A spokesman for the party leader refused to comment
on the 'leaks' Getty
Labour will pledge to
renationalise the railways and Royal Mail, spend an extra £6bn-a-year on the
NHS and abolish university tuition fees alongside the bedroom
tax, according to a leaked draft copy of its election manifesto.
The 43 page manifesto – due to
be published in full next week – will be considered at a meeting of Labour’s
National Executive Committee (NEC) on Thursday before being finalised and
distributed to voters. The leak of the document, drafted by Jeremy Corbyn’s
policy chief Andrew Fisher, will likely infuriate the leader's inner-circle.
According to two newspapers,
the party, should Mr Corbyn be elected as Prime Minister on 8 June, will
re-nationalise energy firms, railways, bus companies and the Royal Mail, which
was fully privatised at the end of 2015. The manifesto describes this as a
“historic mistake”.
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Jeremy Corbyn and Labour
The party will also consider
proposals to review the Government’s plans to increase the state pension age to
67 in the next decade, in a move designed to appeal to older voters, who are
overwhelmingly more likely to cast a vote in four weeks’ time.
As expected, the draft includes
commitments already announced as part of Labour’s policy blitz in recent weeks,
including ruling out tax increases for those earning less than £80,000 and
introducing a wage cap for companies with government contracts, ensuring such
firms would be forbidden to pay their highest earners 20 times more than the
lowest paid worker.
Despite Mr Corbyn’s long-held
belief of nuclear disarmament, the document states that Labour supports the
renewal of Trident – the UK’s nuclear deterrent system. But, it adds, “any
Prime Minister should be extremely cautious about ordering the use of weapons
of mass destruction which would result in the indiscriminate killing of
millions of innocent civilians.
“It also recommits the party to
spending two per cent of Britain’s GDP on defence, as requested by Nato and
promises 10,000 extra police officers on the streets of Britain – as announced
by the Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott last week.
On housing, the draft states
that town halls, under a new department for housing, will be required to build
100,000 new council houses a year and offer accommodation to rough
sleepers in a bid to tackle the growing crisis of homelessness on Britain’s
streets. It is also suggested that private rent hikes will be capped at
inflation.
Mr Corbyn’s party will also
pledge to scrap “punitive” benefit sanctions, reverse several of the former
Chancellor George Osborne’s welfare reforms, including a £30-a-week cut to
disability benefits, abolishing the bedroom tax and order a review of Iain
Duncan Smith’s Universal Credit rollout, which has beset by heavy delays.
On education, the party says it will restore
the principle of free education in Britain, adding: “No one should be put off
educating themselves for lack of money or through fear of debt.
“Labour will reintroduce
maintenance grants for university students, and we will abolish
university tuition fees. University tuition is free in many northern
European countries, and under a Labour government it will be free in Britain
too.”
It comes after footage emerged
of John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, telling activists the party would
introduce a “National Education Service”, which will be “free at the point of
need throughout life”.
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He added: “And that means
ending the cuts in the schools at primary and secondary level. It means free childcare.
It means free school training when you need it throughout life.
“And yes it means scrapping
tuition fees once and for all so we don’t burden our kids with debt for the
future.”
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn
told The Independent: "We do not comment on leaks. We will announce
our policies in our manifesto, which is our plan to transform Britain for the
many not the few."
But the document will likely
prove to be a headache for the party, as the polices will face even further
scrutiny ahead of the intended date of publication next week alongside the
other major political parties. Conservatives seized on the leaked document
as a “total shambles”.
A spokesperson added: “The
commitments in this dossier will rack up tens of billions of extra borrowing
for families and will put Brexit negotiations at risk Jobs will be lost,
families will be hit and our economic security damaged for a generation if
Jeremy Corbyn and the coalition of chaos are ever let anywhere near the keys to
Downing Street."
Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat's foreign affairs spokesperson, added:
"This manifesto became meaningless the day Jeremy Corbyn ordered his MPs
to vote with the Conservatives and UKIP to give Theresa May a blank cheque on
Brexit.
“Labour supporters should have
hope that someone will stand up to Theresa May's divisive Brexit deal, but it
won't be Jeremy Corbyn.”
Another option is available.
The Liberal Democrats will stand up for you, your family, your schools and
hospitals and give you the final say on Brexit, with the choice to remain if
you don't like the deal on offer.”
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