Valerie shows support for Thomas Cook staff

I and other Labour MPs showed support for Thomas Cook staff on Tuesday 1 October 2019 alongside members of Unite the Union. A petition was dropped at Downing Street and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.  I am pictured with Labour MP’s Daniel Zeichner MP (left) and Luke Pollard MP (right).

I spoke to a member of staff at the lobby who said that she found out that the company went into administration via social media. As a result of the Government’s failure to act, staff employed by Thomas Cook face redundancy while holiday makers risk being left stranded overseas. I am disappointed with the Minister’s statement to the House on 25 September 2019 in which he failed to take any responsibility for the collapse of Thomas Cook, which had operated for 178 years.

The Government must stop its recklessness and step in to avert this crisis by taking an equity stake. The Government faces a simple choice between a £200m Government cash injection to save the company now versus a £600m bill to repatriate UK holidaymakers.”

The Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gill Furniss MP, has written to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy demanding that the Government join HM Opposition’s call for Thomas Cook’s failing bosses to reject their bonuses and for the Government to begin its long-delayed airline insolvency review.