Chief Executive of Newington, Mark Glover, offers his thoughts on the leaked draft Labour manifesto.
With Labour in the hands of the most left-wing leadership team anyone can remember it is no surprise that Labour’s leaked draft manifesto includes a large number of eye catching proposals to nationalise core sectors and spending pledges that have drawn comparisons with the 1970s. The final version is due to be agreed today by the Clause V committee of party grandees ahead of publication next week, and rumours are abound about who was behind the leak – moderates attempting to destabilise Corbyn or the leadership intent on pushing through a radical left-wing manifesto and stealing a march on media coverage.
So what policies can we expect in the final version?
The leaked draft pledges to nationalise parts of the energy market by setting up publicly-owned suppliers in every region, taking control of transmission and distribution networks from the National Grid, and introducing an ‘emergency price cap’ to stop the average household’s dual fuel bill from going above £1,000. The leaked document also suggests Britain’s railways and Royal Mail will come back under state control, while publicly-owned bus companies will be set-up throughout the country and a ‘Post Bank – owned by the Post Office and offering banking services’ will be established in every community. Meanwhile, banks will be stopped from closing local branches in cases where there is a ‘clear local need’.
Labour also trumpets a general commitment to build a million new homes over the next five years including 500,000 new council houses. The sale of existing social housing will be suspended and rents capped in line with inflation.
There is also a commitment to create a million new jobs and ensure everyone has a decent job to go to (no zero hours contracts) – secured through a £500 billion investment in infrastructure backed up by a Public Investment Bank. The powers of trade unions will be bolstered by scrapping the Trade Union Act 2016 and redundancy laws will be strengthened by bringing them in line with parts of Europe. Paternity leave will be doubled and statutory bereavement leave will be considered.
In the public sector, there will be an additional 10,000 police officers, an increase in teacher numbers to reduce class sizes, and more money for those working in the NHS to stave off the drop in numbers due to restrictions on immigration. All primary school children in England will receive a free school meal and free childcare will be extended to all two-year-olds. Teachers can expect a pay rise. There is also more money promised for pensioners with Labour committing to the triple lock on pensions, reducing the unfairness of the women’s pension age as well as keeping bus passes and winter fuel payments and reviewing the planned increase to the pension age beyond 66.
How will these spending commitments be paid for? A ‘progressive’ tax policy that will see the ‘rich’ paying more. This includes an increase in taxes for those earning more than £80,000 per year, a reversal in the proposed cuts to Capital Gains Tax, a clamp down on tax avoidance, and significant increases in Corporation Tax. Free school meals are to be paid for by removing the tax breaks enjoyed by those sending their children to private schools.
There are also a number of populist measures such as: a ban on the advertising of junk food before the 9pm watershed on television, a ban on hospital parking charges for those visiting relatives or those who work in hospitals, and a promise to increase the number of bank holidays that workers are entitled to by giving all workers the four Saints’ Days off.
For small businesses there is backing to secure prompt payment from big business, and a commitment to introduce high speed broadband across the country. There is also likely to be some support for renewable energy and the commitment to renew the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system remains.
The Party may have lost some of its working class support due to concerns about Corbyn, but there is still a large number of eligible voters (the 34% that did not vote in 2015) who are waiting to be given a good reason to vote. While Corbyn is hoping that his eye-catching policies will get the public out to vote, polls suggest the question at the front of people’s minds is whether they can trust his leadership and his team’s handling of the economy.
