Labour

York has a proud industrial past.

In the nineteenth century, many of the sweets and chocolate brands we all know and love, such as Terrys and Rowntrees, started production in York. By the end of the century, confectionery production was a major employer here, second only to the railways.

Confectionery production maintains a presence in York. But, like many industrial communities across the North of England, the industry has faced significant challenges.

Only a few weeks ago, Nestle announced job cuts across a number of factories, including York, and the move of Blue Riband production to Poland.

The decline of these industries and, indeed, other key manufacturing hubs across the country, has been largely due to the economic choices made by successive governments.

They didn’t just leave a gap in the jobs market and a gaping hole in our economy. Their exit from places up and down Britain quite simply ripped the heart out of communities, leaving many areas struggling to bounce back.

Those communities felt left behind, their pride, hopes and dreams shattered.

But in the last few weeks, Labour has used this election campaign as an opportunity to lay out a bold vision of a different Britain.  

A Britain that will rebuild these communities.

A Britain that looks after its sick and its elderly.

A Britain that gives every child the chance to reach their full potential. And in which going to university doesn’t leave you saddled with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt.

A Britain in which everyone who works earns enough to live on, and everyone who doesn’t work has the chance to find a decent, fulfilling job.

A Britain that is quite simply: fairer; richer; and happier.

Today, I am here to talk about how we build that Britain.

Because we can’t do it with an economy that relies on debt-driven consumption to drive growth. Families using credit cards just to get by.

We can’t do it with an economy that is so imbalanced that people in London earn £134 more a week than in Yorkshire.

And in which the top 1 per cent own 24 per cent of wealth.

Now, Labour’s manifesto is a promise to rewrite the rules in favour of the majority of people in this country. And today, I will set out how we will do that for our economy.

For years, Britain’s economy has been rigged in favour of narrow but powerful interests in the financial sector in one corner of England.

We were led to believe that, released from the shackles of regulation, the growth of the City of London could sustain the whole economy.

That we shouldn’t worry about our once proud industrial communities being sent into managed decline, because we had the welfare state to redistribute to areas of the country left out of London’s growth.

That we shouldn’t worry that swathes of the country were seeing their potential wasted – or that the activities of the financial sector grew more and more detached from people’s needs – because all that mattered was headline growth.  

The 2007 financial crisis showed us the dangers of an economy overly reliant on an unfettered and highly volatile financial sector.

But Britain is yet to learn that lesson.  

Headline growth may have recovered since the crisis, but the structural weaknesses of Britain’s economy remain.

Our economy continues to be grossly imbalanced – sectorally, towards the service sector, and geographically, towards London and the South East.

Productivity and investment are stagnant.

Our balance of payments deficit shows no sign of shrinking.

And average earnings are not expected to return to 2008 levels before 2021.

It is completely unacceptable that, 10 years on from the financial crisis, people who played no part in creating it, are still paying the price.

And the country’s decision to leave the EU last summer has raised the stakes even more.

When Britain leaves the EU, developing a new economic model, and a new role for Britain in the world, will be not just desirable but essential.

The Conservatives have set out their stall – choosing bombastic rhetoric over a serious strategy for negotiations.

They have picked winners, offering bespoke deals, whilst leaving most businesses out in the cold.

They insist that no deal is better than a bad deal.

But businesses I speak to all across the country know that that is nonsense.

If we crash out of the EU without a deal, it will destroy what remains of our industrial base, and fire the starting gun in a race to the bottom on wages and workers’ rights.

Labour’s vision couldn’t be more different.

We have said repeatedly that we will put our economy first in Brexit negotiations.

But we will go further.

We will break with the failed economic policies of the past, define a new relationship between government and the economy, and rebuild our economy on a better model.

Unlike the Conservatives, Labour will not shy away from making full use of all available policy levers, working in partnership with business and trade unions, to rebalance our economy so that it serves the many, not just the few.

Our National Transformation Fund, and £250bn of lending by our new National Investment Bank and network of Regional Development Banks, will transform our economy and deliver one million good jobs over the course of the Parliament.

Now, Labour’s plan for the economy is centred around three pillars.

First – national missions to address the biggest societal issues of our time.

Second – a set of cross cutting policies to create a fertile ground for business growth.

Third – collaboration and support at a sectoral level.

Following the work of leading economist, Mariana Mazzucato, Labour will set national missions to tackle the defining problems of our age.

To meet these missions, the public sector will make strategic investments that catalyse private sector innovation.

Our first mission is to ensure that 60 per cent of the UK’s energy will come from low carbon or renewable sources by 2030.

Climate change is, quite simply, the biggest challenge confronting humanity.

Our ambitious target will spur the kind of bold and decisive action that has so far been lacking.

It will also help our economy and put us at the forefront of the emerging global renewable technology market.

For climate change is a threat, but it is also an opportunity.

Transforming our energy system and investing in renewable technologies will create good jobs, boost our exports, and lower the price of energy for everyone.

Britain is home to the greatest innovative minds of our time. We have led the world in science and technology.

As a child, I marvelled at the technological advances my region had contributed to Britain when my dad took me to the museum of science and industry in Manchester. We invented the computer, we discovered graphene, we led the world in energy, to name but a few, and I was proud of my rich industrial heritage.

But I don’t want our pride in innovation consigned to mere school trips to museums.

I want us to write a new chapter for the history books, where Britain leads the world in science and innovation, where we lead the next industrial revolution.

Where our sense of pride comes not only from the greatness of the British people and our history, but also the services we deliver and the products we manufacture in the future.

An industrial patriotism.

So our second mission is to put Britain at the forefront of world innovation and to ensure that the products and services we create are manufactured and delivered here in Britain.

We will create an innovation nation, with the greatest proportion of high-skilled jobs in the OECD and 3 per cent of our GDP spent on research and development by 2030.

Innovation is essential to improving our productivity, which is the best means of raising wages and boosting the competitiveness of British industry.

The UK has world leading technological industries and research institutions, but we are lagging behind in terms of investment in R&D – spending only 1.7 per cent of GDP compared to an OECD average of 2.4 per cent.

The next Labour Government will immediately invest £1.3 billion in the first two years of Government, a proven way to galvanise the private sector into investing much more.

We will establish two new Catapult Centres – one for retail and one for metals, reflecting the breadth and diversity of the UK economy.

In setting these missions, we are laying down the gauntlet to business.

Central government will do its part by providing the foundations on which they can be met.

We will invest in people, and ensure that businesses can access the highly skilled workforce they want by setting up our National Education Service, allowing everyone to upskill and retrain at any point in life.

We will harness the £200 billion the Government spends in the private sector each year, to promote responsible businesses.

We will direct public money back into local economies, so that local pounds create local jobs.  

We will take action to reverse the offshoring, seen in recent decades, by bringing supply chains, and good jobs, back to the UK.

But we will do so by highlighting and extending Britain’s strengths, because we know that we can’t win a race to the bottom on wages and conditions.  

Labour will also take action on excessive energy prices, which put our industries at a disadvantage.

Labour will reverse years of under-investment in our infrastructure, investing £250 billion over the next ten years through our National Transformation Fund.

We will introduce a Universal Service Obligation for superfast broadband, at three times the speed promised by the Tories, future proofing the UK economy.

We will transform our transport system across all our regions and nations. Here in Yorkshire, we will deliver Crossrail for the north to connect the wonderful northern cities.

But it’s not just in terms of public sector investment that Britain has been falling behind – businesses need help to invest more too.

That’s why Labour will set up a National Investment Bank to fill gaps in lending to the private sector, and provide the patient, long-term finance businesses need to grow and prosper.

Finally, our industrial strategy will have a strong sectoral element.

As the work of economist Ha-Joon Chang has shown, the strongest industrial economies in the world – Germany, South Korea, Japan – got to where they are today because their governments nurtured, and supported, key sectors as they grew.

A Labour Government will do the same; breaking with the failed ideologies of the past and learning from the world’s best, by supporting sectors in which Britain is already a world leader and cultivating new strengths.

We will set up sector councils for each strategic sector – modelled on the highly successful Automotive Council – to bring together government, employers and workers and their trade unions as part of a new era of economic cooperation.

Through collaborative effort between Government and industry, Labour will create the winners of the future.

We will make sure that Britain is viewed by the world as a symbol of innovative and industrial excellence.

We will produce a million high quality, high-skilled and high paid jobs.

We will deliver economic growth to every region and every nation.

Quite simply, Labour will build an economy that works for the many and not the few. 

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at an event at York Science Park today, said:

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Before going further, I’d like to say a few words about leadership.

Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate change deal is reckless and dangerous.

The commitments made in Paris are vital to stop the world reaching the point of no return on climate change, and there can be no question of watering them down.

The Paris deal should not be up for renegotiation. The other three European members of the G7, France, Germany and Italy, have written to Donald Trump to make this clear.

So why does Theresa May not have her name on this joint statement?

Given the chance to present a united front with our international partners, she has instead opted for silence and subservience to Donald Trump. It is a dereliction of her duty both to our country  and to our planet.

That is not the type of leadership Britain needs to negotiate Brexit.

I am delighted to be in York today for the launch of Labour’s industrial strategy with our Shadow Industrial Strategy Minister, Chi Onwurah, and our Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey.

They have done an outstanding job in setting out this serious, comprehensive, and radical industrial strategy. A blueprint for a Britain in which no one is held back and in which every region and nation thrives.

Chi and Rebecca are building on the achievements of the last Labour Government whose intervention in 2009 not only saved our automotive sector, but laid the groundwork for it to become one of the crown jewels of Britain’s economy.

We will embrace new technology to upgrade our economy, create new good jobs and tackle climate change. 

At the heart of our industrial strategy is our plan to modernise our energy system to be 60 per cent renewable by 2030.

I am proud of the work Chi, Rebecca and my party have done, and I am particularly proud that all those who have been centrally involved in our industrial strategy have been two women.

In the course of this campaign, I have travelled the length and breadth of the country, setting out the many ways in which a Labour Government would change this country for the better.

On those travels, I have seen an economy that is grossly imbalanced.

Talk to people and you understand the consequences of this problem.

London overheats, and the cost of living there rises while communities in too much of the rest of the country have seen their local economies hollowed out, industries decline and stable jobs go.

Right across our country, too many people are trapped in precarious, low paid work while a few at the top get richer.

Despite Britain’s many strengths, we are not realising our full potential, failing to harness the talent of every region and nation.

This is why the policies we are setting out today are among the most important of all in our programme to transform Britain.

Because today is not just about giving people a fairer share of our country’s wealth.

Today is about tackling the injustices of our society at their root cause, and rewriting the rules of our economy for the many rather than the few.

No more can Britain try to sustain its economy on the back of growth in the financial sector in one corner of England.

Today, we set out a bold vision for a different Britain, a Britain in which work not only pays, but gives people a sense of pride and purpose.

In which every individual shares in the creation of wealth as well as sharing in its rewards.

A Britain in which every community, in every corner of the country, is built on the firm foundation of a vibrant local economy.

Only Labour will deliver policies that match the scale of our ambition. Investing to create a million good jobs; investing in the skills of our workforce; and working with industry to create the winners of the future. 

And it is now my pleasure to hand over to our Shadow Business Secretary to tell you more.

Labour will create an engine of investment and growth in Britain’s economy and drive a major expansion in good quality jobs that will benefit every region and nation of the UK.

At least a million good jobs will be created under a Labour Government to rebuild communities that have been left behind, transforming our economy into one that works for the many, not the few.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, will set out how Labour’s plans for jobs and wealth creation will unleash the untapped potential of every part of the country at an event at York Science Park on Friday 2 June.

The Conservatives have failed to give our regions, industries, businesses and workers the support they need, leaving Britain with deep-rooted economic problems which are holding Britain back.

Labour’s National Transformation Fund, National Investment Bank and network of Regional Development Banks, will provide the engine Britain’s economy needs to drive investment in the infrastructure and green and cutting edge industries of the future – creating jobs, developing skills and providing support for small and medium businesses in every region. 

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“When Labour talks about job creation we mean decent jobs, jobs which pay a real living wage, which people can get by on, and which give people a sense of pride and purpose.

“Labour will invest to drive growth across the whole of Britain, creating wealth which is shared across our country, rather than concentrated in the hands of the few. Labour will ensure people are not held back. We will build an economy where everyone shares in the creation of wealth as well as its distribution.

“Under the Conservatives, the richest have got richer, while most people’s incomes have fallen or stagnated. Labour’s plans will make sure everyone shares in our country’s wealth.”

Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said:

“Unlike the Conservatives, Labour will make full use of all policy levers to drive growth and economic development, working in partnership with the private sector and trade unions to rebalance our economy so that it serves the many, not just the few.

“Labour’s industrial strategy will have real muscle, powered by our National Transformation Fund and £250bn of investment from our new National Investment Bank and network of Regional Development Banks.

“We will deliver a million good jobs over the course of the next Parliament.”

Emily Thornberry, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, responding to reports that Theresa May has refused to sign a joint statement with other European leaders expressing regret at President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement, said:

“The leaders of France, Germany and Italy are absolutely right to stand by the Paris Agreement and make clear to Donald Trump that it is not up for renegotiation. The commitments made in Paris are vital to stop the world reaching the point of no return on climate change, and there can be no question of watering them down.

“The only question is why Theresa May does not have her name on this joint statement. Given the chance to present a united front with our European partners, she has instead opted for cowardice and subservience to Donald Trump. It is a dereliction of her duty both to our country and to our planet.

“It is bad enough that she failed so badly to persuade Trump to stick to the Paris agreement, but it is even worse that she lacks the backbone to stand up to him now. This proves that Mrs May is the very last person we want negotiating for Britain on Brexit.”

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at an event in Basildon on Labour’s plans for a jobs-first Brexit, said:

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It seems like a long time ago now, but this election was called by the Prime Minister three years early, supposedly in order to make Britain’s exit from the European Union easier for her to manage.

A lot has happened since then. The terrible atrocity in Manchester above all, which has driven home the need to be more effective in the action we take to protect our people, both at home and abroad.

And then we have the extraordinary meltdown of the Conservative Party’s own manifesto within days of it being launched.

Having declared war on Britain’s pensioners, it is now all but impossible to find anyone who can tell you what the Conservative policy actually is on the critical issue of social care, or how many million people stand to lose their winter fuel payments.

The older generation is being reminded of a central truth in British politics: You can’t trust the Tories. You can’t trust the Tories with your pension; with your tax credits; with your personal independence payments; with your national insurance contributions; one U-turn and broken promise after another by this Conservative leadership has made that absolutely clear.

At the same time, we have launched Labour’s own manifesto, setting out positive and fully-costed policies on funding the NHS; scrapping tuition fees; recruiting 10,000 more police officers; raising the living wage to £10; protecting pensioners’ incomes; building more than a million new homes and much more.

We are asking the British people for their support, above all on the basis of that programme of social justice.

But it is also right that we return to the issue of Brexit.

Negotiations with the EU leaders will start in just 18 days.

And the British people have a choice over what priorities, what principles, the British Government will take into those talks.

And which team they trust to lead the difficult negotiations ahead.

I am proud to be joined here today by Labour’s team of Brexit negotiators: Keir Starmer; Emily Thornberry; and Barry Gardiner

A team with the skills and experience to get the best for Britain as we move towards leaving the European Union.

We know the three Tories in whose hands Theresa May has placed our national future: David Davis; Boris Johnson; and Liam Fox.

Now you know I don’t do personal attacks, so let me just say that in Labour’s Brexit team, there is no one who has fibbed to the British people about spending an extra £350 million a week on the NHS because of Brexit; and nobody who has promised to use Brexit to slash workers’ rights; or slash tax for big corporations in a continental race to the bottom; or peddled illusions about the difficulties ahead.

We in Labour understand that getting the right deal, one that secures our country’s interests for the long-term, will be challenging. A matter for serious planning and negotiation, not hectoring and threats.

But Labour is ready.

Ready to deliver a deal that gives British businesses and British society the chance to thrive in a post-Brexit world.

A deal that will allow us to upgrade our economy through public investment in infrastructure and high skilled jobs

A deal that will make Britain a centre for science, technology and research, attracting the brightest and best from around the country and the world, through strategic investment.

A deal that allows us to transform Britain into a country with the strongest rights and protections, and ends exploitation and undercutting in the labour market.

A deal that allows us to become a country that values and protects its public services and invests in its communities.

And a deal that will allow Britain to be a safe and outward looking country, strengthening friendships and working with allies to create a better future for our country, continent and our planet.

The Conservatives want a mandate for their Brexit plan – a plan that puts jobs and living standards at risk and threatens to turn our country into a low-wage offshore tax haven. “Changing our economic model”, as Theresa May put it so delicately, leading a race to the bottom in public services and working conditions.

The party that closed down huge chunks of British industry under Margaret Thatcher, and now pays for tax handouts for the richest with cuts to vital public services, hasn’t changed its spots.

So far, the rhetoric and threats from the Tory government has fostered a toxic climate.

Labour will start negotiations by setting a new tone.

We will confirm to the other member states that Britain is leaving the European Union. That issue is not in doubt.

But, instead of posturing threats and pumped up animosity, a Labour Government under my leadership, will set out a plan for Brexit based on the mutual interests of both Britain and the EU.

Labour will start by giving a clear commitment to the EU nationals who live, work and contribute a huge amount to British society, that they will be guaranteed their existing rights.

It is clear, through my own discussions with European leaders, that it would be the best way to secure reciprocal rights for British nationals living in other parts of the EU.

It is shameful that the Conservatives haven’t acted on this already. That three million members of our communities have been left in limbo.

The Conservatives’ refusal to make the simple commitment that decency demands is a stain on this government’s reputation.

And Labour will be clear from the start: Britain’s economy, business and workforce need tariff-free access to European markets to protect jobs and living standards, and securing that access will be our priority.

Britain certainly can thrive and prosper outside the EU. Our businesses are creative, industrious and inventive.

But they need access to European markets. They need to be part of unimpeded supply chains and they need the chance to grow beyond our borders in order to protect and create jobs, wealth and opportunity.

And the EU’s member states have a mutual interest in maintaining and developing that trade with Britain.

So Britain needs a Labour Government. Instead of putting our economy first, the Conservatives’ reckless approach has left us isolated and marginalised.

Increasing the chances of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal, which would be the worst outcome for Britain.

Britain is leaving the EU. But let’s be clear, there is no such thing as ‘no deal’.

If we leave without a positive agreement because we have needlessly alienated everyone, we still have to trade with the EU, we still have terms for that trade and very bad ones at that.

Theresa May says no deal is better than a bad deal. Let’s be clear: ‘No deal’ is in fact a bad deal. It is the worst of all deals, because it would leave us with World Trade Organisation tariffs and restrictions instead of the access to European markets we need.

That would mean slapping tariffs on the goods we export: an extra 10 per cent on cars, with the risk that key manufacturers would leave for the European mainland; taking skilled jobs with them.

In sector after sector, ‘no deal’ could prove to be an economic disaster. Theresa May’s approach risks a jobs meltdown across Britain.

Instead, Labour will negotiate a tariff-free deal with the EU, which will benefit both sides, and we will transform our economy for a post-Brexit Britain through a new industrial strategy, that will use powers returned from Brussels, and will rewrite the rules of our economy, so that it serves the interests of the many rather than the few.

Our economy has become dangerously unbalanced; skewed towards London and the financial sector, while our once proud industrial communities have had to live through decades of managed decline.

Productivity and investment lag well behind our nearest competitors; our balance of payments is in deficit and insecure; low paid work is spreading. Leaving the EU will make addressing these weaknesses even more urgent.

That’s why a Labour Government is vital to take a more active role in our economy, working with employers and trade unions to fuel growth and deliver prosperity to every corner of the country.

Powered by our National Investment Bank and National Transformation Fund, Labour’s industrial strategy will deliver the investment our economy so desperately needs.

And our Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, will be setting out more details of our investment and transformation plan for Britain tomorrow.

Soon, we will no longer be members of the European Union, but agreeing a deal that delivers the benefits of the European single market and the customs union will be the priority for a Labour government.

Leaving the EU will mean the end of free movement of workers between Europe and Britain.

So Labour’s new rules for managing immigration from Europe will be fair and based on what’s best for the economy and our communities.

We will start with a package of strong labour market regulation measures, which will stop the endless undercutting of terms and conditions by unscrupulous employers, often through agency recruitment and which has fuelled much recent migration.

We will crack down on unscrupulous employers;

stop overseas-only recruitment of workers;

strengthen safety and protections at work;

give all workers equal rights from day one in a job;

and increase prosecutions of employers evading the minimum wage.

And, for areas where immigration has placed a strain on public services, Labour will reinstate the migrant impact fund scrapped by the Conservatives.

Labour’s team will also guarantee and expand the rights and protections that British workers have secured through EU legislation.

We will bring forward a specific rights and protections Bill that will lock those protections into British law

The Conservatives simply cannot be trusted on rights at work.

They have led an all-out assault on workers’ rights through their Trade Union Act.

Boris Johnson has demanded that the Government should scrap the EU social chapter.

And the Conservatives also failed to back Labour’s efforts in parliament to protect workers’ rights, which are derived from the European Union.

Labour will not only protect our existing rights, we will extend them.

And Labour’s Brexit strategy will also keep Britain safe.

Unlike the Tories, we will not threaten to withdraw security co-operation from our European allies to get our way. We share similar values, and the solidarity shown by people across Europe after the recent horrific attacks in Manchester; only underlines the point.

We need to work together to make Britain safer and Europe safer.

So Labour will use Brexit negotiations to confirm our commitment to cross border agencies, such as Europol and Eurojust, and we will seek to continue to use the European arrest warrant.

We will also hire 10,000 more police officers to make our communities safer, and an additional 1,000 people to help our security services deal with the threat of terrorism.

Labour is clear that the safety of our citizens should never be used as a bargaining chip.

The choice in this election is not Brexit or no Brexit.

That issue has been settled.

The choice is between a jobs-first Labour Brexit and a reckless Tory Brexit, based on a race to the bottom in working conditions and corporate taxes.

The choice is who you trust to fight for your future? A weak and wobbly Tory Party, which can’t stick with its own key manifesto commitments for a week, which always puts the interests of the wealthy and big business first?

Or a Labour team with clear principles and proven competence, which will put jobs, living standards and the national interest first?

Labour has a plan to transform Britain into a high skill, high wage economy.

And build new trading relationships across the world.

Labour will build a fairer Britain that the millions who voted both “remain” and “leave” last year want to see.

By standing for the many not the few, Labour is the only party which can overcome the divisions of last year’s referendum and deliver a Brexit that brings our country together.

On 19 June, Labour will be ready. Ready to negotiate a Brexit for the many not the few.

That is my promise to our country today.