Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, Alan Johnson MP, responding to Theresa May's speech said:

"The Home Secretary demonstrates a lack of understanding about the powers already available to the police. An Anti-Social Behaviour Order is one of a series of different powers available to the police and is used when other punitive measures have failed.

"As we saw in the tragic case of Fiona Pilkington it was the failure to use the powers available to the police that caused the problem, not the absence of powers themselves. Of course it is right to keep such matters under review to ensure the public has speedy access to measures to stop anti-social behaviour. However, there is no doubt that the introduction of ASBOs have made a huge contribution towards tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

"If the Home Secretary is to restrict the opportunities for the police to use ASBOs and other measures currently available then this will be yet another example of this government going soft on crime".

Responding to the coalition's u-turn today on prison parties, Jack Straw MP, Labour's Shadow Justice Secretary said:
 
"This is chaotic stuff and very early in the government's term.
 
"Since Mr Blunt rescinded the ban on prison parties last Tuesday I can only assume he did so with the express authority of the Secretary of State for Justice. It says very little for the internal processes of government, as well as the judgement of Ministry of Justice ministers, that there appears to have been no proper clearance of this decision with Downing Street.
 
"So much for the claims that there is a new formality within the British Government to ensure collective decision making. If there is it broke down altogether on this occasion."

Alistair Darling MP, Labour's Shadow Chancellor said:

"Today figures show the results of the Labour Government’s approach to supporting the recovery.

"This is the fastest growth we have seen for over four years. It shows that confidence was returning. And you can see the success of maintaining support for important sectors like construction.

"And this is the final nail in the coffin of the Coalition’s argument that things are worse than they believed before the election. Today’s figures show that growth was twice as fast as expected. The Coalition’s economic policy is not inevitable – it’s the choice they’ve made.

"And they will have to accept responsibility for the risks they are taking with the economy. "

Shadow Business Secretary, Pat McFadden MP, responding to the latest survey of business attitudes from the Federation of Small Businesses said:

"This survey shows the huge risks the Government is running with the economy.  

“By cutting back spending so fast and so deeply, this is not just having an effect on the public sector but the private sector too.  

“Today's figures show a sense of foreboding among small businesses about their prospects for the future."

Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Tessa Jowell MP, in response to David Cameron’s speech on the big society, said:

“The content of today's speech is simply a brass-necked rebranding of programmes already put in place by a Labour Government.

“Funding for a social investment bank and for community pubs was put in place in March, and residents have been involved in setting council budgets for a number of years.

“We welcome the Coalition's decision to continue our work in partnership with local communities, but these projects are dependant on funding and resources being put in place.

“It is therefore highly unlikely that civil society will become "bigger" due to the large public spending cuts that are being put forward by this Government.”

Shadow Transport Secretary Sadiq Khan MP, responding to reports of the Coalition’s plan to raise the free bus pass age earlier than planned, said:

“David Cameron owes the public an apology today.  His mock outrage during the General Election campaign has been shown up as a cynical and misleading act, and his manifesto commitment to protecting concessionary fares as a sham.

“But more importantly, this news will cause anxiety for hundreds of thousands who could be affected – having misled them during the election campaign, David Cameron owes it to them to come clean now and confirm unequivocally what his plans are for free bus passes.”

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham MP responding to the Government’s confusion over the cancer guarantee said:

"This debacle confirms what we suspected - that the Tories are making up health policy as they go along. The Government's position on the cancer guarantee is now a complete shambles.

“First David Cameron refuses to say whether the guarantee will be scrapped. Then his health minister steps in to say that there is 'no question' of it going. And now his official spokesman tells us the 'real position': it might stay or it might go, but the Government refuses to make a decision.

“They can twist and turn all they like, but they can't hide the fact that they refuse to give a clear guarantee of fast access to a specialist for people with suspected cancer."

Responding to this month’s unemployment figures, Yvette Cooper Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said:
 
“These figures show just why it is dangerous and callous to cut support for jobs and the economy.
 
“May's small fall in unemployment is welcome and reflects the extra support Labour put into the economy as it started to come out of recession.
 
“But there's still little sign of private sector job growth, with jobs in areas like construction still being heavily hit. And this is before the big spending cuts and the surge in young people leaving education this summer.
 
“Cutting 90,000 youth jobs and hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs while the private sector is still so fragile will condemn many people to a lifetime on the dole.
 
“In the 90s the Tories said unemployment was a price worth paying to cut inflation - now they clearly think it's a price worth paying to bring down the deficit.”

Shadow Justice Secretary Jack Straw MP responding to David Cameron’s admission that the Government’s sentencing review will put fewer criminals in jail said:

“Around 60,000 people a year are given a short prison sentence, typically for offences like assault, domestic violence, burglary, theft and drink driving. Victims of crime don’t consider short sentences to be ‘pretty meaningless’. If David Cameron wants to cut short sentences by 10% that means freeing thousands of people who have committed these crimes. So he needs to answer a simple question: which of the offenders currently serving a short prison sentence does he say should be let of out jail?

“Why does he not recognise now what he certainly recognised in the election campaign: that well over 90% of those who are given short prison sentences have previous convictions; they have been given fines or community punishments but have gone on to re-offend. It is an abdication to say that these people should simply be given another community punishment when it is plain – especially to the magistrates and judges – that they have not worked for those offenders.

“David Cameron justifies his soft policy by saying it is too expensive to put people in prison. But he forgets that there is a cost attached to crime – which criminals cannot commit while they are in jail.”

Alistair Darling MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer responding to reports today that the Office of Budget Responsibility revised its forecast on public sector job losses said:

“There were already serious questions about the independence of the Office of Budget Responsibility. Now its very credibility is at stake. It’s clear from the revised figures that the public sector job losses will be 175,000 greater than the Prime Minister claimed last week.

“Right from the start the Tories used the OBR not just as part of the Government but as part of the Conservative Party. They have succeeded in strangling what could have been a good idea at its birth.”