Labour

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will today outline Labour’s transformational plan to invest in a National Education Service to ensure no one is held back and create a more skilled workforce and productive economy.

Labour’s plan to increase schools funding and introduce free, lifelong education in colleges is at the heart of its commitment to create a society run for the many not the few.

Jeremy will be joined by Angela Rayner, Shadow Education Secretary, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary, at a college in Leeds on Wednesday to announce the details of the plan.

Labour’s key pledges are:

• Stop the cuts to school budgets with a real terms increase in funding

• Reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six and seven year olds

• Free school meals for all primary school children

• Restore education maintenance allowance for college students

• Restore student grants for university students

• Scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to re-train or upskill

The plans will be funded from the £19.4 billion that will be raised by reversing the Conservative Party’s cuts to corporation tax. Labour has previously announced extending free school meals to all primary age children will be funded by levying VAT on private school fees.

Jeremy Corbyn said:

“People of all ages are being held back by a lack of funding for education, and this in turn is holding back the economy by depriving industry of the untapped talent of thousands of people.

“The Conservatives have spent seven years starving schools of funding, meaning headteachers are having to send begging letters to parents to ask for money. They have also cut support for students and forced colleges to increase fees. It’s created a downward spiral that is bad for the people being held back and bad for the economy.  

“Labour will do things differently. Our new National Education Service will transform our schools and education system to ensure a future for the many not the few. We will reverse the Conservatives’ tax giveaways to big business and put money back where it belongs, in our schools, our colleges and our communities.”

Angela Rayner said:

“Our plans for a new National Education Service show there is a clear choice at this election. Between the Tories who have broken their promises to parents and children, or a Labour party with a real plan for education for the many not the few.

“We will invest in schools and in our young people, ensuring no primary pupils go hungry during the day, reducing class sizes so children can learn and teachers can teach, and restoring the maintenance allowance and grants for students in both further and higher education.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

• Stop the cuts to school budgets with a real terms increase in funding

• Labour will ensure all schools have the funding they need, including £4.8 billion per year for English schools by 2021-22, as part of £5.66 billion additional annual funding across the UK by the end of the parliament.
• We estimate that preventing any losses under the proposed national funding formula in every year after the first will cost around £335 million.

• Reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six and seven year olds

• £8.4 billion capital investment to ensure schools have the number of places they need and £13.8 billion to ensure that school buildings are up to standard.

• Free school meals for all primary school children

• House of Commons Library research says extending free school meals for all primary children would cost £700-£900 million, paid for by VAT on private schools.

• Restore education maintenance allowance for college students

• Assuming the same proportion of 16-18 year olds qualify for EMA as previously the cost would be £582 million a year.

• Restore student grants for university students

• Total spend on maintenance grants in 2015/16 was £1.57 billion. If this is uprated in line with CPI inflation then the cost next year is £1.63 billion, rising to £1.73 billion by the end of the parliament.

• Scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to re-train or upskill

• Increase the adult skills budget by £1.5 billion by the end of the parliament in order to abolish upfront fees and increase course funding by an average of 10 per cent year on year.

Corporation tax

• From next tax year, the headline rate of corporation tax will rise from its current 19 per cent to 21 per cent in 2018-19, 24 per cent in 2019-20 and 26 per cent in 2020-21. This will still leave it at the lowest rate in the G7. The small profits rate, payable by firms with profits below £300,000, will rise less sharply to 20 per cent in 2018-19 and 21 per cent in 2020-21

• According to Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility figures, the Tories’ tax giveaways are costing the exchequer £65.2 billion over the four years from 2018-19 to 2021-22, including £19.4 billion in the last year of the parliament. This contrasts with £46.8 billion based on the forecasts when the cuts were introduced.

John McDonnell, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on Theresa May’s refusal to rule out a rise in National Insurance Contributions, said:

“Theresa May has once again failed to rule out more National Insurance Contribution increases. There is already a £2 billion black hole in the Budget from when the Tories tried to sneak through a hike in NICs only a month ago, and it is becoming clear they are looking to try to go ahead with this tax hike if they’re re-elected next month.

“The Tories still won’t rule out further tax rises on those with low and middle incomes and are a threat to working people.

“Labour’s personal tax guarantee rules out rises in National Insurance Contributions, VAT and income taxes for the 95 per cent. Labour is now the party of low taxes for the many and not the few.” 

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at the party’s campaign launch in Manchester, will say:

***Check against delivery***

It’s great to be launching our campaign in Greater Manchester where you showed the way for the rest of the country by electing a Labour mayor, Andy Burnham.

Andy will be a great mayor – but just think how much more he will be able to achieve if he is working with a Labour Government committed to the many not the few.

We have four weeks. Four weeks to take our message to voters to convince them Britain can be better. It can be transformed. It doesn’t have to be like this.

We can transform Britain into a country that – instead of being run for the rich – is a one where everyone can lead richer lives.

And I mean richer in every sense.

Richer because all of us have potential to fulfil, family to support, interests to pursue, richer when that potential is not held back.

Because there is no doubt; Britain is being held back.

If your children aren’t getting the education they deserve because class sizes are too high.

Then your children are being held back.

If you’re a young couple, or anyone trying to get a home and can’t make a home because rent and house prices are too high.

Then you’re being held back.

And if you’ve worked hard all your life, but can’t pursue your dreams in retirement because you’re supporting your family well into adulthood.

Then you too are being held back.

But Britain is a rich country – the sixth richest in the world.

We caught a glimpse of that wealth only two days ago when Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times published its Rich List.

In the last year, Britain’s 1,000 richest people have seen their wealth rise by 14 per cent to £658 billion – that’s nearly six times the budget of our NHS.

Imagine the outcry if public sector workers put in for a 14 per cent pay rise.

But it’s no surprise that the richest have got even richer after the tens of billions the Tories have handed them in tax cuts.

That’s what we mean when we say the system is rigged for the rich.

So thanks for making that clear, Mr Murdoch – though I imagine it’s the only help you will give us in this campaign.

In fact, we expect hostility. Our challenge to a rigged system is bound to meet hostility.

Change always involves taking on vested interests.

And there is a real danger that the Tories’ fearmongering and spin machine will make some people settle for less than they should. Resign themselves to things the way they are – underestimating just how many more burdens the Tories could impose if their mission to rig the system for the rich isn’t halted.

The stakes are high. We know from last week’s local elections how big the challenge is.

We have to convince the sceptical and undecided. They are not sure which way to turn.

And who can blame them?

People are alienated from politics and politicians.

Our Westminster system is broken and our economy is rigged. Both are run in the interests of the few.

Labour is under attack because we are standing up to the elites who are determined to hijack Brexit to pay even less tax and take even more of the wealth we all create.

Labour is under attack because we are standing up to the corporate interests plundering our NHS. How much more will be privatised if the Tories get another five years?

We’re drawing a line. Three decades of privatisation – from energy and rail to health and social care – has made some people very rich but it has not delivered richer lives for the majority.

In the coming days, we will be setting out our plan to transform Britain – with an upgraded economy run for the many not the few.

Theresa May thinks she can dodge the Tory record by claiming she wants to build a fairer Britain, that she cares about working people.

But does she think people will forget how the Tories have actually treated working people?  

It was this Tory leader who sat alongside David Cameron in government for six years.

She was with him when they introduced the bedroom tax.

What’s remotely fair about the bedroom tax? What was fair about racking up tuition fees? Or about taking benefits away from people with disabilities?

Or about closing Sure Start Centres. Or starving schools of cash. Or opening up the NHS to be feasted on by profiteers.

In case their talk of fairness doesn’t wash, they have another card to play. That this election is all about Brexit and who can play at being toughest with Brussels.

Labour will not allow the Tories to put their party interests ahead of the real national interest; the interests of the British people.

This election isn’t about Brexit itself. That issue has been settled. The question now is what sort of Brexit do we want – and what sort of country do we want Britain to be after Brexit?

Labour wants a jobs-first Brexit. A Brexit that safeguards the future of Britain’s vital industries, a Brexit that paves the way to a genuinely fairer society, protecting human rights, and an upgraded economy.

Labour’s plan to transform Britain will mean:

A big deal to upgrade the economy: new infrastructure to support the industries of the future. And an investment in training and skills to equip our workforce to compete globally.

It means rebuilding our NHS and social care services with the funding they need.

It means building a million homes to rent and buy.

And it means tackling the scandal of air pollution which contributes to 40,000 deaths per year.

We won’t be paying lip-service to working people.

We will introduce a comprehensive programme to strengthen rights at work, make sure new jobs are good jobs, and end the race to the bottom in pay, conditions and job security.

Low pay and insecurity have spread like an epidemic under the Tories.

Labour will invest in skills and jobs, and take action to enforce a floor under employment standards across the board – so that all jobs are decent jobs, so that all workers – the true wealth creators – can play their part in transforming Britain and benefit fully from it.

That’s why we are fighting to win this election.

So we can transform Britain for the many not the few.

When we win, the British people win. The nurse, the teacher, the small trader, the carer, the builder, the office worker win.

Labour is offering a real choice, a real alternative to the rigged system holding us back and to the Conservatives who are running our country down.

The economy is still rigged in favour of the rich and powerful.

When Labour wins there will be a reckoning for those who thought they could get away with asset stripping our industry, crashing our economy through their greed and ripping off workers and consumers.

When did the Conservatives – David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Boris Johnson – ever stand up to their financial backers and demand our money back?

Never and they never will.

Instead, they make others foot the bill – they make our nurses, our carers, our soldiers, our disabled, our young people trying to get a home of their own, our elderly looking for dignity in retirement and those working hard to get on, foot the bill.

It makes me angry. And I know it makes the people of Britain angry too.

So today, I say to tax cheats, the rip off bosses, the greedy bankers; enough is enough.

In this election, Labour is standing for decent jobs, investment for the future, shared wealth creation, security at work, affordable homes for all, a fully funded NHS and schools, training and skills, an end to rip-off privatisation, fair taxation and a fairer, more equal country.

As we set out our detailed plans for Britain, the scale of the change we are offering will become clear.

So let’s turn our country around. Let’s come together to transform Britain. Together, we can win for the many not the few.

Don’t wake up on 9 June to see celebrations from the tax cheats, the press barons, the greedy bankers, Philip Green, the Southern Rail directors and crooked financiers that take our wealth, who have got away with it because the party they own, the Conservative Party, has won.

We have four weeks to ruin their party. We have four weeks to have a chance to take our wealth back.

We have four weeks to show what kind of country we are. We know that the people of Britain don’t pass by on the other side. That is the principle we will take into government so that we can unlock every person’s potential and everyone can make their best contribution to our society.

We have four weeks to win and transform Britain for the many not the few.

We must seize that chance.

Thank you.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s Shadow Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in response to the Conservatives’ announcement on an energy price cap, said:

“This is desperate stuff from the Tories, re-announcing something they tried to get a headline for just a fortnight ago. But just as when they announced it last time, there’s still no proper detail nor any real commitment to helping working people.

“When the Tories say they’ll ‘cap’ bills, the question they need to answer is whether they can guarantee bills won’t go up for people next year – that’s the real test. A cap suggests a maximum amount that can be charged, not a promise that bills won’t go up year on year.

“The reality is that the Tories aren’t offering anything for working people. Their record is one of failure and broken promises, letting ordinary people down at every turn. Over and over they’ve promised to get bills down but under them households are almost £900 worse off due to increase energy bills since 2010.

“Only Labour can be trusted to deliver a country for the many rather than just the few. All the Tories offer is broken promises and a record which has seen working people worse off.”

The next Labour government will make parking at NHS England hospitals free for patients, visitors and NHS staff. Labour created the NHS to be free at the point of use, so the next Labour government will eradicate the hidden charges of car parking fees.

Labour will increase the rate of Insurance Premium Tax to 20% for private healthcare insurance products to fund the policy, replacing the £162 million England’s underfunded hospitals currently raise from car parking charges by scrapping the subsidy for people that can afford it, rather than charging people who can’t.

Last month, a Freedom of Information request by Unison revealed some hospitals are charging staff, including nurses struggling with low wages, nearly £100 a month to park, resulting in reports of nurses having to rush out in between appointments to move their cars and avoid fines.

All of Labour’s new spending commitments are fully costed and transparent. This policy will be paid for by a new charge on private healthcare insurance.

Announcing the policy, Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said: 

“Labour will end hospital parking charges, which place an unfair and unnecessary burden on families, patients and NHS staff. Hospital parking charges are a tax on serious illnesses.

“Our hospitals are struggling from under-funding at the hands of Theresa May’s Conservative government, but the gap should not be filled by charging sick patients, anxious relatives and already hard-pressed NHS staff for an essential service.

“Our NHS needs a Labour government that will stand up for the many, not the few.”