Labour’s key manifesto vows from tax to NHS and immigration

Labour has set out its vision for turning the UK’s fortunes around three weeks before the General Election.

Speaking in Manchester, Keir Starmer vowed to set off a “decade of national renewal” – with sweeping changes to the NHS, police forces and Britain’s railways. The PM-in-waiting accused the Tories of leaving the country in a worse state than they found it and he unveiled the party’s 2024 manifesto.

Unveiling the crucial document outlining his plans, Mr Starmer urged voters to judge a future Government “by the actions that we take” as he pledged to “turn this around”.

The Labour leader vowed to focus on improving the economy and address the cost of living crisis which has piled misery on millions. He said: “Wealth creation is our number one priority. Growth is our core business.

“The only route to improving the prosperity of our country and the living standards of working people and that’s why we made it our first national mission for government.”

Here we look at some of the key things Labour says it will do.

Tax and pensions

A lot of focus has been on Labour’s tax plans, with the Tories accused of releasing misleading figures.

• Ending tax breaks for private schools
• No increase to VAT, National Insurance, or Income Tax
• Close loopholes in ending non-dom tax regime for the super-wealthy
• Raise billions by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion
• Cap corporation tax at current level of 25%
• Retain the triple lock for the state pension

Welfare

There is likely to be plenty of backlash over what’s not in the manifesto, with Mr Starmer not bowing to calls to abolish the two-child benefit limit. The manifesto says:

• No commitment to abolish the controversial two-child benefit limit
• Review Universal Credit so it “makes work pay and tackles poverty”
• End “mass dependence” of foodbanks – a “moral scar on our society”
• Launch “ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty”.
• Support more disabled people back into work and tackle backlog of Access to Work claims
• Reform of replace the Work Capability Assessment

Health and social care

The NHS backlog is one of the most damaging legacies of the Tory Government. Labour has vowed to tackle this head-on, vowing to:

• Ensure 40,000 extra evening and weekend appointments in England every week – funded by shutting tax loopholes for non-doms and clamping down on tax avoidance
• Double the number of NHS scanners to speed up cancer diagnosis, costing £250million
• Ensure 700,000 more urgent dental appointments
• Recruit 8,500 specialist mental health staff – to speed up appointment times
• Ban under-16s from buying high-caffeine energy drinks
• Create a new National Care Service – to ensure consistency of care across the country
• Guarantee rights of people in care homes to see their families

Crime and policing

Labour has promised to bulk up neighbourhood policing and tackle knife crime. Key measures in the manifesto include:

• 13,000 more neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs – to guarantee town centre patrols
• Ban on ninja swords
• Making assaulting shop workers a specific crime
• Creating new Respect Orders – with criminal sanctions for persistent anti-social behaviour
• Set up new youth hubs – with specialist mental health support
• Scrap Tory loosening of shoplifting law – thefts under the value of £200 is likely to be investigated
• Halve violence against women and girls within a decade
• Domestic abuse advisors in every 999 call centres
• Ensure every police force has a specialist rape unit
• New legal safeguards around strip-searching children and young people
• New offence of criminal exploitation of children – targeting gangs luring youngsters into violence

Education

Labour has promised investment in schools and free breakfast clubs. Some of the headline pledges are:

• Recruit 6,500 more teachers for England’s schools
• Setting up free breakfast clubs in primary schools
• Create 3,000 new school-based nurseries
• End single-word Ofsted judgements
• Create national register for home-schooled children

• Reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body – to address recruitment and retention

Housing

Labour has been heavily critical of Tory failure to deliver new homes. It says its plan will:

• Shake up planning laws to deliver 1.5million homes
• Restore mandatory housing targets by scrapping the National Policy Planning Framework
• Raise level of stamp duty surcharge on non-UK residents – to fund extra planning officers
• Introduce permanent mortgage guarantee scheme to help first-time buyers
• Immediately abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions

Immigration

This has become a key battleground after Rishi Sunak was forced to admit he thinks net migration is too high. Labour plans to:

• Create new Cross-Border Police Unit to tackle criminal people smuggling gangs
• Scrap the Rwanda deportation plan
• Ban on hiring from overseas for companies who break employment law
• Set up a new returns and enforcement unit – with an additional 1,000 staff,to fast-track removals
• End dependence on overseas workers in some sectors with workforce and training plans

Transport

Mr Starmer has promised a huge transport shake-up if he becomes PM in a bid to get the country moving again. He promised to:

• Bringing Britain’s railways into public ownership
• Give local leaders more power to fund bus services
• Support public ownership of bus companies
• Invest in roads to fill up to one million potholes a year

Energy and climate

Another key pledge is to tackle the UK’s dependency on money from overseas, which Labour says has left households at the mercy of dictators like Vladimir Putin. It plans to:

• Set up publicly-owned Great British Energy
• No new petrol cars from 2030 with switch to electric models
• ‘Proper, time-limited’ windfall tax on oil and gas companies
• Set up National Wealth Fund to invest in creating new jobs
• Work with private sector to double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind by 2030
• Invest £6.6billion on upgrading five million homes under the Warm Homes Plan
• Put failing water companies under special measures to clear up lakes, rivers and coasts
• Force UK-regulated financial institutions and FTSE 100 companies to produce credible green plans

Foreign Affairs

The manifesto sets out that Labour won’t reopen divisions over Brexit, but said it will reset relations with the EU. It vows to:

• Not return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement
• Seek new UK-EU security pact
• Britain to ‘unequivocally remain a member of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
• Launch a Strategic Defence Review – to assess the threats the UK faces and what’s needed to tackle them
• Calling for ceasefire in the Middle East and immediate release of hostages
• Committed to recognising Palestinian state
• Restoring international aid to 0.7% of gross national income ‘as soon as fiscal circumstances allow’
• Audit of bilateral relationship with China

Workers’ rights

Labour says it will ‘stengthen the collective of workers’, with pledges including:

• Banning zero hours contracts
• Ending fire and rehire
• Introducing parental leave, sick pay and unfair dismissal protections from day one of employment
• Ensure the Independent Low Pay Commission takes account of the cost of living crisis
• Get rid of discretionary age bands in the minimum wage rules

Animal welfare

Labour has vowed to:

• Ban trail hunting and the import of hunting trophies
• End puppy smuggling and farming, along with the use of snare traps
• Work towards the phasing out of animal testing

Democracy

Labour has set its sights on the House of Lords, which it says it will reform. Among the plans are:

• Remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords
• Mandatory retirement age of 80 in the upper house
• Address issues with Voter ID, such as accepting Armed Forces Veteran Cards
• Allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in all elections

• Establish a new Ethics and Integrity Commission