What does Jeremy Corbyn’s speech mean for blokes like Tom?

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Tom is a normal bloke

Tom is 20 and in the nicest possible way, he's pretty average.

This week the (newly re-elected) leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, said he wanted to change Britain "for the benefit of working people". People like Tom.

Mr Corbyn was speaking at the annual Labour Party Conference.

We've looked at his speech to see what Tom would have to gain from voting Labour.

(And by the way, Tom might be voting sooner than you think because Labour expect a sudden general election to be called next year).

First, here are Tom's vital statistics:

• Age: 20

• Education: High school then apprenticeships

• Lives: Rents a house with eight other people

• Job: Zero-hours contract with sandwich company

• Wage: £5.30 per hour (minimum wage for his age)

• Food budget: £50 per week

• Savings: None

• Kids: None, but wants them some day

• Last big night out: December 2015

• Last holiday: June 2012

• Tom says: "Without knowing what your income is you can't plan for the future."

Image source, Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn's speech referred to a lot of the issues Tom's facing:

MONEY

"We will raise the minimum wage to a real living wage that brings working people out of poverty and we'll ban zero-hours contracts," said Mr Corbyn.

Labour have said they want the new minimum wage to be £10 per hour (the current Tory plans would make it £9/hour by 2020).

However there was no mention of removing the system where employees under the age of 25 are paid less.

EDUCATION

Mr Corbyn wants to establish a national education service (which he says will eventually be as important as the NHS) to help everyone learn and develop new skills throughout their lives.

He'll tax businesses a little bit more to pay for it, he said.

He also said Labour would re-introduce the education maintenance allowance and maintenance grants for students from low and middle income families.

He didn't talk about apprenticeships but said "education has always been a core Labour value".

HOUSING

Tom doesn't think he'll be able to buy a house any time soon. But while he continues to rent, Labour have promised to "control private rents" so everyone can afford to live in a decent home.

Mr Corbyn also said a Labour government would build more than a million new homes and at least half of them would be council houses.

Of course the money for all this would have to come from somewhere too.

MIGRATION

In areas, like where Tom lives near Manchester, immigration has put pressure on local services like schools and hospitals.

Jeremy Corbyn said he'd re-introduce a scheme to give local authorities extra cash to help cope with the added demand. It's a scheme that was originally introduced by Labour but was scrapped under the Conservatives.

There was no mention of any cap being put on the number of immigrants coming to the UK.

NEW BUSINESS

If Tom ever wanted to start up his own business, Mr Corbyn says he'd be able to help there too.

"We will ensure that successful innovators have access to the finance necessary to take their ideas to the next level, grow their business and generate employment," he said.

BROADBAND

In theory, better music streaming would come with a Labour government because...

Jeremy Corbyn said he wasn't content with accepting second class broadband". He also wants to upgrade the railways and our "energy infrastructure".

That could be paid for with the help of a new national investment bank, he said.

Most, if not all, of the ideas explained today had been hinted at or described already by the Labour Party but by putting them all together in his speech Mr Corbyn is hoping you'll remember them when the time comes to vote.

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