Labour fronts a radical plan

Birmingham – British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn yesterday set out his party’s manifesto for next month’s election, promising the most radical plan for change for decades.

The party’s programme of pledges includes nationalisations, a huge investment in public services and corporate reform, which Corbyn insisted were “fully costed” and deliverable. On Brexit, the key issue of the December 12 election, he has promised to strike a new exit deal with the European Union and hold a second referendum on Britain’s membership.

Opinion polls show Labour trailing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, but the opposition is still hoping to galvanise voters like it did in the last vote in 2017. Ahead of the manifesto launch in Birmingham, central England, Corbyn claimed the programme was “full of popular policies the political establishment has blocked for a generation”. He repeated the attacks on the rich and powerful that have been a feature of Labour’s campaign so far, arguing that after nine years of Tory austerity measures, it was “time for real change”.

Radical policies announced so far include the nationalisation of parts of telecoms giant BT to provide free broadband for all, and the state takeover of rail, water and mail delivery services. Labour wants to put workers on company boards and introduce pay ratios within firms, boost funds for health, education and transport and build 150 000 lowcost homes a year. Taxes would rise for the top five percent of earners, with the rest covered by borrowing.

Johnson’s Conservatives countered by announcing plans to cut taxes for the lowest paid, and deliver at least one million homes in five years. The Tories have also promised a big investment in public services and infrastructure, but not on Labour’s scale.