CORBYN WILL NATIONALISE ENERGY, RAIL AND MAIL
REVEALED: Jezza to fix rip-off Britain, boost NHS, schools and scrap tuition fees
RAILWAYS, power and post will be renationalised under Jeremy Corbyn.
The vows came in a draft of his manifesto, which also pledged billions for the NHS, schools, police and the scrapping of tuition fees. It will be paid for by taxing
big firms and the rich.
LABOUR has pledged to undo the damage seven years of Tory austerity has inflicted on Britain by ploughing funds back into the NHS, public services and schools.
Jeremy Corbyn also plans to renationalise energy, railways and Royal Mail, scrap tuition fees, restore workers’ rights, boost police numbers and reverse welfare cuts that have plunged more people into poverty.
The vows came in a draft of the party’s manifesto, which also revealed Trident would be renewed.
They are a bold bid to woo wavering voters fed-up with Tory assaults on the poor, disabled, wages, health and education but who feel Labour have no credible alternative.
Mr Corbyn has already promised to run the country “for the many not the few” when he opened his campaign this week. The manifesto comes on the eve of the launch of Labour’s first general election poster which proclaims: “The Tories have held back Britain long enough.”
And party chiefs insist every measure in the manifesto, which is yet to be finalised and not due out until next week, are fully costed and will be paid for with tax rises to the wealthy and big corporations.
The biggest promise is £6billion a year extra funding for the ailing NHS, which stands on the brink of collapse thanks to savage cuts.
There will also be an annual £1.6billion extra poured into social care. Councils will be ordered to build 100,000 new homes to help solve the social housing crisis while private rent hikes are to be capped at inflation. Thousands of properties will also be offered to rough sleepers.
The hated Bedroom Tax is to be scrapped, along with the £30-a-week cut to disability benefits, “punitive” sanctions and fit-to-work assessments. A review of the looming cuts to Universal Credit is planned.
A new Ministry of Labour will oversee the biggest boost to workers’ and trade union rights in decades, while planned hikes to the pension age beyond 66 will not go ahead.
In a nod to younger voters, Mr Corbyn pledged to axe university
fees, which soared to £9,000 under the Coalition Government.
The manifesto says: “Tuition is free in many northern European countries, and under Labour it will be free in Britain too.” The party would plough £5billion into schools, put an extra 100,000 police on the streets and launch £250billion capital investment programme led by a new National Infrastructure Bank.
Railways will be renationalised as each private franchise expires. Fares are to be frozen and conductors put back on driver-only trains. Publicly owned bus companies are to be established.
Labour promised to renationalise Royal Mail following the “historic mistake” of the Coalition Government to sell it off on the cheap, in a move that lost taxpayers £1billion.
Rip-off power firms are also in Mr Corbyn’s sights. He vows to “take energy back into public ownership”. While existing firms can continue, a new national competitor company will be established in every region. They will use their profits to cut tariffs, forcing the Big Six to cut their own prices. Bills will be capped.
Tory critics are expected to rehash the old mantra about Labour overspending and bankrupting Britain. But the manifesto suggests all the pledges will be paid for with taxation on higher earners and big corporations.
Around £20billion a year will be raised by reversing cuts to corporation tax introduced since 2010.
There will be a further levy on firms “with high numbers of staff on very high pay” and a tax on private health firms.
And income taxes are to be slapped on well-off workers earning more than £80,000-a-year. For the other 95% of staff there will be no tax rises.
The manifesto vows to get rid of the deficit and balance Britain’s budget by the end of the next Parliament. It makes “no false promises” on immigration numbers but states: “Our economy needs migrant workers to keep going.”
The manifesto will delight the left. But a source on the Labour right said: “Is that it? For 40 years the hard left wanted to control the Labour manifesto, and all it amounts to is a load of freebies for every special interest group.
“It’s all concern for the ‘feckless poor’ and nothing for the hard-working majority.”