Today prime minister Gordon Brown unveiled the Labour party manifesto for the general election.
Here are the key pledges:
* Secure the recovery by supporting the economy and halving the deficit by 2014 through growth, fair taxes and cuts to lower priority spending.
* No rise in the basic, higher and new top rates of tax in the next parliament.
* No extension of VAT on food, children's clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares.
* An expansion of free nursery places for two-year-olds.
* Operational independence for major museums and galleries, with more lottery funding returning to the arts, sport and culture after 2012.
* Protection for the post offices and pubs on which community life depends.
* The BBC's independence upheld; and Britain equipped with a world-leading digital and broadband infrastructure.
* Achieve around 40 per cent low-carbon electricity by 2020 and create 400,000 new green jobs by 2015.
* Make greener living easier and fairer through 'pay as you save' home energy insulation, energy-bill discounts for pensioners and requiring landlords to properly insulate rented homes.
* Move towards a 'zero waste' Britain, banning recyclable and biodegradable materials from landfill.
* Link together new protected areas of habitat; maintain the Green Belt; increase forest and woodland areas.
* 15 hours a week of flexible, free nursery education for three and four-year-olds.
* New powers for parents to bring in new school leadership teams, through mergers and takeovers.
* Guaranteed education or training until 18, with 75 per cent of young people going on to higher education, or completing an advanced apprenticeship or technician level training, by the age of 30.
* Create one million skilled jobs and modernise infrastructure with high speed rail, a green investment bank and broadband access for all.
* No stamp duty for first-time buyers on all house purchases below £250,000 for two years, paid for by a 5 per cent rate on homes worth more than £1 million.
* A super-majority of two-thirds of shareholders required before corporate takeovers.
* Job or training place for young people out of work for six months but benefits cut at ten months if they refuse a place.
* Realise stakes in publicly-controlled banks, introduce a global levy and reform banking rules.
* £4bn to provide capital to growing businesses through UK Finance for Growth.
* 70,000 advanced apprenticeships a year and Skills Accounts for workers to upgrade their skills.
* National minimum wage to rise in line with average earnings.
* Ensure excellence is spread across public services with 1,000 schools to become part of high standard accredited schools groups
* Every hospital to become a foundation trust.
* Underperforming police forces or borough commanders replaced or taken over.
* Voters to be given the right to recall MPs.
* Referendums on the alternative vote for the Commons and a democratic second chamber.
* Free vote in Parliament on reducing the voting age to 16.
* A new 'Father's Month' of flexible paid leave.
* Toddler Tax Credit of £4 a week from 2012 to all parents of young children.
* New National Care Service to ensure free care in the home for those with the greatest care needs, cap on the costs of residential care.
* Promise to re-establish the link between the basic state pension and earnings from 2012.
Article Comments
So the strategy unfolds:No management cost savings through reducing bureaucracy (SHA or PCT rationalisation). However, frontline staff will be freed from bureacracy; more nurses in the Community; more spending on the 3rd sector; so looks like Health is free from any cuts.That's welcome but realistic?!
12th Apr 2010 at 5:47 pm by Ron Jones
