Labour Party promises 'wealth creation' will be 'number one priority' in election manifesto

13 June 2024, 00:23 | Updated: 13 June 2024, 06:16

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has promised to prioritise "wealth creation" in the party's new election manifesto.

The document setting out what Labour would do in government if they win the upcoming General Election will be unveiled later on Thursday.

The party is keen to highlight the message of "economic growth". “This changed Labour Party has a plan for growth. We are pro-business and pro-worker. The party of wealth creation.

Furthermore, the manifesto includes "five national missions" designed to end sticking plaster politics, end the chaos, turn the page and meet the long-term challenges the UK faces.

Labour says it will achieve this with plans to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times, launch a new Border Security Command, set up Great British Energy, crack down on antisocial behaviour and recruit 6,500 new teachers.

It says: "In contrast to the desperate, unfunded wishlist of the Tory manifesto, Labour has a serious, fully costed, fully funded plan for change.

"Labour’s manifesto will contain a tax lock for working people – a pledge not to raise rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. GDP figures released yesterday showed the economy has stalled."

The country will head to the polls on 4th July.

The main point for Labour’s plan to kickstart growth are:

• Restore economic stability with tough new spending rules, allow businesses to plan, with a cap on corporation tax at 25%, and a new industrial strategy to give business long-term certainty for investment decisions
  
• Unleash investment with a new National Wealth Fund to invest in the industries for the future, and Great British Energy to accelerate the transition to Clean Power. Our plan will create 650,000 jobs in the industries of the future
  
• Reform our planning rules to build the railways, roads, labs and 1.5 million homes we need and develop a new 10-year infrastructure strategy
  
• Reform decision-making to shift power away from Westminster to turbo-charge the efforts of mayors across the country, with new powers over transport, skills, housing and planning, and employment support, along with new growth plans for towns across the country
  
• Reform our jobs market by getting people back into work with careers and job centre reform, a New Deal for Working people to make work pay, a new childcare offer to get people into work, and tackle health and mental health challenges to get people back to work
  
• Reform the immigration and skills system to ensure Britain is developing home-grown skills with workforce plans to meet the needs of industries and the economy
  
• Introduce a modern industrial strategy, working in partnership with businesses and workers to grasp the opportunities of new technologies, with an AI sector plan, a new national data library to support cutting-edge research, 10-year budgets for key world innovation institutions and planning reform to build the datacentres and infrastructure we need

Keir Starmer said: “Some people say that how you grow the economy is not a central question - that it’s not about how you create wealth, but how you tax it, how you spend it, how you slice the cake, that’s all that matters.

“So let me be crystal clear - this manifesto is a total rejection of that argument, because if you transform the nature of the jobs market, change the infrastructure that supports investment into our economy, reform the planning regime, start to unlock the potential of billions upon billions in projects that are ready to go, held up by the blockers of aspiration, then that does so much more to our long-term growth prospects.

“The same is true of our public services. If we could grow the economy at anything like the level the last Labour Government did, that’s an extra £70bn worth of investment for our public services.

“Wealth creation is our number one priority. Growth is our core business - the end and the means of national renewal. The mandate we seek from Britain at this election is for economic growth.

“This changed Labour Party has a plan for growth. We are pro-business and pro-worker. The party of wealth creation.

“We have a plan in this manifesto that represents a total change in direction, that is laser-focused on our cause.

"A Government back in the service of you and your family.”

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'A punchy grilling': The Battle for Number 10: Analysed

On Wednesday evening, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer took part in the Sky News: The Battle for Number 10 debate where they both faced a slew of difficult questions.

Both party leaders were grilled by the host and members of the audience on key election issues such as taxes, the NHS and the cost-of-living crisis at the event held in Grimsby.

The Prime Minister was both laughed at and booed when answering questions on the Conservative Party's 14-year record but acknowleged public frustration.The legacy of former Tory government still cast a shadow on Sunak who similarly failed to say what he had achieved while in office.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir was left briefly speechless when an audience member accused him of being a "political robot". He also clashed with a junior doctor over pay and with a father on private schools.

However, polling immediately after the debate found he came out on top among viewers.

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