Labour’s U.K. Election Manifesto Launch: The Key Proposals

(Bloomberg) -- Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn launched his party’s manifesto on Thursday, promising a reckoning for the U.K.’s bankers and billionaires if he wins the Dec. 12 general election.

His program includes spending plans costing hundreds of billions of pounds, funded by an array of new taxes on companies, financial transactions, oil companies and the highest 5% of earners.

Here’s a breakdown of the key proposals:

Brexit

• Negotiate a new deal with the European Union within three months. This would see the U.K. in a customs union with access to the bloc’s single market and guarantees for environmental and workers rights
• The deal would be put to a referendum, within six months of the election, with the option to remain in the EU as the other option. The party will decide at the time which side to support

Nationalization

• Key industries including rail, water, energy production and Royal Mail to be brought under public control
• Nationalization of BT Group Plc’s Openreach unit to deliver free full-fiber broadband across the country by 2030
• Local authorities also given the option to bring bus services back under their control. If they do, those under the age of 25 will receive free travel

Taxation

• Will seek to tax multinational corporations based on the proportion of their sales, workforce and operations in the U.K.
• The top 5% of earners -- those earning more than 80,000 pounds ($104,000) a year -- will pay more tax
• A windfall tax on oil companies. The manifesto contained no further details
• Expand stamp duty reserve tax to foreign-exchange transactions, interest-rate derivatives and commodities trades at 50% of transaction costs
• Reverse cuts to inheritance tax and Bank Levy

Work

• Minimum wage would increase to 10 pounds an hour, and Labour aims to end the gender pay gap by 2030
• Seek to bring in a four-day week within 10 years, with no reduction in wages
• All workers would be given full rights from their first day in the job
• Statutory maternity pay extended to 12 months from nine, and paternity leave doubled
• Give workers a share in the companies they work for by requiring large companies to set up Inclusive Ownership Funds (IOFs). This will mean as much as 10% will be owned collectively by employees, with dividend payments distributed equally among them all

Environment

• Create a 250 billion-pound Green Transformation Fund dedicated to renewable and low-carbon energy and transport, biodiversity and environmental restoration
• Deliver nearly 90% of electricity and 50% of heat from renewable and low-carbon sources by 2030, including nuclear, wind and solar power
• Target 100% electric vehicle sales by 2030, and remove five-year surcharge on electric vehicles with a list price over 40,000 pounds bought between 2020 and 2022
• Include U.K. imports when measuring national carbon dioxide emissions
• Target net-zero carbon food production by 2040

Health Care

• Increase expenditure across the health sector by an average of 4.3% a year
• Ensure mental health treatment is on a par with that for physical health conditions through an additional 1.6 billion pounds a year investment
• Free dental checkups and prescriptions for everyone in England
• Free social care for the elderly

Education

• Create a National Educational Service, with every adult entitled to six years of free study or training throughout their life
• Introduce value-added tax on fees for private schools
• Scrap university tuition fees

Housing

• Introduce a levy on overseas companies buying housing, while giving local people priority if they want to buy new homes built in their area
• Plan to build council and social homes at a rate of 150,000 a year by 2024
• Give leaseholders the right to buy their freehold at a price they can afford, and end the sale of new leasehold properties

Welfare

• Scrap the Universal Credit welfare system and design an alternative which would aim to end poverty by guaranteeing a minimum standard of living
• Explore innovative ways of responding to low pay, including a pilot of Universal Basic Income

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart Biggs

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