SIR Keir Starmer today unveiled £8.5bn worth of tax rises and a crackdown on junk food as he launched Labour’s go-for-growth election manifesto.
The wannabe PM revealed his 125-page blueprint for Britain’s future at the Co-op Live indoor arena in Manchester.
ReutersSir Keir Starmer formally launched the Labour Party manifesto in Manchester today[/caption]
PAThe Labour Leader posed for pics with his frontbench team ahead of the launch[/caption]
PAThe 125-page document contained promises to slash NHS waiting lists and cut the soaring cost of energy[/caption]
After briefly being disrupted by a protestor, Sir Keir said: “We gave up on being a party of protest five years ago.
“We want to be a party of power.
“I am proud, in this place, in this city to launch our manifesto. A manifesto for wealth creation and a plan to change Britain.”
He added: “We are still a great nation. We can still achieve great things.
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“What we lack is a government that can match the ambition working people have for their family and community, with a credible long-term plan.”
In a dig at Jeremy Corbyn‘s disastrous leadership, Sir Keir declared: “The defining purpose of my Labour leadership has been to drag my party away from the dead end of gesture politics and return it once more to the service of working people.
“I have changed my party. Now I want the chance to bring that change to the country.”
Sparking accusations of “vote rigging”, Sir Keir pledged to give 16 and 17-year olds the vote in all elections.
At the Labour manifesto launch, Sir Keir Starmer…
Ruled out raising income tax, national insurance, or VAT
Committed to keeping the pensions triple lock, which increases the state pension each year in line with the highest of inflation, earnings or 2.5%
Promised a benefits shake-up, working with local authorities to get more disabled and sick people back into employment.
Pledged to remove the ‘discriminatory’ age bands affecting the National Minimum Wage
Vowed to ban advertising junk food to children along with the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16
Promised to hike defence spending to 2.5% of GDP
Promised to slap VAT on private schools to fund 6,500 new teachers
Vowed to cut energy bills for millions of households
Pledged to build 1.5million new homes
Promised to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote
And the Labour chief outlined his plans for a £8bn tax raid to boost Britain’s public services.
He said the government can’t play “fast and loose” with public finances after working people paid the price in the wake of the Tory mini-Budget.
Sir Keir pledged to hike taxes by charging VAT on private school fees, abolishing the non-dom tax status and closing “loopholes” in the windfall tax on oil and gas companies.
The levy raids will fund 6,500 new teachers and free up 40,000 more evening and weekend NHS appointments.
It will also pay for over 3,000 new nurseries, 8,500 mental health staff, 13,000 extra neighbourhood police and PCSOs and create free breakfast clubs in schools across the country.
The Labour boss pledged he will impose “no new taxes on working people”, including VAT, national insurance and income tax.
But he refused to rule out hikes to capital gains and inheritance tax.
Sir Keir said: “If we grew the economy at anything like the rate of the last Labour government we’d have tens of billions of pounds worth of investment for our public services every year.
“So if you take nothing else away from today, let it be this: This changed Labour Party has a plan for growth.
“We are pro business and pro worker the party of wealth creation.”
Sir Keir outlined a plan to kickstart growth by creating 650,000 jobs in future industries and ripping-up planning rules to build railways, roads and 1.5 million homes as part of an infrastructure strategy.
He also promised to decentralise power from Westminster and reform the job market with better support for employment, healthcare, and childcare.
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On immigration, Labour said it will develop home-grown skills.
Sir Keir pledged to scrap the Tory government’s Rwanda deportation plan and instead use £75 million earmarked for it over the next year to set up a new border security command.
The manifesto vows: “Labour will stop the chaos and go after the criminal gangs.”
The squad will include spooks, border officers and cops. And it will target the criminal gangs ferrying people in small boats across the Channel.
The manifesto said: “Labour will set up a new returns and enforcement unit, with an additional 1,000 staff, to fast-track removals to safe countries for people who do not have the right to stay here.”
The party also aims to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP but is yet to set a date for it.
Labour also declared it will convert Britain to clean power by 2030 – five years earlier than the Conservatives.
The manifesto vows to: “Make Britain a clean energy superpower to cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero.”
A Sir Keir-led government would create a publicly owned company Great British Energy to invest in new renewable energy projects.
The Labour chief will also reinstate a 2030 ban on purchasing new petrol and diesel cars, which was extended to 2035 by Rishi Sunak.
But Labour’s Net Zero plans have already sparked a backlash from union GMB which says the plans are “unviable”.
Responding to Labour’s manifesto launch, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “This is Labour’s Tax Trap Manifesto which contains only tax rises and no tax cuts.
“Under Labour’s published plans, taxes will rise to levels never before seen in this country.
“But that’s only the tax rises they’re telling you about – it doesn’t include the £2,094 of tax rises they’ll need to fill their £38.5 billion unfunded spending commitments.”
He added: “What’s most important is not what’s in Labour’s manifesto, but it’s what they have kept out of it.
“They are refusing to rule out taxing your job, your home, your pension, your car, your business and they think they can get away with it without anyone holding them to account.
“Be under no illusion, from cradle to grave you will pay more taxes under Labour.”