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
