has risen to 9.1% and that food prices, petrol costs and bills in general are soaring for millions across the country; believes that the government is leaving Britain with backlogs such as long waits for passports, driving licenses, GP and hospital appointments, for court dates, at airports; and calls on the Government to set out a new approach to the economy that will end twelve years of slow growth and high taxation under successive Conservative Governments.