General election 2017: Labour's draft manifesto at-a-glance
- Published
A draft of Labour's 51-page general election manifesto has been leaked. You can read the whole thing here, external - or, below, are some of its key policies.
Renationalisation
Bring the railways back into public ownership as franchises expire and repeal the Railways Act 1993 which privatised the network
Freeze passenger rail fares, free wi-fi across the network, an end to driver-only operation of trains and improved accessibility for disabled people
Reverse the privatisation of Royal Mail "at the earliest opportunity"
Create at least one publicly-owned energy company in every region of the UK, with public control of the transmission and distribution grids
Repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 - which restructured the NHS in England - and "reverse privatisation" of the health service
Defence
Support the renewal of the Trident submarine system
Work with international partners and the UN on multilateral disarmament "to create a nuclear-free world"
Commit to the Nato benchmark of spending at least 2% of GDP on defence
Insulate the homes of disabled veterans for free
Migration
Labour believes in the "reasonable management of migration" but "will not make false promises on immigration numbers"
Replace income thresholds for bringing family members to the UK with "an obligation to survive without recourse to public funds"
Uphold responsibilities under the Refugee Convention and offer a safe haven to those fleeing from persecution and war
Brexit
Accept the EU referendum result and "build a close new relationship with the EU" prioritising jobs and and workers' rights
Guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in the UK and work to "secure reciprocal rights" for UK citizens elsewhere in the EU
A "meaningful" role for Parliament throughout Brexit negotiations
Negotiating priorities to have "a strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the single market and the customs union"
Negotiate transitional arrangements "to avoid a cliff-edge for the UK economy" if no deal is reached
Keep EU-derived laws on workers' rights, equality, consumer rights and environmental protections
Workers' rights
A 20-point plan for security and equality at work, including an end to zero-hours contracts and equal rights for employees
Repeal the Trade Union Act and roll out sectoral collective bargaining, whereby industries can negotiate agreement as a whole
End the public sector pay cap.
Guarantee trade unions a right to access workplaces
Enforce all workers' rights to trade union representation at work
Use public spending power to drive up standards, including only awarding public contracts to companies which recognise trade unions
Shifting the "burden of proof" in the so-called "gig economy" so that the law assumes a worker is an employee unless the employer can prove otherwise
Education
Reintroduce maintenance grants for university students and abolish university tuition fees
A National Education Service to provide "cradle-to-grave learning that is free at the point of use" from early years to adult education
Reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six, and seven-year-olds
Free school meals for all primary school children, paid for by removing the VAT exemption on private school fees
Health and social care
An extra £6bn annually for the NHS, funded by increasing income tax for the highest 5% of earners and increasing tax on private medical insurance
An Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for health to scrutinise spending
An additional £8 billion over the lifetime of the next Parliament for social care
Look into creating a National Care Service for social care "rooted in the traditions of our National Health Service"
Social security and pensions
An end to benefit sanctions
Scrap the so-called "bedroom tax"
Reinstate housing benefit for under-21s
Guarantee the state pension "triple lock" throughout the next Parliament so that pensions rise by at least inflation, earnings or 2.5% a year, whichever is higher.
The winter fuel allowance and free bus passes guaranteed as universal benefits
A commitment to "protect the pensions of UK citizens living overseas in the EU or further afield"
Energy
Nuclear power "will continue to be part of the UK energy supply"
A ban on fracking
Introduce an immediate emergency energy price cap to ensure the average dual fuel household energy bill remains below £1,000 per year
Maintaining access to the EU's internal energy market and retaining access to nuclear research programme Euratom will be a priority in Brexit negotiations
Economy
No rises in income tax for those earning below £80,000 a year on personal National Insurance Contributions and on VAT
A National Investment Bank as part of a plan to provide £250bn of lending power over the next decade for infrastructure
A claim the manifesto commitments are "fully costed" with all current spending paid for out of taxation or redirected revenue stream
The current spending deficit eliminated on "a forward-looking, five-year rolling timescale"
Housing
At least 100,000 council and housing association homes built a year by the end of the next Parliament
"Thousands more low-cost homes" reserved for first-time buyers
Make new three-year tenancies the norm for private renters, with an inflation cap on rent rises
An additional 4,000 homes reserved for people with a history of rough sleeping
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