We’ll bring this vision to whole of UK

SEVEN years of Tory economics have seen huge tax giveaways to the richest and the big corporations.

But average wages for the rest are lower today than in 2010, once rising prices are taken into account, and still falling as inflation bites.

Great swathes of the UK have little to no investment. While London will get £1,500 per person in transport investment but Yorkshire and Humberside will get £190.

That means a huge waste of potential. Instead of good, secure jobs that investment can create, it means falling wages and three million people on insecure contracts.

It’s the same with Tory spending cuts. The poorest local authorities have had their spending cut by £228 per person since 2010 – but richest councils by only £44.

Wealth

The next Labour government will end this inequality. Unlike the Tories, Labour doesn’t believe piling up the wealth in one small corner of the country will somehow benefit everyone.

We want every part of Britain to share in the wealth our economy could create. That means supporting our real, local economies.

Preston is taking these steps and the Labour council is thinking creatively. Working with local employers, it has been able to redirect spending back into the city.

So instead of employing a faceless multinational for building work, Preston City Council is making sure it hires on its doorstep. By buying locally, the council and other employers created 801 jobs over the past year.

The council wants to back worker-owned businesses, supporting employment and keeping the wealth Preston creates where it is created.

Other Labour councils are following suit. But we need a Labour government to build an economy that works for the many, not the few.