Jeremy Corbyn launches Labour’s bold general election manifesto

Sky News

LONDON — The Labour Party has launched its official general election manifesto.

Speaking in Bradford on this morning, leader Jeremy Corbyn set out a number of policies, including the abolition of tuition fees, nationalising of the railways, and plan to raise the national living wage to £10 an hour by 2020.

A Labour government would build over a million new homes, put 10,000 additional police officers and 3,000 more firefighters on the streets, and guarantee the triple lock to protect pensioners’ incomes, according to the manifesto.

“This manifesto is the first draft of a better future for our country, it’s a blueprint of what Britain could be,” Corbyn told party members in Yorkshire today.

He also urged Prime Minister Theresa May to “come out of hiding” and debate him on national TV.

Here are the pledges Corbyn announced on Tuesday morning:

We are ruling out rises on VAT and National Insurance and on income tax for all but the richest 5% of high earners.

Labour will boost the wages of 5.7 million people earning less than the living wage to £10 an hour by 2020.

Labour will end the cuts in the National Health Service to deliver safe staffing levels and reduce waiting lists.

Labour will scrap tuition fees, lifting the debt cloud from hundreds of thousands of young people.

Labour will move towards universal childcare expanding free provision for 2, 3 and 4 year olds in the next Parliament.

Labour is guaranteeing the triple lock to protect pensioners’ incomes.

And we will build over a million new homes, at least half for social rent.

Labour makes no apology for offering new protections to people at work, including ending the scandal of zero-hour contracts.

Or for finding the resources to hire 10,000 new police officers and 3,000 new firefighters.

And we will do the smaller things that still make a real difference – like ending hospital car parking charges or introducing four extra bank holidays a year.

But we in Labour recognise that solving these problems requires a thriving economy. One that gets our economy working again, and rises to the challenges of Brexit for jobs and investment.

For seven years the Conservatives have been holding Britain back.

Low investment, low wages, low growth.

Labour will move Britain forward with ambitious plans to unlock the country’s potential.

Labour will set up a National Investment Bank and regional development banks to finance growth and good jobs in all parts of the UK through major capital projects.

Labour will invest in our young people through a National Education Service focussed on childcare, schools and skills, giving them the capacity to make a productive contribution to tomorrow’s economy.

Labour will take our railways back into public ownership, to put the passenger first.

We will take back control of our country’s water by bringing it into regional public ownership.

And we will take a public stake in the energy sector to help keep fuel prices down and ensure a balanced and green energy policy for the future.

Alternatively, you can read the manifesto in full below.