General election 2019: Labour launches ‘radical’ manifesto

Labour is launching its general election manifesto, which is expected to include imposing a windfall tax on oil companies.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn will promise to “transform” the UK into a low-carbon, green economy.

But a party conference pledge to make the UK zero carbon by 2030 is expected to be watered down.

The manifesto will also include plans to bring rail, mail, water and energy into public ownership.

And it will promise to restore axed bus routes and expand entitlement to free public transport.

Speaking in Birmingham, Mr Corbyn will insist Labour’s policies are fully costed and “popular” – but there has been internal controversy over the idea of a one-off tax on the oil industry.

Some trade union officials fear it would damage Scotland’s North Sea Oil industry.

Mr Corbyn is promising to set up a £250bn Green Transformation Fund – to be paid for through borrowing – to fund 300,000 new “green apprenticeships” and loans for people to buy electric cars.

In September, Labour’s annual conference passed a motion urging the party to commit to make the UK carbon neutral by 2030 – matching the Green Party’s key general election pledge.

But the wording of the pledge is expected to be watered down, following complaints from trade unions and others in the Labour movement who feared it was impossible to meet.

Image copyright
Reuters

‘Radical and ambitious’

Labour calls its manifesto the “most radical and ambitious plan to transform our country in decades”.

It will include a pledge for more cash for the NHS if the party wins the 12 December general election, paid for by taxing higher earners and borrowing.

Labour’s Brexit plan, including another referendum, will be set out.

Mr Corbyn will also promise the biggest affordable house building in decades – including 100,000 new council houses a year by 2024.

Local authorities will also be given more powers over schools in their area.

Among the other policies expected to be confirmed at the launch are:

• A “real living wage” of at least £10 an hour – including for younger workers
• The creation of one million “green jobs” to tackle climate change
• Free broadband for all delivered by part-nationalising BT

‘Manifesto of hope’

The Labour leader said it was a “manifesto of hope”, adding: “Over the next three weeks, the most powerful people in Britain and their supporters are going to tell you that everything in this manifesto is impossible.

“That it’s too much for you. Because they don’t want real change. Why would they? The system is working just fine for them. It’s rigged in their favour.

“If the bankers, billionaires and the establishment thought we represented politics as usual, that we could be bought off, that nothing was really going to change, they wouldn’t attack us so ferociously. Why bother?

“But they know we mean what we say. They know we will deliver our plans, which is why they want to stop us being elected.”

The party is hoping its manifesto will help it get back into power for the first time since 2010, but the opinion polls so far suggest it is heading for defeat on 12 December.

Image copyright
PA Wire

Labour is locked in a battle with the Conservatives – who are also promising to borrow money to spend on public services – in seats across the Midlands and the north of England.

Unite trade union Len McCluskey – a key ally of Mr Corbyn – told ITV’s Robert Peston the manifesto’s message to voters in the party’s traditional heartlands was: “Come home to Labour.”

‘The people own Labour’

In his speech, Mr Corbyn criticised the Tories after claims they are being backed by donations from a third of Britain’s billionaires.

The Labour leader said voters could trust his party to deliver its pledges because “we’re opposed by the vested interests for standing up for a different kind of society”.

“We’ll deliver real change for the many, and not the few. That’s what this manifesto is all about,” he said.

But the Conservatives have accused Mr Corbyn of trying to distract voters from his party’s “failing campaign” and “his inability to give answers” on Brexit.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Corbyn in Downing Street would mean wasting the whole of next year on two chaotic referendums and leaving our economy staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.”