Everything you need to know from Labour’s General Election manifesto

Labour has launched its General Election manifesto, telling voters what the party would do if it gets into government for the first time in 14 years.

Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet have been hinting at certain plans for months, and unveiled their six main priorities at a campaign soft-launch event in May.

Among their plans are a freeze on the ‘big three’ taxes, a £1.3 billion injection into NHS services, and the creation of a new Border Security Command to tackle criminal gangs operating small boats in the English Channel.

At the launch event in Manchester, Mr Starmer said: ‘The choice at this election is another five years of chaos under the Conservatives, with people paying £4,800 more on their mortgages, or change with Labour.

‘It’s time to stop the chaos, turn the page and start rebuilding Britain.’

Here are some of the main points from the Labour manifesto.

National security and immigration

Alongside the new Border Security Command, Labour would hire more caseworkers to try and clear the considerable asylum backlog.

A Strategic Defence Review would be launched in the first year of a Labour government, while a ‘path would be set out’ to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence – a point of difference with the Tories, who have pledged to do that by 2030.

Martyn’s Law, named after Martyn Hett who died in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, would be introduced. It would increase security measures at public events.

Net migration would be reduced with ‘appropriate restrictions on visas, and by linking immigration and skills policy’, and businesses wanting to address skills shortages with foreign workers would trigger a plan to upskill Brits.

Economy

Labour’s big tax pledge ahead of the manifesto launch was that none of the ‘big three’ would be increased in the next parliament: that means VAT, National Insurance and income tax.

Corporation tax would be capped at 25% for the entire next parliament.

To raise a bit of cash, a Covid Corruption Commissioner would be appointed to recoup the public money that was lost in pandemic-era fraud.

A new National Wealth Fund capitalised with £7.3 billion would be established to invest in ports, car factories, carbon capture and more.

Work

Brits aged between 18 and 21 would be guaranteed access to training, an apprenticeship or help to find work under Labour plans.

Among the measures brought in to help support workers would be the banning of zero-hour contracts; the introduction of basic rights to parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal; and the end of fire and rehire.

Age bands for minimum wage would be removed so all adults receive the same amount, and a Labour government would ensure it is a ‘genuinely living wage’, according to the manifesto.

It would also introduce a landmark Race Equality Act to ‘enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority people’, while disabled people would also get a full right to equal pay.

Transport

An additional one million potholes would be fixed in English roads, Labour have said, while the roll-out of electric vehicle charge points would be accelerated.

The party will also reintroduce the phase-out date of 2030 for new cars with internal combustion engines.

Britain’s railways would be brought into public ownership as contracts expire, creating a unified brand of Great British Railways.

Communities would be handed control over bus routes and timetables by handing new powers to local leaders.

Environment

While the Conservative manifesto promised to treble offshore wind by 2030, Labour says it will quadruple it by the same date – while also doubling onshore wind and trebling solar power.

It’s currently unclear if that means capacity or a different measure.

The party would also aim to get the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station ‘over the line’.

No new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea would be handed out and fracking would be banned for good.

Great British Energy, a new publicly owned power company, would co-invest in clean power tech and ‘deploy local energy production’.

NHS

Labour has pledged to spend £1.3 billion on NHS reforms, which they say will be funded by closing a tax loophole for non-doms.

The reforms, which take up 12 pages of the party’s manifesto, are mainly targeted at reducing wait times for key care.

Their headline target is to add 40,000 more NHS operations, scans and appointments in England every week – meaning two million a year.

Other goals include doubling the number of CT and MRI scanners.

As part of the effort to move to community-based healthcare, thousands more GPs would be trained and face-to-face appointments would be guaranteed for all those who want one.

The party also wants to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, while 8,500 more mental health staff would be recruited within a first term in government.

Labour also says the National Health Service should move to a ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’, with resources shifted to primary care and community services.

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