Last week, Labour revealed – ahead of schedule – a draft of its manifesto. Today, the party has revealed its official manifesto – and the comparison between the two makes for interesting reading. Here are some of the key policies that have been removed, altered or added to the manifesto.
Removed policies
- The commitment to ‘cover apprentices’ travel costs, which currently run to an average of £24 a week’ has been removed.
- The draft contained a pledge that there would be ‘no private prisons under Labour’. However, this has been watered down for the published document: ‘Under a Labour government, there will be no new private prisons and no public sector prisons will be privatised.’
- The draft mentioned that Labour would help small businesses with the transition to a higher living wage. It stated that ‘by ring fencing the extra proceeds from tax revenues and lower eligibility for in-work benefits, we will establish a new employment allowance for businesses that struggle to pay a higher living wage.’ That commitment has also gone missing.
- In their draft Labour says: ‘To prepare for global new trade arrangements, we will study the feasibility of port development in Southampton and Avonmouth as well as Liverpool, Hull and Birmingham.’ There is no longer any reference to ports in the manifesto.
- Labour appears to have dropped its initial concept of ‘a new Local Energy Task Force [to] provide help and advice for local people and businesses to start up Community Energy Cooperatives.’
- Their draft says they would support Heathrow expansion: ‘Labour supports the expansion of aviation capacity and we will continue to support the work of the Airports Commission.’ However, the manifesto now claims instead that they ‘welcome the work’ done by the Airports Commission and that the party ‘recognises the need for additional airport capacity in the south-east’.
Altered policies
- The wording on Israel and Palestine has also been watered down. Originally it read ‘The expansion of Israeli settlements on the Palestinian West Bank is not only wrong and illegal, but represents a threat to the very viability of the hopes of securing a successful outcome of the peace process. We cannot accept the continued humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and we will support Palestinian recognition at the UN.’ However, it now reads ‘There can be no military solution to this conflict and all sides must avoid taking action that would make peace harder to achieve. That means both an end to the blockade, occupation and settlements, and an end to rocket and terror attacks. Labour will continue to press for an immediate return to meaningful negotiations leading to a diplomatic resolution. A Labour government will immediately recognise the state of Palestine.’
- Interestingly, in the opening paragraph of Chapter 1, Labour has changed a key word. The original read ‘We will measure our economic success not by the presence of millionaires, but by the ability of people to make ends meet.’ The new document has substituted this for ‘billionaires’.
Additional policies
- Labour has also pledged to ‘invest in… the phased removal of asbestos from existing schools, which it did not do in the draft’.
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