Some of what an incoming Labour government will do

In the wake of large-scale Tory cuts to police and security resulting in 37,000 fewer staff, Labour will recruit:

·       10,000 more police officers

·       3,000 more firefighters

·       3,000 more prison officers

·       1,000 more security and intelligence agency staff

·       500 more border guards

Labour’s plans to reverse staff cuts in these agencies will return staffing levels closer to those when Labour left office

Childcare for the many: Labour’s universal childcare plan will transform the lives of more than a million children

More than a million children and their families will benefit from Labour plans for universal provision of 30 hours of free childcare a week for all two to four-year-olds.

Labour believes every child, no matter what their background, deserves a good start in life, and that childcare costs shouldn’t be a barrier for parents who want to go back to work.

Labour will extend 30-hour childcare to more children by eliminating means testing for two-year-olds and no longer restricting provision for three and four-year-olds to children whose parents are working. 

These changes will benefit an additional 1.3 million children. Labour’s universal childcare policy will help ensure all children have a good start in life and remove barriers to parents, especially women, participating in the labour market.

Labour’s National Education Service will create a high-quality, universal childcare system that will bridge the gap between maternity leave and full-time schooling in the long run.

Labour is committing to protect the incomes of twelve million pensioners by legislating to keep the 'triple lock'.

·        Under The Tories 300,000 more pensioners are in poverty, yet they have failed to commit to the ‘triple lock’ on state pensions which protects pensioners’ standards of living.

·        The Tories are abandoning older people. They have cut £4.6 billion from social care budgets over the last parliament and they have failed to protect the NHS.

·        A Labour Government will protect pensioner incomes by legislating to keep the Triple Lock on state pensions over the lifetime of the next parliament.

·        Labour is also committing to keep the Winter Fuel Allowance and free bus passes.

·        Labour's commitment means that state pensions will be uprated by the higher of average earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent.

·        With more pensioners in poverty under the Conservatives, it is clear that a Labour Government is necessary to provide a secure and dignified retirement for the many who have contributed all their lives.

Labour will create a fairer tax system and raise billions in extra government revenue to fund investment in our public services. We will:

·        Make those who trade in financial derivatives pay a small fraction of their profits.

·        Protect 95 per cent of people from any rises in income tax, National Insurance and VAT.

·        Close the loopholes, clamp down on the tax havens, and shine a light on the illicit activities of those seeking to duck their responsibilities.

We will use the money raised to invest in public services and build an economy for the many, not the few.

Labour will back first-time buyers and build the homes we need, including 100,000 genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy a year by the end of the next Parliament.

Labour’s New Deal for the NHS

Labour is today announcing a New Deal for the NHS, with a pledge to take one million people off the waiting list and fix England’s broken A&Es with essential additional funding and tough new targets. 

The Tories promised to protect the NHS but our health service has been plunged into crisis with waiting lists up, A&Es overcrowded and hospitals in financial crisis. Meanwhile £4.6bn in Tory cuts have created an emergency in social care.

Where the Tories have failed to deliver, Labour will:

·        Give the NHS an an extra £37 billion over the course of the next Parliament, including £10 billion of capital funding to make sure that NHS buildings and IT systems are fit for the modern day.

Take one million people off the waiting list by the end of the Parliament, by guaranteeing access to treatment within 18 weeks.

Guarantee patients can be seen in A&E within four hours.

Create a new £500 million winter pressures fund to help ensure patients never have to experience a winter crisis like the one of recent months.

Deliver the Cancer Strategy for England in full by 2020, helping 2.5 million people living with cancer. 

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

Labour pledges more funding to grassroots football

Labour is today highlighting our manifesto commitment to ensure five per cent of the Premier League's domestic and international television rights income is diverted to the grassroots game.

The pledge will help the next generation of players and coaches by drastically improving facilities and pitches.

Labour have also committed to working with train operating companies, broadcasters and clubs to develop a new 'Flexible Football Ticket' so that fans experience minimal disruption when games are switched. This will stop fans being left with worthless train tickets and having to fork out again for new tickets when games are re-arranged at short notice.

Labour’s manifesto also commits to:

·        Put fans at the heart of their clubs – by legislating for accredited supporters trusts to be able to appoint and remove at least two club directors and to purchase shares when clubs change hands. We will also review fan participation in sports governance more widely

·        Fix the broken ticketing market – by enforcing anti-bot legislation and implementing the recommendations of the Waterson review to ensure fair opportunities for fans to buy tickets

·        Improve access provision for disabled sports fans - by ensuring that rapid improvements are made and by prioritising action to make clubs comply with obligations under the 2010 Equality Act

·        Ensure that investment and support is given to grassroots women’s football so as many women and girls as possible can benefit from participating in football

Labour will ensure the footballing talent of young girls and boys is harnessed, and football is a game for the many, not the few.

Labour will:

·        Introduce a new Index of Child Health to measure progress against international standards and report annually against four key indicators: obesity, dental health, under 5s, and mental health.

·        Legally require all Government departments to have a child health strategy to set out how they will support the UK’s ambition to have the healthiest children in the world.

·        Support school nurses and health visitors to make sure that all children have access to the healthcare they are entitled to.

·        Set up a £250m annual child health fund to support the strategy, by clamping down on management consultancy costs in the NHS.

·        Ensure extra funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and support for counselling in every school.

·        Ring-fence the public health budget over the course of the Parliament to allow councils to invest in leisure activities and health awareness campaigns.

Labour is outlining the first stage of its plan focusing specifically on obesity which is costing the NHS £6bn a year.

·        Labour pledge to ban adverts promoting unhealthy food from being broadcast during primetime television, such as the X Factor, Hollyoaks and Britain’s Got Talent. A ban on pre-watershed junk food advertising would reduce children’s viewing of junk food adverts by 82%.

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has pledged that a Labour Government elected after the General Election would:

·        Halve childhood obesity within ten years and make Britain “the healthiest country in the world to grow up in.”

·        Introduce legislation banning junk food advertising from being broadcast before 9pm

·        Publish a new childhood obesity strategy within the first 100 days outlining a roadmap to halving childhood obesity rates within ten years