Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Minister without Portfolio, commenting on Iain Duncan Smith’s speech today, said:

“Working people will take Iain Duncan Smith’s warnings about social injustice with a large pinch of salt. After all, this is the Tory minister behind the Bedroom Tax and the man who opposed the introduction of the minimum wage and once warned that increased workers’ rights through the European Union would lead to ‘turmoil on the streets’.

“We should take no lectures from IDS when it comes to the pressures facing schools and hospitals. It is his Tory Government that is putting at risk the public services we rely on – under the Tories schools are facing budget cuts, over 3.5 million people are on the English waiting list and it has got harder to see a GP. And let’s also remember that leaving the EU would mean less money for local schools and hospitals.

“The truth is Britain’s EU membership protects workers, consumers and the environment. The risk is that if we leave the EU a Tory government would be free to launch an assault on rights at work secured by Labour and guaranteed under EU law.”