Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at Chatham House, said: 

***Check against delivery***

Chatham
House has been at the forefront of thinking on Britain’s role in the world. So
with the General Election less than a month away, it’s a great place to set out
my approach: on how a Labour Government I lead will keep Britain safe, reshape
relationships with partners around the world, work to strengthen the United
Nations and respond to the global challenges we face in the 21^st
century.

And I should say a warm welcome to the UN Special
Representative in Somalia,  Michael Keating, who is here today.

On Monday, we commemorated VE Day, the anniversary of
the victory over Nazi Germany in Europe.

VE Day marked the defeat of fascism and the beginning
of the end of a global war that claimed seventy million lives.

General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied
forces in 1944, went on to become Republican President of the United States
during some of the most dangerous years of the Cold War in the 1950s.

In his final televised address to the American people
as President, Eisenhower gave a stark warning of what he described as “the
acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex.”

“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry”, he said,
“can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of
defence with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may
prosper together.”

Sadly, in the more than half a century since that
speech, I think it’s clear that Eisenhower’s warning has not been heeded.

Too much of our debate about defence and security is
one dimensional. You are either for or against what is presented as “strong
defence”, regardless of the actual record of what that has meant in practice.

Alert citizens or political leaders who advocate
other routes to security are dismissed or treated as unreliable.

My own political views were shaped by the horrors of
war and the threat of a nuclear holocaust. My parents met while organising
solidarity with the elected government of Spain against Franco’s fascists
during the Spanish civil war.

My generation grew up under the shadow of the cold
war. On television, through the 1960s and into the seventies, the news was
dominated by Vietnam. I was haunted by images of civilians fleeing chemical
weapons used by the United States.

I didn’t imagine then that nearly fifty years later
we would see chemical weapons still being used against innocent civilians. What
an abject failure. How is it that history keeps repeating itself?

At the end of the cold war, when the Berlin Wall came
down we were told it was the end of history. Global leaders promised a more
peaceful, stable world.

It didn’t work out like that.

Today the world is more unstable than even at the
height of the cold war. The approach to international security we have been
using since the 1990s has simply not worked.

Regime change wars in Afghanistan Iraq, Libya, and
Syria – and Western interventions in Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen – have
failed in their own terms, and made the world a more dangerous place.

This is the fourth General Election in a row to be
held while Britain is at war and our armed forces are in action in the Middle
East and beyond.

The fact is that the ‘war on terror’ which has driven
these interventions has failed.

They have not increased our security at home – just
the opposite.

And they have caused destabilisation and devastation
abroad.

Last September, the Commons Foreign Affairs Select
Committee published a report on David Cameron’s Libyan war.

They concluded the intervention led to political and
economic collapse, humanitarian and migrant crises and fuelled the rise of Isis
in Africa and across the Middle East.

Is that really the way to deliver security to the
British people?

Who seriously believes that’s what real strength
looks like?

We need to step back and have some fresh thinking.

The world faces huge problems. As well as the legacy
of regime change wars, there is a dangerous cocktail of ethnic conflicts, of
food insecurity, water scarcity, the emerging effects of climate change.

Add to that mix a grotesque and growing level of
inequality in which just eight billionaires own the same wealth as the 3.6
billion poorest people.

And you end up with a refugee crisis of epic
proportions affecting every continent in the world. With more displaced people
in the world than since the Second World War.

These problems are getting worse and fuelling threats
and instability.

The global situation is becoming more dangerous.

And the new US President seems determined to add to
the dangers by recklessly escalating the confrontation with North Korea,
unilaterally launching missile strikes on Syria, opposing President Obama’s
nuclear arms deal with Iran and backing a new nuclear arms race.

A Labour Government will want a strong and friendly
relationship with the United States. But we will not be afraid to speak our
mind. 

The US is the strongest military power on the planet by
a very long way. It has a special responsibility to use its power with care and
to support international efforts to resolve conflicts collectively and
peacefully.

Waiting to see which way the wind blows in Washington
isn’t strong leadership. And pandering to an erratic Trump administration will
not deliver stability.

When Theresa May addressed a Republican Party
conference in Philadelphia in January she spoke in alarmist terms about the
rise of China and India and of the danger of the West being eclipsed.

She said America and Britain had to ‘stand strong’
together and use their military might to protect their interests.

This is the sort of language that led to calamity in
Iraq and Libya and all the other disastrous wars that stole the post-Cold War
promise of a new world order.

I do not see India and China in those terms. Nor do I
think the vast majority of Americans or British people want the boots of their
young men and women on the ground in Syria fighting a war that would escalate
the suffering and slaughter even further.

Britain deserves better than simply outsourcing our
country’s security and prosperity to the whims of the Trump White House.

So no more hand holding with Donald Trump.

A Labour Government will conduct a robust and
independent foreign policy – made in Britain.

A Labour Government would seek to work for peace and
security with all the other permanent members of the United Nations security
council – the US, China, Russia and France.

And with other countries with a major role to play
such as India, South Africa, Brazil and Germany.  

The ‘bomb first, talk later’ approach to security has
failed. To persist with it, as the Conservative Government has made clear it is
determined to do, is a recipe for increasing, not reducing, threats and insecurity.

I am often asked if as prime minister I would order
the use of nuclear weapons.

It’s an extraordinary question when you think about
it – would you order the indiscriminate killing of millions of people? Would
you risk such extensive contamination of the planet that no life could exist
across large parts of the world?

If circumstances arose where that was a real option,
it would represent complete and cataclysmic failure. It would mean world
leaders had already triggered a spiral of catastrophe for humankind.

Labour is committed actively to pursue disarmament
under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and we are committed to no first use
of nuclear weapons.

But let me make this absolutely clear.

If elected prime minister, I will do everything necessary
to protect the safety and security of our people and our country.

That would be my first duty.

And to achieve it, I know I will have to work with
other countries to solve problems, defuse tensions and build collective
security.

The best defence for Britain is a government actively
engaged in seeking peaceful solutions to the world’s problems.

But I am not a pacifist.

I accept that military action, under international
law and as a genuine last resort, is in some circumstances necessary.

But that is very far from the kind of unilateral wars
and interventions that have almost become routine in recent times.

I will not take lectures on security or humanitarian
action from a Conservative Party that stood by in the 1980s – refusing even to
impose sanctions – while children on the streets of Soweto were being shot dead
in the streets, or which has backed every move to put our armed forces in
harm’s way regardless of the impact on our people’s security.

Once again, in this election, it’s become clear that a
vote for Theresa May could be a vote to escalate the war in Syria, risking
military confrontation with Russia, adding to the suffering of the Syrian
people and increasing global insecurity.

When you see children suffering in war, it is only
natural to want to do something.

But the last thing we need is more of the same failed
recipe that has served us so badly and the people of the region so
calamitously.

Labour will stand up for the people of Syria. We will
press for war crimes to be properly investigated. And we will work tirelessly
to make the Geneva talks work.

Every action that is taken over Syria must be judged
by whether it helps to bring an end to the tragedy of the Syrian war or does
the opposite.

Even if ISIS is defeated militarily, the conflict
will not end until there is a negotiated settlement involving all the main
parties, including the regional and international powers and an inclusive
government in Iraq.

All wars and conflicts eventually are brought to an
end by political means.

So Labour would adopt a new approach. We will not
step back from our responsibilities.

But our focus will be on strengthening international
co-operation and supporting the efforts of the United Nations to resolve
conflicts.

A Labour Government will respect international law
and oppose lawlessness and unilateralism in international relations. We believe
human rights and social justice should drive our foreign policy.

In 1968, Harold Wilson’s Labour Government signed the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

As prime minister, I hope to build on that
achievement. 

Labour’s support for the renewal of the Trident
submarine system does not preclude working for meaningful, multilateral steps
to achieve reductions in nuclear arsenals. 

A Labour Government will pursue a triple commitment
to the interlocking foreign policy instruments of: defence, development and
diplomacy.

For all their bluster, the Tory record on defence and
security has been one of incompetence and failure.

They have balanced the books on the backs of
servicemen and women.

Deep cuts have seen the Army reduced to its smallest
size since the Napoleonic wars.

From stagnant pay and worsening conditions, to poor housing.

The morale of our service personnel and veterans is
at rock bottom.

And as the security threats and challenges we face
are not bound by geographic borders it is vital that as Britain leaves the EU,
we maintain a close relationship with our European partners alongside our
commitment to NATO and spending at least 2 per cent on defence.

That means working with our allies to ensure peace
and security in Europe. We will work to halt the drift to confrontation with
Russia and the escalation of military deployments across the continent.

There is no need whatever to weaken our opposition to
Russia’s human rights abuses at home or abroad to understand the necessity of
winding down tensions on the Russia-Nato border and supporting dialogue to
reduce the risk of international conflict.

We will back a new conference on security and
cooperation in Europe and seek to defuse the crisis in Ukraine through
implementation of the Minsk agreements.

We will continue to work with the EU on operational
missions to promote and support global and regional security.

This means our Armed Forces will have the necessary
capabilities to fulfil the full range of obligations ensuring they are
versatile and able to participate in rapid stabilisation, disaster relief, UN
peacekeeping and conflict resolution activities.

Because security is not only about direct military
defence, it’s about conflict resolution and prevention, underpinned by strong
diplomacy.

So the next Labour Government will invest in the UK’s
diplomatic networks and consular services.

We will seek to rebuild some of the key capabilities
and services that have been lost as a result of Conservative cuts in recent
years.

Finally, while Theresa May seeks to build a coalition
of risk and insecurity with Donald Trump, a Labour Government will refocus
Britain’s influence towards cooperation, peaceful settlements and social
justice. 

The life chances, security and prosperity of our
citizens are dependent on a stable international environment.

We will strengthen our commitment to the UN. But we
are well aware of its shortcomings, particularly in the light of repeated
abuses of the veto power in the UN Security Council.

So we will work with allies and partners from around
the world to build support for UN reform in order to make its institutions more
effective and responsive.

And as a permanent member of the Security Council we
will provide a lead by respecting the authority of International Law.

To lead this work, Labour has created a Minister for
Peace who will work across the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office.

We will reclaim Britain’s leading role in tackling
climate change, working hard to preserve the Paris Agreement and deliver on
international commitments to reduce carbon emissions.

Labour will re-examine the arms export licensing
regulations to ensure that all British arms exports are consistent with our
legal and moral obligations.

This means refusing to grant export licences for arms
when there is a clear risk that they will be used to commit serious violations
of international humanitarian law.

Weapons supplied to Saudi Arabia, when the evidence
of grave breaches of humanitarian law in Yemen is overwhelming, must be halted
immediately.

I see it as the next Labour’s Government task, as my
task, to make the case for Britain to advance a security and foreign policy
with integrity and human rights at its core.

So there is a clear choice at this election.

Between continuing with the failed policy of
continual and devastating military interventions, that have intensified
conflicts and increased the terrorist threat.

Or being willing to
step back, learn the lessons of the past and find new ways to solve and prevent
conflicts.

As Dwight Eisenhower
said on another occasion:

If people “can
develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war
almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man’s intelligence would
include also his ability to find a peaceful solution.”

And in the words of
Martin Luther King “The chain reaction of evil – hate – begetting hate, wars
producing more wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark days
of annihilation”.

I believe we can find those solutions.

We can walk the hard yards to a better way to live
together on this planet.

A Labour Government will give leadership in a new and
constructive way, and that is the leadership we are ready to provide both at
home and abroad.

Thank you.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on

NHS England Combined
Performance Statistics

for March released today, said:

“Theresa May’s winter crisis is stretching into summer and it is
NHS patients who are paying the price. The Tories have caused chaos in A&E
and have admitted that waiting times are only going to continue to grow. The
truth is that standards of care for NHS patients have collapsed this winter
because years of Tory underinvestment have left staff unable to cope with
rising demand, and cuts to out of hospital care have left patients stuck in
hospital even when they’re well enough to go home.

“Thousands more people are waiting for A&E care and routine
treatment every week because of the failures of this Tory Government. Behind
every one of these statistics is a patient and their family in pain because of
Theresa May’s refusal to give the health service the funding it needs.

“At
this election only Labour are promising to give the NHS the funding it needs to
deliver the standards of care which patients expect. By guaranteeing and
upholding the standards of service to which patients are legally entitled under
the NHS Constitution Labour will help millions of people who are being failed
by Theresa May and the Conservative Government.”

John McDonnell,
Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on today’s Bank of England Inflation report, said:

“Today’s downgraded growth, earnings and productivity forecasts and
upgraded inflations forecasts, signal bad news for living standards under the
Tories.

“These forecasts from the Bank of England come on the back of disappointing
growth for the first three months of the year and downgraded forecasts from
leading independent forecasters for the UK economy.

“There is no hiding from the truth. The Tories’ failed economic plan is holding
Britain back, and is undermining our economy and threatening working people’s
living standards.

“This General Election is a choice between a Labour Party who will stand up for
the many and a Tory Party which only looks after the privileged
few.”

Labour’s
Campaign Coordinators Andrew Gwynne and Ian Lavery will today unveil a
campaign poster highlighting how Britain has been held back by the
Conservatives.  

Ian Lavery will say:

“Millions of people feel they are living in a country where they
are held back from fulfilling their potential.

“They don’t feel secure in their jobs and they can’t remember the
last time they had a pay rise. Their children are struggling to learn in
crowded classrooms, and their hearts sink when they see what it
costs to rent or buy a home.

“Many who have saved and planned for their retirement find they
have to work longer because the state pension age is running away from them.

“The Tories have given tax breaks to the richest and big business,
while failing to invest in services, skills, infrastructure and the new industries
of the future.

“If the Tories are re-elected, things will only get worse. You
can’t trust the Tories with your future or with the NHS, your child’s future or
your pension.

“The Conservatives have held back Britain for too
long. Labour will build a fairer Britain for the many not the few. We can
do it together. Don’t let them hold you back.”

Angela Rayner, Shadow Education Secretary, launching Labour’s plans for a cradle to grave National Education Service at Leeds City Further Education College today, said:

To the people of this country I say this – you have a clear choice on 8 June.

A choice between a Conservative Government that has let you and your children down.

Or a Labour Government that will stand up for you and provide a better education and life chances for all.

The Conservatives said they would look after our children.

But instead they’ve cut funding for our state schools, abolished the Education Maintenance Allowance and tripled Tuition Fees.

Over the past seven years, the Tories have been dismantling the incredible legacy of the last Labour Government.

As it has across the economy.

This Conservative Government has held you back.

If you’re a teacher living the reality of falling investment and rising class sizes.
You’re being held back.

If you’re a parent – like I am – and your children aren’t getting the education they deserve because class sizes are too high.

Then our children are being held back.

It’s truly frightening that school budgets are being cut for the first time in over twenty years.

We’re going to see a generation of our children being held back.

It never used to be like this under Labour.

Harold Wilson spoke of a new Britain forged in the white heat of the technological revolution, and Tony Blair spoke of the need to build an education system fit for a new millennium.

This is how Labour always equipped Britain to rise to new challenges; the history of Labour in power is of us giving power to people.

To fulfil their potential, to have the economic security to start a family and get on in life, and to pass on to their children more than they were given.

And education has always been at the heart of how we have delivered this.

But in the past seven years, as the Tories drag us further away from the legacy of the last Labour Government, more and more people are being held back.

Held back by an education system that, under the Conservatives, isn’t giving them the support they need.

The over 800,000 young people not in education, employment, or training, who aren’t able to get the skills they need to get a good job, are being held back by a Government that is not supporting them.

The nine million adults who have poor literacy, poor numeracy, or both, too often trapped in low-wage, low-skill work, struggling to make ends meet as wages stagnate and living costs rise, are being held back by a Government not giving them the support they need.

I know how it feels to be held back, because, for a long time, I was too.

If you grow up in poverty and on a run-down estate, it doesn’t take much for you to feel held back.

You feel like you’ll never have the same opportunities as your better off mates, for even the most basic things; you feel like education isn’t for you.

You leave school without qualifications; you become a NEET, just another statistic on Philip Hammond’s spreadsheet.

Of course, in my case, I left school pregnant too, and at that point, you forget about feeling held back, and you start to worry about the most basic things.

How to make ends meet and provide for a child, how to try and give them even a little more than you had.

You do the best you can, but it can be so easy, through no fault of your own, to end up in your early adult life trapped in a cycle of deprivation, unable to get the decent wage you need to break out of it.

Slowly watching your dreams of becoming a nurse, a teacher or a scientist slip away as fantasies created by a young naive child.

But education can offer a lifeline that is simply transformative. And it shouldn’t stop at a particular age in life.

Like many people, including some of my colleagues, I went back to education as an adult, to get the skills and qualifications I missed the first time.

I did that thanks to a Labour Government introducing free childcare through Sure Start and free adult leaner courses at my local college.

It is difficult to say how much this changed my life, but I think I can safely say that if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be standing here today. I left school thinking I was thick and feeling like a failure.

For too many, the transformative power of education is lost, from schools not getting the funding they need, to the debts you need to take on to return to education as an adult.

I fear that the opportunities that were there for me are not there for those who need them now.

But things can be different.

We can build a fairer, richer Britain, where opportunity and prosperity can be shared by all. That provides business with a skilled and ready British workforce.

And that is why I am proud today to announce the first stages of Labour’s National Education Service.

First, we will secure the best education possible for every child, by getting the basics right, and that starts with proper funding for our schools.

We will reverse the £3 billion of cuts that our schools would face by 2020, and protect per pupil funding over the course of the Parliament.

And unlike the Tories, when we say real terms, we mean real terms.

No child will be held back by being in a school that doesn’t have the staff it needs, or can’t offer the curriculum our children need.

Under Labour, every child, whatever their background, will be given the opportunity to unlock their full potential.

We will give further and technical education the parity of esteem that it deserves, not just with warm words, but with bold action.

We will give further education for 16 to 19 year olds the funding it needs, reversing seven years of managed decline under the Conservatives.

NEETs will no longer be held back, but will instead be given the support they need to go into further education, to be able to acquire the qualifications they need to get on in life.

It’s vital we have lifelong learning. Learning is a ticket not just out of poverty but also out of isolation and loneliness that many of us will face at some point in our lives.

30 per cent of jobs will be affected by the rise of automation.

Up to nine million more people who will see their industries decline and their livelihoods disappear.

And if anyone thinks the Conservatives are up to the challenges that these changes to our economy will bring, I would remind them to look at what has happened in post-industrial towns across our country.

All the Conservatives did in power under Margaret Thatcher and John Major was to manage the decline of industries and left nothing but low-paid, low-skill work in its place.

Ghost towns with the heart ripped out of our communities, left to rot with little opportunities.

Theresa May is continuing Margaret Thatcher’s legacy.

But there’s nothing strong or stable in creating an economy that holds people back, puts a cap on their ambition and leaves them in job insecurity.

Only Labour has the vision to deliver a fairer Britain, where opportunities are available to all and prosperity is shared.

The National Education Service has been developed by the thousands of people, teachers and organisations who have spoken to me over the last 12 months either by email or in person on my many visits up and down the UK and of course in my own constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne.

The Labour Party has listened. You are at the heart of Labour’s National Education Service, offering opportunity for all, to ensure that nobody – be they child or adult or community – is held back.

This will help everyone who wants to use education, to enrich their own life and their career, moving into jobs with better wages and more security.

Education is a central pillar to Labour’s plan to upgrade Britain’s economy.

Because all of our businesses will benefit from Labour’s plans too, as they thrive in a richer Britain.

Productivity in Britain remains stubbornly low compared to our competitors. The average German worker can make everything a British one does in a week, and take Fridays off.

It is no surprise that countries with high-quality technical education have more productive economies.

Which is why Labour will upgrade Britain’s economy by ending the historic neglect of further education, giving teachers and facilities the investment they need to lead the world.

I will make sure our education system is fit for the 21st century by introducing free, life-long education in further education colleges.

Labour will abolish adult learner loans, and make all adult education free at the point of use, for all those who need it.

So adults who don’t have the basic skills they need to move on and move up in life will no longer be held back by the fear of loans.

They will instead be able to return to education whenever they need it.

It will enable everyone to upskill or retrain at any point in their life.

It will correct the historic neglect of the further education sector by investing in teachers and in facilities.

And Labour will set a target for all further education teaching staff to have a teaching qualification within five years and we will back this up with financial support.

And we will increase capital investment to equip colleges to deliver T-levels and an official pre-apprenticeship trainee programme.

Beyond lifelong learning, we will transform the provision of apprenticeships.

There must be a focus on quality and not quantity.

Frankly, the number of apprenticeships does not matter if they’re more about poor wages than getting a foot on the career ladder.

Currently half of all apprenticeships are below NVQ level 2 and this is simply not good enough.

So a Labour Government will shift the emphasis from quantity to quality by doubling the number of completed Level-3 apprenticeships before the end of the next Parliament.

It is only by transforming our education system that we can upgrade our economy so that nobody and no community is left behind.

And while the Tories have seen the benefits of economic growth go to a small number of the very wealthy, concentrated in the South-East, Labour will share prosperity across the country.

We will ring-fence £440 million from the apprenticeship levy to give small and medium sized companies the support they need to recruit and train highly skilled staff.

And encourage joined up thinking between local government, schools, the FE sector, and businesses, so that everyone, young and old, can leave education with a valued qualification and the skills they need to get a decent job in their local community.

And we recognise that 75 per cent of apprenticeships are delivered by independent providers and we appreciate their contribution to the sector.

And, yes, we are going to ask businesses to pay a little more in tax to fund it all.

But this is because they have their important part to play in a new deal for Britain, transforming our economy.

Quite simply, we are asking good businesses to do what they always do, to make long term investments that will yield a significant economic return.

And the Labour Party and Britain’s businesses both know that as we face our exit from the European Union, upskilling our workforce to tackle the challenges we face in the years to come has never been more important.

Labour’s National Education Service will give everyone in Britain, whatever their age and background, the opportunities they need to use education to transform their lives, just as it did for me.

And the businesses that help us fund it will get a highly skilled workforce, more productive, and better able to adapt to the challenges to come.

This will give them the certainty and security they need to continue to create jobs and wealth across Britain.

There can be no doubt that we face great challenges in the years to come, from Brexit, to the rise of automation, to the decline of industries that will be replaced in our economy by new, high-tech and green industries.

It takes a united approach, of individuals, of government at all levels, and of business, to respond to them, to ensure that we can deliver opportunity, security, and prosperity for all.

By offering everyone a properly funded school, a high quality technical education, and support for lifelong learning that will allow everyone to reskill, retrain, and return to education as they need to.

Quite simply, we will rise to the challenge that was laid down twenty years ago, to deliver an education service fit for a new millennium.

To deliver richer lives for our people and a richer Britain for us all.

A National Education Service delivering hope and prosperity.

For the many not the few.

Ends