The 128-page document was launched by party leader Jeremy Corbyn in Bradford on Tuesday.
Corbyn said: “Today we set out vision to transform Britain for the 21st century.This manifesto is the first draft of a better future for the people of our country. A blueprint of what Britain could be and a pledge of the difference a Labour government can make.”
Key policies that UK manufacturers may find interesting include:
Skills and apprenticeships:
- Responsibility for skills will be devolved, wherever there is an appetite, to city regions or devolved administrations
- Maintaining the apprenticeship levy while taking measures to ensure high quality by requiring the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to report on an annual basis to the Secretary of State on quality outcomes of completed apprenticeships
- Giving employers more flexibility in how the levy is deployed, including allowing the levy to be used for pre-apprenticeship programmes
- Protecting the £440 million funding for apprenticeships for small-and medium-sized employers who don’t pay the levy
- Consulting on introducing incentives for large employers to over-train numbers of apprentices to fill skills gaps in the supply chain and the wider sector
Brexit and immigration:
- Accepting the EU referendum result and putting the national interest first
- Scrapping the Conservatives’ Brexit White Paper and replacing it with fresh negotiating priorities
- Putting jobs and the economy first
- Guaranteeing existing rights for all EU nationals living in Britain and securing reciprocal rights for UK citizens in EU countries
- Rejecting ‘no deal’ as a viable option and if needs be negotiate transitional arrangements to avoid a 'cliff-edge’ for the UK economy
- Developing and implementing fair immigration rules
- Working with businesses, trade unions, devolved governments and others to identify specific labour and skill shortages
International Trade:
- Setting out priorities in an International Trade White Paper to lead a national debate on the future of Britain’s trade policy
- Working with global trading partners to develop 'best-in-class’ free trade and investment agreements that remove trade barriers and promote skilled jobs and high standards
- Championing the export interests of SMEs
- Using the full range of export credit, finance, insurance and trade promotion tools to boost British exports and support priority industrial sectors
- Creating a network of regional trade and investment champions to promote the export and investment interests of businesses across the country
Labour’s Industrial Strategy:
- Ensuring that 60% of the UK’s energy comes from zero-carbon or renewable sources by 2030
- Acting across areas necessary for business and industry to grow, including: skills; infrastructure; UK supply chains; trade procurement; research and development; and energy costs and security
- For each strategic industry, establishing a council (modelled on the Automotive Council) to oversee its future security and growth. Private investment will be encouraged by removing new plant and machinery from business rate calculations
Rights at work:
- Giving all workers equal rights from day one so that working conditions are not driven down
- Banning zero hours contracts
- Guaranteeing trade unions a right to access workplaces so unions can speak to members and potential members
- Raising the Minimum Wage to the level of the Living Wage – for all workers aged 18 or over
- Amending the takeover code
Taxation:
- No rises in income tax for those earning below £80,000 a year, and no increases in personal National Insurance Contributions or the rate of VAT
- 95% of taxpayers guaranteed no increase in their income tax contributions, and everyone protected from any increase in personal National Insurance contributions and VAT. Only the top 5% of earners will be asked to contribute more in tax to help fund public services
- Asking large corporations to pay a little more corporation tax
- Reintroducing the lower small profits rate of corporation tax
Infrastructure investment:
- Creating a National Transformation Fund that will invest £250 billion over 10 years in upgrading the economy
- Completing the HS2 high-speed rail line from London through Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester, and then into Scotland.
- Building a new Brighton Main Line for the South East
- Building a Crossrail 2 in London
- Completing the Science Vale transport arc, from Oxford to Cambridge through Milton Keynes to harness the economic potential of new technologies and science
- Delivering universal superfast broadband availability by 2022.
Defence:
- Continuing to support development and innovation in this sector and to ensure that it can continue to rely on a highly skilled workforce
- Commiting to a procurement process that supports the British steel industry and defence manufacturing industry
- Publishing a Defence Industrial Strategy White Paper, including a National Shipbuilding Strategy to secure a long-term future for the industry, workers and UK defence
To view the policies in detail and by section, click here.
Industry reaction:
“This is a comprehensive and detailed plan which contains some sensible individual measures which are worthy of further debate as part of an industrial strategy, as well as ongoing support for key elements of social care. These have to be seen, however, in the context of whether the overall economic plans will be positive for growth, job creation and investment, both UK generated and from overseas.
“Here, it falls down badly with policies that are from a bygone age and an overly interventionist approach. Given the potential impact of Brexit, sending out signals to business promising significant tax hikes and increasing red tape is hardly likely to generate the investment and economic growth we vitally need. Overall we have to ask, do the proposals have credibility in terms of cost and are they practical to implement. The answer is clearly no.”
Terry Scuoler, chief executive, EEF
“Labour’s proposals taken as a whole prioritise state intervention over enterprise, and fail to offer the pro-growth and competitiveness agenda the country so badly needs. While employers will welcome new commitments on skills and infrastructure, living standards will only rise if open markets remain the mainstay of the UK economy, rather than stifling new rules, regulations and burdens on firms.
“Some of the Labour policies deserve ‘three cheers’ and show what business and government can achieve together in partnership, for example on apprenticeships and innovation. Others, such as the future of the UK’s digital infrastructure, pose important questions yet need real collaboration with business to make them work. But too many - from renationalisation to new rules that potentially undermine the UK’s flexible labour market - are far wide of the mark."
Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general, CBI
