Election 2017: Labour Manifesto Overview: Labour officially released their manifesto on Tuesday morning (16.5.17). Titled For the Many not the Few the foreword to the manifesto claimed that Many feel the system is rigged against them. And this manifesto sets out exactly what can be done about it. It offers a highly interventionist programme with state ownership of public services funded by a raft of additional taxes on wealth creators. Under Corbyn s plans, the Labour Party would aim to raise an extra 6.4bn a year from the top 5% of earners in the country to fund public services. This would be realised through income tax increasing to 45p for people earning over 80,000, and 50p for those on more than 123,000, while Labour added the water industry to the energy and rail sectors as areas which required nationalisation. Further measures included serious changes to executive pay and business taxation with the scrapping of government plans to cut corporation tax from 19% to 17% and instead raise the levy on profits for larger companies to 26% by 2020. An excessive-pay charge on firms: 2.5% on earnings over 330,000 and 5% on those over 500,000 would also be introduced. The revenue generated by such tax rises would fund Labour s 48.6bn spending promises on health, education and housing. However, there has already been some concern that none of the proposed nationalisation projects have been fully costed, and are likely to be a significant expenditure. The Institute for Fiscal Studies have stated in response to the manifesto, that Labour s tax proposals would take tax as proportion of GDP to the highest level for 70 years, highlighting the selfproclaimed radical nature of the policies. The document differs only slightly from the previously leaked version, with the proposals for nationalisation of the water industry and additional detail on taxation. Key Policies: Tax & Business: Pledge to eliminate the Budget deficit within 5 years. Reintroduction of the lower small profit rate of corporation tax for small businesses. Exclude small businesses from quarterly reporting. Scrap government plans to cut corporation tax from 19% to 17% and instead raise the levy on profits for larger companies to 26% by 2020. Mandate the new National Investment Bank, and regional development banks in every region to identify where other lenders fail to meet the needs of SMEs and prioritise lending to improve the funding gap. New laws to crack down on late payments of businesses to ensure payment within 30 days.
Income tax will be raised - by an as-yet undisclosed-amount- for anyone earning 80,000-ayear or more. Labour government will guarantee to rule out rises in income tax for those earning below 80,000 a year, on personal National Insurance Contributions, and on VAT. Labour will shift the tax thresholds - 45p tax rate from 80,000, 50p from 123,000 Introduce a package of reforms to business rates - including switching from RPI to CPI indexation, exempting new investment in plants and machinery from valuations, and ensuring that businesses have access to a proper appeals process - while reviewing the entire business rates system in the longer run. The introduction of an excessive pay levy on companies with staff on high pay. Companies paying staff more than 330,000 will pay a 2.5% surcharge while salaries above 500,000 will be charged at 5% Introduction of a Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions. Labour would expand the current stamp duty on share transactions so that it would apply to market makers and to different asset classes, including share options. Initiation of a review into reforming council tax and business rates and consider new options, such as a land value tax, to ensure local government has sustainable funding for the long term. Employment: A new Ministry of Labour will be created to empower workers and stop exploitation. Repeal Trade Union Act and introduce sectoral collective bargaining Outlaw zero hours and ban unpaid internships Prosecutions and penalties for employers not paying the minimum wage will be scaled up (as yet unidentified) Employers will be stopped from recruiting only from overseas Zero hours contracts will be made illegal. Raise the minimum wage to the level of the living wage (expected to be at least 10 per hour by 2020) Maximum pay ratios of 20:1 to be rolled out in public sector "Clamp down on bogus self-employment" and extend rights of employees to all workers - including shared parental pay. Executive Pay: Guarantee trade unions access to all workplaces. Abolish employment tribunal fees. Double paid paternity leave to four weeks and increase paternity pay. Four new bank holidays for all the patron saints. Put in place a 20:1 limit on the gap between the lowest and highest paid workers in companies given government contracts Reduce pay inequality through legislation by introducing an "excessive pay levy" on companies with high numbers of staff on high pay.
Health: The NHS will be given an extra 6billion-a-year by increasing income tax for the top 5% earners, increasing tax on private medical insurance and halving management consultants' fees. Early Years: 8billion over the five-year Parliament will be spent on social care with the aim of creating a National Care Service. Ring-fence mental health budgets. Scrap the NHS workers pay cap. Protect EU NHS workers' rights with immediate effect. A 250million-a-year fund will be created in order to focus on improving children s health. Halt the closure of Sure Start centres and provide extra funding. Labour will publish childhood obesity strategy within the first hundred days, with proposals on advertising and food labelling. Poor childhood oral health in England will be focussed on. A strategy for the children of alcoholics will be developed based on recommendations drawn up by independent experts. Overhaul the existing childcare system in which subsidies are given directly to parents and transition to childcare places in mixed environments with direct government subsidy. Extend the 30 free hours to all two year-olds, and move towards making some childcare available for oneyear-olds and extending maternity pay to 12 months. Public Ownership: At least one publically owned energy company will be set up in each region of the UK. Labour would take control of the natural monopolies of the transmission and distribution grids currently run by the National Grid. Railways would also be brought back into public ownership as each private franchise ends. Labour would also look for municipally-owned bus companies to be set up across the country. Royal Mail will be renationalised. The water industry, would be taken into public ownership either by simply buying the shares of the existing companies or by a compulsory measure whereby companies would have to be given government bonds in exchange for the shares. Housing: Labour will establish a new Department for Housing to improve the number, standards and affordability of homes. They will ensure the Housing and Communities Agency becomes a serious delivery body for new housing.
Invest in building one million new homes, including 100,000 council and housing association homes by the end of next parliament Cap rent rises in line with inflation and legal minimum standards in properties for rent Guarantee Help to Buy funding until 2027 and give locals buying their first home "first dibs on new homes built in their area". Legislate to ban letting agency fees for tenants, and look at giving the Mayor of London power to give London renters "additional security". Create 4,000 homes for people with history of rough sleeping. Prioritise building on brownfield sites and protect the green belt. Pensions: The triple lock on Pension rises will be protected, as will free buses and the winter fuel allowance as universal benefits. Provide compensation for women born in the 50s who had state pension age changed. There'll be no increase in the state pension age beyond 66 under a future Labour government. Education: The creation of a National Education Service, spending 5.6bn Aims to offer free education throughout people s lives, funded by the rise in corporation tax. Abolishment of University tuition fees and reintroduction of maintenance grants. Devolve responsibility for skills to city regions or devolved administrations. Defence and Security: Labour will press ahead with the building of the Trident missile defence. Recommits Labour to spending 2% of Britain s wealth on defence as advised by NATO. Promises 10,000 extra police officers, 1,000 extra border guards and 3,000 extra prison officers. Full review of the government counter-terrorism programme Prevent will be undertaken. Appointment of commissioner to set new standards for tackling domestic and sexual violence. Retain cross-border security co-operation agreements with Europe and beyond Ensure judicial oversight of exercise of investigatory powers. Commitment to recruit 500 more border guards Retain the Human Rights Act Immigration: Labour calls for "fair rules and reasonable management of migration" and will not make "false promises" on numbers. Will replace the government s current income thresholds for family members of migrants with an obligation to "survive without recourse to public funds". Will create a Migrant Impact Fund, which will be utilised to fund services in areas experiencing high rates of immigration. Aimed to be funded through visa levies.
Student will be taken out the net migration figures. Welfare: The bedroom tax will be scrapped, and a review will be undertaken on cuts to Universal Credit as well as limits to support for families of more than two children. Infrastructure: Labour have pledged the creation of a new National Investment Bank financed with an injection of initial public capital which will be leveraged using additional private sector finance to give 250bn of lending power over the next decade. This 250bn will be invested over 10 years on energy, transport and digital infrastructure. Transport Rail renationalising when current franchises expire. Ending expansion of driver-only operations. Recognises the need for extra airport capacity, although does not specify Heathrow expansion. Constitutional Issues: A Labour government will establish a Constitutional Convention to look at the functioning of the UK. The Convention will look at extending democracy locally, regionally and nationally, considering the option of a more federalised country. The House of Lords should be democratically elected. In the interim period, we will seek to end the hereditary principle and reduce the size of the current House of Lords as part of a wider package of constitutional reform. Brexit Scrap the government s Brexit White Paper. Retain the benefits of a single market and customs union, with a focus on the economy, not on controlling immigration, although the manifesto states that free movement of people will end. Guarantee the existing rights of EU nationals living in Britain immediately and Secure reciprocal rights for UK citizens living in other EU countries. Bring an end to the "no deal" option at the end of Article 50 negotiations - "transitional arrangements" will be negotiated instead. Legislating to guarantee that Parliament has a truly meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal.