Labour Manifesto 2017 key points: from tuition fees to Brexit
The party’s plans and pledges in full
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Tax
:: No income tax rises for those earning below £80,000 a year – but “top 5 per cent of earners will be asked to contribute more in tax” to fund public services
:: No rise in personal National Insurance Contributions or the rate of VAT
:: Lower small profits rate of corporation tax will be reintroduced to protect small businesses
Deficit
:: Target of “eliminating the Government's deficit on day-to-day spending within five years”
:: Ensure national debt is lower at the end of the next Parliament than at present
Infrastructure
:: National Transformation Fund will be created to invest £250bn over 10 years to upgrade economy
:: Complete HS2 high-speed rail line, and link the project with other rail investments such as Crossrail of the North and the Durham Freight Centre
:: Build a new Brighton Main Line for South-east
:: Rail electrification and expansion across the country
Brexit
:: Scrap Conservatives' Brexit White Paper and replace with “fresh negotiating priorities” with strong emphasis on retaining benefits of single market and customs union
:: Labour government would “immediately guarantee” existing rights for all EU nationals in Britain
:: It would “reject 'no deal' as a viable option”
Immigration
:: Labour will not “scapegoat migrants” and will not set a cap on immigration, describing targets as “bogus”
:: International students will not be included in immigration numbers, but the party will crack down on “fake colleges”
Education
:: Labour will create a National Education Service for England to incorporate all forms of education
:: Overhaul existing childcare system and extend the 30 hours of free childcare to all two-year-olds
:: Labour promises to reduce class sizes to “less than 30” for five-, six- and seven-year-old children
:: Devolve responsibility for skills to city regions or devolved administrations
:: Scrap university tuition fees and reintroduce maintenance grants for students
Work
:: Zero hours contracts will be banned to guarantee workers a “number of hours each week”
:: Maximum pay ratios of 20:1 to be rolled out in public sector
:: Four new public holidays to mark national patron saints' days
:: Raise minimum wage to “at least £10 per hour by 2020”
:: Ban unpaid internships
:: The party will “clamp down on bogus self-employment” and extend rights of employees to all workers - including shared parental pay
Social
:: Labour will guarantee state pension triple lock, as well as the winter fuel allowance and free bus passes
:: “Rejects” proposal to increase state pension age further
:: Cuts to bereavement support payment will be scrapped, as will the bedroom tax and the “punitive sanctions regime”, while housing benefit for under-21s will be reintroduced
Housing
:: Build at least 100,000 council and housing association homes a year by end of the next parliament, for “genuinely affordable rent or sale”
:: 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”
:: Make 4,000 additional homes available for rough sleepers to end homelessness
Health
:: One million people will be taken off NHS waiting lists by “guaranteeing access to treatment within 18 weeks”
:: Free parking in NHS England will be funded by increasing tax on private medical insurance premiums
:: Scrap NHS pay cap
:: NHS will receive more than £30bn in extra funding over the next parliament
:: Mental health budgets will be ring-fenced, and Labour will ensure all children in secondary schools have access to a counselling service
Crime
:: Recruit 10,000 more police officers, and will work to “eliminate institutional biases against BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities”
:: Reintroduce “effective judicial oversight” on how and when investigatory powers are used, when “the circumstances demand that our collective security outweighs an individual freedom”
Utilities
:: Labour will bring energy supply networks, the water system and Royal Mail, as well as private rail companies, back into public ownership
Defence
:: Commit to spending at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence
:: Support renewal of Trident nuclear deterrent, but Labour will “lead multilateral efforts with international partners and the UN to create a nuclear-free world”
PA
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