The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

A future
fair for all

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

Contents
Foreword
from Gordon Brown

Introduction

Securing Britain’s future

Rebuilding our economy
Chapter 1	
1:1
Growth:
Building the high-growth
economy of the future

Chapter 2	
2:1
Living standards:
Prosperity for all not
just a few

Protecting public services and strengthening society
Chapter 3 	
3:1
Education:
Excellence in education:
every child the chance
to fulfil their potential

Chapter 4	
4:1
Health:
World-leading
healthcare: a patientcentred NHS

Chapter 5	
5:1
Crime and immigration:
Strengthening our
communities, securing
our borders

Chapter 6	
6:1
Families and older
people:
Supporting families
throughout life

Chapter 7	
7:1
Communities and
creative Britain:
Creative Britain:
active and flourishing
communities

Chapter 8	
A green recovery:
A green future
for Britain

A new politics
Chapter 9	
9:1
Democratic reform:
A new politics: renewing
our democracy
and rebuilding trust

Chapter 10	
10:1
A global future:
Meeting the challenges
of the new global age

50 steps to a fairer future for all	 11:1

0:1

8:1

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

Foreword from Gordon Brown
This is a Manifesto about the greater progressive
change we need because of the tougher times we
are living through. There are no big new spending
commitments, but there is a determination for
every penny to be used wisely, and, as present
plans make clear, to give the maximum protection
to frontline public services.

This General Election is fought as our troops
are bravely fighting to defend the safety of the
British people and the security of the world in
Afghanistan. They bring great pride and credit
to our country: we honour and will always
support them.
At the same time the world has been rocked by the
first great crisis of the new global economic age.

This is a moment to show greater boldness in
response to what Britain has gone through and
the toll it has taken. We reject a ‘business as usual’
mentality because we have to re-build and rebalance the economy, as well as renew our society
and politics. Reform cannot stand still – not least
because we need to get more value and delivery
from public services in a period of public spending
constraint. Our Manifesto charts an optimistic
course in tougher economic times. It builds on and
takes forward the reforms we have undertaken
since 1997.

In Britain, the political crisis caused by expenses
has undermined the bond of trust between the
people and the politicians elected to serve them.
So this cannot, and will not, be a ‘business as
usual’ election or Manifesto. In this Manifesto we
set out plans to address the main future challenges
we face in our economy, our society and our
politics. We will rebuild the economy to secure
the recovery and invest in future growth and jobs.
We will renew our society to further strengthen
the communities that bind our country together.
And we will restore trust in politics with greater
transparency and accountability in a system
battered by the expenses scandal.

I love Britain and want the very best for our
country. This Manifesto is my pledge of a future
fair for all.

This programme for further national renewal
meets the big challenges of the age. Our
Manifesto is ambitious but affordable, bold but
realistic, and learns from the lessons we take from
our experience to date. Over the next ten years we
will confront major challenges - intensive global
competition, climate change, an ageing society,
and bringing stability to Afghanistan. This is a
moment for good judgement and serious purpose
to meet the challenges ahead.

Gordon Brown
Prime Minister

Our aim is a modern, progressive Britain based on
fairness, respect, decency and openness.

0:2

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

Introduction
The argument of this Manifesto
is that to deliver a future fair
for all we need to rebuild our
economy, protect and reform
our public services as we
strengthen our society and
renew our politics. We, Labour,
are the people to carry out this
next stage of national renewal
because of our values and
our understanding of the role
of government: to stand by
ordinary people so they can
change their lives for the better.
It is our belief that it is active,
reforming government, not
absent government, that helps
make people powerful.
We are proud of our country
and the way it has changed
since 1997. It is just too easy to
forget. Our public services were
a byword for decline; today they
have been transformed. Our
large cities were reeling from two
savage recessions; today, despite
the global economic crisis, they
have a renewed prosperity and
civic pride. People were paid
£1 an hour; today the minimum
wage and tax credits provide
the dignity of a living income.
The welfare state simply did
not understand working women
and families. Today, with familyfriendly working and better
childcare it has at last begun to
do so.
These changes happened
because we applied our values

to the world as it was then.
We changed our party so that
it connected to the hopes and
aspirations of the British people.
We changed our country because
we rejected the philosophy
of the 1980s which said that
government should just get out
of the way and that we were in it
just for ourselves.
We are proud of our record
but today we are running for
the future. We have to address
a world that is very different
now, with major new challenges
we must confront: fighting for
our economic future in a tough
competitive world, tackling
climate change, improving
public services amidst financial
constraint, confronting the
reality of international terrorism,
adjusting to an ageing society
so people can live longer and
happier lives, and restoring trust
in politics.
The global financial crisis
shows we need to be bolder
about reforming our financial
markets and building our
economic future on fairer, more
solid foundations. To build on
success in our public services,
we need to protect investment
in the front line and also be bold
about putting citizens genuinely
in control. And we must be
bold reformers of our politics:
seizing this once in a generation
opportunity to make our

0:3

Parliament properly accountable.
In all these decisions, we offer
progressive solutions in tough
times. We do not measure the
boldness of our programme by
how much we spend but the
results we achieve. By taking
hard decisions, being guided at
all times by a sense of fairness,
we believe that we can continue
to advance towards the good
society in which we believe.
There is a big choice at this
election about whether we
confront these challenges and
build the kind of economy,
society and politics we believe
in, or duck them. But to be able
to meet these future challenges,
there are some immediate
decisions we need to get right
now. Above all, we need to
secure the economic recovery.
Get it right and we can go on to
build a strong economic future.
Get it wrong and we will slip
back into recession.
Labour believes we must
not put the recovery at risk
by reckless cuts to public
spending this year.
From the autumn of 2008,
big calls had to be made. We
nationalised Northern Rock,
protected people’s savings, cut
VAT to stimulate our economy,
put in place job guarantees to
get people back to work, and
stepped in to stop repossessions.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

It is working. The banking
system has been stabilised.
Our economy is showing
signs of returning to growth.
Unemployment has, so far, risen
by over 500,000 less than people
expected this time last year.
Repossessions are at around half
the level of the 1990s.
The question at this election is
whether people think the choice
we made was the right one
and whether we use the power
of government to help sustain
recovery, or allow it to be snuffed
out. Every government of the
major developed economies – of
Left and Right – recognises the
need to support the economy
while growth is still fragile. We
will not cut spending this year,
but instead support the economy
to ensure recovery is established.
Labour believes we should
rebuild our economy in new
ways: with more high-tech
business, fairer rewards
and responsibility from all,
including at the top.
The world changed out of all
recognition in 2007 with the
onset of the global economic
crisis. Major British banks, the
custodians of our savings and
livelihoods, ran out of money
because of the recklessness of
those in charge. This Manifesto
makes the case that there should
be no return to business as usual.
People have suffered too much
with their jobs, livelihoods and

confidence to allow a return to
the same old ways. There is a
desire not simply to correct for
what went wrong, but to seize the
opportunity to build anew.
Financial services have been an
essential job creator in Britain
and will continue to be so. But
our financial institutions left to
themselves have undermined
our economy. We are enacting
sweeping banking reform to
prevent a repeat of the past;
ensuring new support for the
high-tech industries of the
future, such as green industries;
and taking action to forge a
new culture of long-termism in
business.
It isn’t markets or governments
that create wealth – people do,
through their own effort and
hard work. So we will do more
to support enterprise and to help
those who want to build up a
business and get on in life. Those
who can work must do so and it
needs to be properly valued. We
will end for good the concept of
a life on benefit by offering all
those unemployed for more than
two years work they must accept,
and we will make work pay better
with the goal of a minimum wage
rising at least in line with average
earnings and a guarantee that
people will be better off in work
than on benefit.
As we more than halve the fiscal
deficit over the next four years,
we will ensure that we do so in a

0:4

fair way with a combination of a
return to economic growth, cuts
to lower priority programmes
and fair tax rises. Responsibility
at the top means people paying
their fair share and we believe
it is right that those with the
broadest shoulders bear the
greatest burden of paying down
the deficit.
Labour believes we should
protect frontline spending
on childcare, schools, the
NHS and policing, and
reform our public services
to put people in control.
Millions of people working in
our public services embody the
best values of Britain, helping
empower people to make the
most of their own lives while
protecting them from the risks
they should not have to bear
on their own. Just as we need
to be bolder about the role of
government in making markets
work fairly, we also need to be
bold reformers of government.
For a decade we have combined
investment and reform and
improved our public services.
Now we need to rise to the
challenge of achieving even
higher standards in a period of
constrained resources. We will
drive forward our programme
to strip out all waste, improve
efficiency and get the most out of
every pound spent. We recognise
that investing more in priority
areas will mean cutting back in

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

others. Above all we will build
public services that are more
personal to people’s needs: with
clear guarantees about standards,
the best providers taking over
others where they don’t make
the grade, and with new ways
of organising services such as
mutuals.
In health, this means if we don’t
meet our guarantees, for example
on waiting lists, the NHS will fund
you to go private. In education it
means that if the local school is
underperforming it will be taken
over; and parents who believe
their school is not good enough
can trigger a ballot to change the
leadership. And in policing, where
communities are being let down
by forces we will enable them to
be taken over by others.
Labour will strengthen
our society, by protecting
the things people value
and demanding rights and
responsibilities from all.
Our society is not broken; it is
strong in many different ways. But
it is changing fast. Changing with
immigration, changing as people
move more frequently, as young
people grow up more quickly and
older people live longer.
We will protect the things
people value: families, strong
communities, local institutions.
We will create a new settlement in
our country on how we care for
the elderly through the creation
of a National Care Service, and

fathers will have more time off
to spend with their kids. There
will be greater protection for the
local institutions people value,
like local post offices and pubs.
In everything we do, we will
demand the responsibilities that
must come with rights: to work
when you can, not to abuse your
neighbour or neighbourhood,
to show respect for Britain as a
newcomer, to pay your fair share
of tax.
Labour proposes radical
reform of our democracy to
reconnect politics to the people
it should serve. Just as the global
economic crisis was a shock
to our economic system; the
expenses crisis created turmoil in
our political system. It revealed
not just unacceptable behaviour
by some MPs but also that our
closed political system had lost
touch with people. Once again,
the response cannot be to try and
return to business as usual.
We need fundamental reform
of our politics to make it more
accountable. We will let the
people decide how to reform
our institutions and our politics:
changing the voting system and
electing a second chamber to
replace the House of Lords. But
we will go further, introducing
fixed-term parliaments, banning
MPs from paid second jobs
that pose a conflict of interest,
and providing for a free vote
in Parliament to widen the
franchise to 16 and 17 year olds.

0:5

In 1997 New Labour met the
call of national renewal. In
our politics and economy over
the last 18 months, we have
witnessed seismic events. In this
election, the first of the post-crisis
era, we stand as the people with
the experience, values and ideas
to help our country through the
next phase of national renewal.
This task has always relied
on optimism. Our principle
opponents, the Conservatives,
offer a fundamentally pessimistic
vision of national decline: about
Britain today and in the future.
Their only real prescription for
the good society is a smaller
state and the decisions they seek
to make for our country would
favour the privileged few over
the many. They would isolate
Britain, cutting us adrift from the
alliances and influence that will
enable us to succeed as a country.
This is a Manifesto that
is idealistic about what is
possible but realistic about
how to achieve it. This is not
a conservative moment. It is a
progressive moment. We speak
for the ordinary people of this
country who work hard, want
their kids to do better than
them, and worry about the
economic, environmental and
social challenges we face. We
are on their side, it is their voice,
needs and hopes that shape this
programme.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

Securing Britain’s future
The plans set out in this Manifesto take full account of the fiscal position we face. We will protect
frontline public services while meeting our commitment to halve the deficit over the next four years.
We are now emerging from the global financial crisis. It has had a lasting effect on tax receipts, here
in the UK and across the world. We are sticking to our spending plans this year so that support for
families and businesses remains as we secure the recovery. But from 2011-12, as growth takes hold,
spending will be tighter.
The Manifesto reflects the tough choices that we will make to secure Britain’s future in a way that is
fair to all:
•	 Tough choices for £15 billion efficiency savings in 2010-11.
•	 Tough choices on cutting government overheads: £11 billion of further operational
efficiencies and other cross-cutting savings to streamline government will be delivered
by 2012-13.
•	 Tough choices on pay: action to control public-sector pay including a one per cent
cap on basic pay uplifts for 2011-12 and 2012-13, saving £3.4 billion a year, and new
restrictions on senior pay-setting. Tough decisions on public sector pensions to cap the
taxpayers’ liability – saving £1 billion a year.
•	 Tough choices on spending: £5 billion already identified in cuts to lower priority
spending.
•	 Tough choices on welfare: our reforms will increase fairness and work incentives,
including £1.5 billion of savings being delivered.
•	 Tough choices on assets: £20 billion of asset sales by 2020.
•	 Tough choices on tax: a bonus tax, reduced tax relief on pensions for the best off,
a new 50p tax rate on earnings over £150,000 and one penny on National Insurance
Contributions.

0:6

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Building the high-growth economy of the future

Growth

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Growth

The challenge for Britain
To secure the recovery and learn the right lessons
from the global economic crisis, laying the foundations
for sustained growth: reforming banks, modernising
infrastructure, and as we pay down the deficit,
providing the right support to the private sector to
build a diverse, high-tech industrial economy. The Tories
would threaten recovery with cuts this year, and fail to
invest in our economic future.
The next stage of national renewal
•	 Secure the recovery by supporting the economy
now, and more than halve the deficit by 2014 through
economic growth, fair taxes and cuts to lower priority
spending.
•	 Realise our stakes in publicly controlled banks to secure
the best deal for the taxpayer, introduce a new global
levy, and reform the rules for banking to ensure no
repeat of past irresponsibility.
•	 Create UK Finance for Growth, bringing £4 billion
together to provide capital for growing businesses,
investing in the growth sectors of the future.
•	 Build a high-tech economy, supporting business and
industry to create one million more skilled jobs and
modernising our infrastructure with High Speed Rail, a
Green Investment Bank and broadband access for all.
•	 Encourage a culture of long-term commitment to
sustainable company growth, requiring a super-majority
of two-thirds of shareholders in corporate takeovers.
As the economy steadily
recovers, there will be no return
to business as usual: financial
institutions cannot continue the
practices of the past. Radical
change is needed. Without
long-term investment in wealth-

creating infrastructure and
enterprise, accompanied by the
diversification of our industrial
base, Britain will not emerge
from the recession ready for a
stronger, fairer future.

1:3

The engine of growth is private
enterprise: we will give business
our full support in creating
wealth and jobs. Strong and
sustained growth is fundamental
to a credible strategy for
keeping the public finances on a
stable long-term footing.
To be successful, business
needs stability, but to achieve
stability after the seismic shock
of the global banking crisis, the
governance of our economic
and financial institutions must
be radically reformed.
And to support business
in securing prosperity for
future generations, an activist
industrial strategy is needed:
learning the lessons from those
nations that have succeeded
in developing advanced
manufacturing and leadingedge service industries. In
these countries the role of
government is not to stand
aside, but to nurture privatesector dynamism, properly
supporting infrastructure and
the sectors of the future.
Securing the recovery
We have taken the tough
decisions to get Britain through
the downturn. We have done
so with fairness in mind: we
have not allowed the recession
created by the financial crisis
to become a depression, or

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Growth

stood aside and allowed grave
damage to be inflicted on our
society as it was in the 1930s
and 1980s. The Tories argue
that public spending should
be cut immediately, but this
position is out of step with every
other G20 government, right
or left. If governments do not
provide support when families
and businesses most need help,
growth is set back, jobs are
lost, and the country builds up
more debts – paying a higher
price in the future. To cut now
would push the economy back
into recession, not reducing the
deficit but increasing it.
We will continue to support
the economy while growth is
still fragile, sticking with our
targeted increase in public
spending over the next year to
sustain the recovery. Our focus
for the stimulus is strategic
investment, putting in place
the new digital, transport and
energy infrastructures that
will support the return to
sustainable growth.
Deficit reduction and fiscal
sustainability
Once the recovery is secure,
we will rapidly reduce the
budget deficit. We have set out
a clear, balanced and fair plan
to more than halve the deficit
over the next four years and we
will stick to it. We will achieve

this through a combination of:
fair tax increases; a firm grip
on public spending including
cuts in lower-priority areas;
and strategies for growth that
increase tax revenues and
reduce spending on benefits.
Over the next Parliament the
structural deficit will be cut by
more than two-thirds.
The huge global recession and
our efforts to counter it have
required us to make tough
choices, including on tax. We
have made our choice in ways
that put the greatest burden
on those with the broadest
shoulders. Bankers have
faced a bonus tax, tax relief
on pensions for the best off
will be reduced, and we have
introduced a new 50p tax rate
on earnings over £150,000. As
part of our plan to ensure we
protect frontline services while
halving the deficit over four
years, we have announced that
National Insurance will rise by
one penny. This will not happen
until next year, once growth
is firmly established. This is
the fairest way to protect key
frontline services. Our National
Insurance changes will mean
that no-one earning under
£20,000, or any pensioners,
will pay more. It is fairer than
alternative options like VAT –
which we have not increased
since 1997. Our commitments
allow us credibly to deliver our

1:4

deficit reduction plan and to
sustain the services that matter
most to families.
We will not raise the basic,
higher and new top rates of
tax in the next Parliament and
we renew our pledge not to
extend VAT to food, children’s
clothes, books, newspapers
and public transport fares. We
will maintain tax credits, not
cut them. And we have made
our choice to protect frontline
investment in childcare and
schools, the NHS and policing.
Tough choices
On public spending, we will be
relentless in making sure that
the public gets value for money
for every pound spent. We
will overhaul how government
works: cutting back-office
and property running costs;
abolishing unnecessary armslength-bodies; sharply reducing
spending on consultancy
and marketing; and cutting
lower-priority spend. We have
already shown in Budget 2010
how these steps will help us to
achieve savings of £20 billion
a year by 2012-13, on top of
the £15 billion savings that are
being delivered this year.
We will take a tough stance
on public-sector pay, saving
over £3 billion by capping
public-sector pay rises at

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Growth

one per cent in 2011-12 and
2012-13. We have agreed
tough reforms to public-sector
pensions, which will make
significant savings and ensure
that pensions for the publicsector workforce are secure and
sustainable in the long term.
Any government-controlled
appointment involving a salary
over £150,000 will require
ministerial sign-off. Savings
from our tougher approach will
help realise a fair rate of pay
for all those working for central
government.
As we prepare for the upturn,
fiscal responsibility and
monetary stability will be the
foundations on which we build.
We have made the new fiscal
responsibility framework legally
binding, and we will maintain
our inflation target of two per
cent so that mortgage rates can
be kept as low as possible.
Rebuilding our banking
system
The international banking
system played a key role in
fuelling the most severe global
recession since the Second
World War. We are determined
to support our financial
sector and for it to be a major
employer and wealth creator,
but there will be no return to
the excesses of the past – banks
will face tighter regulation. The

banking system must support
domestic businesses, including
start-ups and entrepreneurs,
as well as mortgages. We have
agreed lending targets with those
banks in which we have a stake,
and there will be consequences
for executive remuneration if
targets are not met.
Learning the lessons of the
crisis means ensuring that far
greater responsibility is taken
for risk in the boardroom. We
will compel banks to keep more
capital and create ‘living wills’
so that should they fail there
will be no danger of that failure
spreading. Because the banking
crisis demonstrated the global
nature of financial instability,
we will continue to work with
our international partners to
require all banks to hold more
and better-quality capital,
to ensure counter-cyclical
protection, and to introduce a
global levy on financial services
so that banks across the world
contribute fairly to the society in
which they are based.
In the UK the new Council for
Financial Stability will monitor
and help address asset bubbles
and financial imbalances. We
will give the FSA additional
powers if necessary to
constrain and quash executive
remuneration where it is a
source of risk and instability.

1:5

If there is evidence of bonus
rules being evaded, we will act.
We will ensure greater
competition in the banking
sector, breaking up those banks
in which the Government
currently has a controlling stake.
The proposed Office of Fair
Trading review into how City
markets operate is welcome.
We value the role of building
societies owned by their
customers and the strength and
diversity that a healthy mutual
sector brings to our financial
services, and we will consult on
measures to help strengthen
the sector. As one option for
the disposal of Northern Rock,
we will encourage a mutual
solution, while ensuring that the
sale generates maximum value
for money for the taxpayer.
Rebuilding our industrial
base: new industries, new
jobs, new knowledge
Britain is the sixth largest
manufacturing economy in the
world. Because of substantial
investment since 1997, the UK
has an excellent research base
and is already strong in some
world-leading sectors. But if we
make the right decisions as a
country in the coming years –
through a new industrial policy,
stronger infrastructure and a
renewed partnership between
business and government – we

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Growth

can be leaders in the emerging
industries of the future.
After the financial crisis, we will
ensure that growing companies
can access the investment they
need to expand. Finance must
be at the service of industry,
as new public channels are
built to deliver private funds
to innovative and fast-growing
companies. The new UK
Finance for Growth Fund will
bring together a total of £4
billion of public funds and
combine it with private money
to channel equity to businesses
looking to develop and grow.
Within this, the Growth Capital
Fund will focus on SMEs
which need capital injections of
between £2 and £10 million,
while the Innovation Investment
Fund will focus on the needs of
high-tech firms.
Business investment in physical
capital will play a key role in
a balanced and sustainable
recovery. The Strategic
Investment Fund is supporting
important new investment in
the nuclear and renewables
industries. We will provide
incentives for companies to
invest through R&D tax credits,
and protect and increase the
size of capital allowances that
help to grow key sectors such as
manufacturing. We will ensure a
competitive regime through the
development of the patent-box

– a lower rate of corporation
tax to encourage UK-based
innovation – supporting the
UK’s strengths in new industries
and sectors.
Investing in science and
research
Britain is among the best places
in the world to do science,
having massively increased
investment in research and
development as a proportion
of national income. We are
committed to a ring-fenced
science budget in the next
spending review. To help us
do better in turning research
outputs into innovation,
we will provide focused
investment for Technology and
Innovation Centres, developing
technologies where the UK has
world-leading expertise.
We will also support university
research through the Higher
Education Innovation Fund,
and through the development
of a new University Enterprise
Capital Fund. The proceeds of
success will flow back into the
higher education sector.
As we create a more diverse
economy, we will strengthen
support for exporters to help
us increase our market share
with our traditional markets in
Europe and the United States,
while breaking further into the

1:6

emerging markets of China,
India and Brazil.
We must seize the opportunity
to develop education, in
particular higher education,
as a great export business.
Universities will be encouraged
to develop international links
and research partnerships, and
we want the Open University
and learndirect to reach the
global market in distance
learning. We will develop a
new gateway for the export of
NHS intellectual property and
cutting-edge services.
Restoring full employment
We expect our growing
economic and sectoral
strengths to create at least one
million skilled jobs by 2015.
These jobs of the future will
increasingly come from the
new growth sectors in which
we are investing – low-carbon,
digital and creative industries,
life sciences – and professional
services in business, healthcare
and education.
There will be greater prosperity
for every region of the UK
economy. A regional growth
fund will be established by
the Regional Development
Agencies with regional ministers
given an enhanced role, and we
will help our core cities and city
regions to become powerhouses

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Growth

of innovation and growth, with
a major devolution of power to
shape local transport and skills.
Championing an enterprise
economy
At the heart of our approach
to building a strong and fair
Britain is a commitment to
support enterprise. We will
back those who want to get
on, work their way up, and
generate wealth. We will keep
business taxation competitive
at the same time as we increase
capital allowances to encourage
investment.
There is no substitute for
the drive and ambition that
entrepreneurs bring. We will
support small businesses and
help with their cash flow by
continuing our Time to Pay
scheme that has already –
through tax and NICs deferral
– helped thousands of firms;
offering a one-year holiday
on business rates for small
businesses; widening support for
training and apprenticeships;
and in recognising the special
contribution of entrepreneurs
we are doubling the
Entrepreneurs Relief lifetime
limit to £2 million.

We will also create a new Small
Business Credit Adjudicator
with statutory powers ensuring
that SMEs are not turned down
unfairly when applying to banks
for finance.
We will help to create a new
generation of entrepreneurs,
ensuring that those studying
for vocational skills are offered
the opportunity to learn how to
start and run a business, while
the Flying Start programme
will do the same for final-year
university students.
We will continue to simplify
regulation and avoid
unnecessary red tape. If it is
used correctly, regulation can
help drive innovation, as well as
protect workers and consumers.
We will seek to reduce the costs
of regulation by more than
£6 billion by 2015.
21st Century
infrastructure
The key to creating the
industries of the future
is renewing the national
infrastructure on which
firms rely. To ensure Britain’s
infrastructure needs are
properly resourced, we will
work in partnership with
the private sector, reforming
the regulation of energy to
improve incentives for the
private sector to invest. We will

1:7

establish a Green Investment
Bank to invest in low-carbon
infrastructure, with the
Government’s stake funded by
the sale of infrastructure assets.
The Government will seek to
match its contribution with at
least £1 billion of private-sector
investment.
The newly formed
Infrastructure Planning
Commission will – within a
democratically determined
framework – help streamline
and speed up decision-making
on major projects. We now
propose to extend the public
interest test so that it is
applied to potential takeovers
of infrastructure and utility
companies.
Broadband Britain
Britain must be a world
leader in the development of
broadband. We are investing
in the most ambitious plan of
any industrialised country to
ensure a digital Britain for all,
extending access to every home
and business. We will reach the
long-term vision of superfast
broadband for all through a
public-private partnership
in three stages: first, giving
virtually every household in the
country a broadband service of
at least two megabits per second
by 2012; second, making
possible superfast broadband
for the vast majority of Britain

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Growth

in partnership with private
operators, with Government
investing over £1 billion in the
next seven years; and lastly
reaching the final ten per cent
using satellites and mobile
broadband.
Because we are determined
that every family and business,
not just some, should benefit,
we will raise revenue to pay
for this from a modest levy
on fixed telephone lines. And
we will continue to work with
business, the BBC and other
broadcasting providers to
increase take-up of broadband
and to ensure Britain becomes a
leading digital economy.
Rebuilding our transport
infrastructure
Britain needs to invest in
modern, high-capacity and lowcarbon transport infrastructure.
At the heart of our growth
plan is the commitment to
a new high-speed rail line,
linking North and South. Built
in stages, the initial line will
link London to Birmingham,
Manchester, the East Midlands,
Sheffield and Leeds, and then
to the North and Scotland.
By running through-trains
from day one, cities including
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle
and Liverpool will also be part
of the initial network. Journey
times will be slashed – those

from the West Midlands to
London will be as little as
31 minutes. We will consult fully
on legislation to take forward
our high-speed rail plans within
the next Parliament.
High-speed rail is not just
about faster journey times.
It will free up capacity on
existing intercity rail lines,
enabling more rail freight,
commuter and local services
We will press ahead with a
major investment programme
in existing rail services, hugely
improving commuter services
into and through London,
and electrifying new rail-lines
including the Great Western
Main Line from London to
South Wales. We will complete
the new east-west Crossrail line
in London adding ten per cent
to London transport capacity.
Rail passenger numbers
have increased by 40 per
cent in the last ten years and
punctuality and quality of
service are improving steadily.
We will encourage more
people to switch to rail with
an enforceable right to the
cheapest fare, while trebling
the number of secure cyclestorage spaces at rail stations.
We will welcome rail franchise
bids from not-for-profit, mutual
or co-operative franchise
enterprises and will look to
remove unfair barriers that

1:8

prevent such bids benefiting
passengers and taxpayers.
Tackling road congestion is a
key Labour priority. We will
extend hard-shoulder running
on motorways, alongside
targeted motorway widening
including on the M25. Too
much disruption is caused
by local road works: we will
increase tenfold the penalties
on utilities who allow work
to overrun. We rule out the
introduction of national road
pricing in the next Parliament.
Heathrow is Britain’s
international hub airport,
already operating at full
capacity, and supporting
millions of jobs, businesses and
citizens who depend upon it.
We support a third runway
at Heathrow, subject to strict
conditions on environmental
impact and flight numbers, but
we will not allow additional
runways to proceed at any other
airport in the next Parliament.
Through our investment,
Labour has put Britain at the
forefront of electric and lowcarbon vehicle manufacturing.
To promote the rapid take-up
of electric and low-carbon
cars, we will ensure there
are 100,000 electric vehicle
charging points by the end of
the next Parliament.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Growth

Corporate governance
reform
To build strong businesses
we need skilled managers,
accountable boards, and
committed shareholders
– all with a culture of longterm commitment. We will
strengthen the 2006 Companies
Act where necessary better
to reflect these principles.
The UK’s Stewardship Code
for institutional shareholders
should be strengthened and
we will require institutional
shareholders to declare how
they vote and for banks to put
their remuneration policies
to shareholders for explicit
approval.
Too many takeovers turn out
to be neither good for the
acquiring company or the firm
being bought. The system needs
reform. Companies should be
more transparent about their
long-term plans for the business
they want to acquire. There
needs to be more disclosure of
who owns shares, a requirement
for bidders to set out how
they will finance their bids
and greater transparency on
advisers’ fees.

There should be a higher
threshold of support – twothirds of shareholders – for
securing a change of ownership
and the case for limiting votes
to those on the register before
the bid should be examined.
Creating a shareholding
society
We want Britain’s workers to
have a stake in their company
by widening share ownership
and creating more employeeowned and trust-owned
businesses. We want to see
a step change in the role of
employee-owned companies in
the economy, recognising that
many entrepreneurs would
like to see their companies in
the hands of their employees
when they retire. We will review
any outstanding barriers to the
formation of more employeecompanies like the John Lewis
Partnership.

1:9

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Prosperity for all not just a few

Living standards

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Living standards

The challenge for Britain
To grow together as a country, rewarding those who
work hard so they can do well and look after their
families: returning Britain to full employment, enabling
people to get higher-paid and better jobs, and widening
access to home ownership. The Tories have no plan for
fairness; their decisions would make our society more
unequal and unjust.
The next stage of national renewal
•	 200,000 jobs through the Future Jobs Fund, with a job or
training place for young people who are out of work for
six months, but benefits cut at ten months if they refuse
to take part; and anyone unemployed for more than two
years guaranteed work, but no option of life on benefits.
•	 A National Minimum Wage rising at least in line with
average earnings, and a new £40-a-week Better Off in
Work guarantee.
•	 More advanced apprenticeships and Skills Accounts for
workers to upgrade their skills.
•	 No stamp duty for first-time buyers on all house
purchases below £250,000 for two years, paid for by a
five per cent rate on homes worth more than £1 million.
•	 A People’s Bank at the Post Office; a Universal Service
Obligation on banks to serve every community; a
clampdown on interest rates for doorstep and payday
loans.
As the British economy returns
to growth, we will ensure that
everyone who is willing to
work shares fairly in renewed
prosperity. We will support the
recovery so that we see a swift
return to full employment, with
more chances to get on at work
and a fair distribution of growth
throughout Britain.

Our job guarantees will
put an end to long-term
unemployment and a life on
benefits. No one fit for work
should be abandoned to a life
on benefit, so all those who can
work will be required to do so.
At the same time, we believe
that people should be able to
earn enough to live and be
better off than on welfare.

2:2

In today’s world, every worker
needs to be able to upgrade
their skills in order to get on. As
well as good career prospects,
people want to know that their
living standards and quality
of life will improve. So we
will enable more people to get
on the housing ladder; offer
a helping hand to build up
savings; and secure a fair deal
with the banks to strengthen
people’s personal finances.
A modern welfare state
for all
We will build a personalised
welfare system that offers
protection for all those who
need it, increases people’s
control over their own lives, and
is clear about the responsibilities
owed to others. Getting more
people into employment
increases tax revenues and
reduces spending on benefits.
Our intensive help for people
out of work – starting from
day one – has already kept
unemployment more than half
a million lower than predicted
during the recession, saving
£15 billion over the next five
years.
We are determined that no-one
should be scarred for life by
joblessness. No young person
in Britain should be long-term
unemployed: those out of work
for six months or more will
be guaranteed employment

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Living standards

or training through the £1
billion Future Jobs Fund, with
mandatory participation after
ten months. The fund will
support 200,000 jobs. All those
who are long-term unemployed
for two years will be guaranteed
a job placement, which they will
be required to take up or have
their benefits cut.
More people with disabilities
and health conditions will
be helped to move into work
from Incapacity Benefit
and Employment Support
Allowance, as we extend the
use of our tough-but-fair work
capability test. This will help to
reduce the benefit bill by £1.5
billion over the next four years.
We will reassess the Incapacity
Benefit claims of 1.5 million
people by 2014, as we move
those able to work back
into jobs.
For those with the most serious
conditions or disabilities who
want to work there will be a
new guarantee of supported
employment after two years on
benefit. We will seek to ensure
that disabled people are able to
lead dignified and independent
lives, free of discrimination and
with the support to which they
are entitled.
The lone parent employment
rate has increased by over 12
per cent since 1997. We are

radically reforming how Job
Centre Plus helps lone parents:
providing extra help with
childcare, training and support
to find family-friendly work,
while requiring those with
children aged three to take steps
to prepare for work and actively
to seek employment once
their youngest child is seven
years old.
Our goal is to make
responsibility the cornerstone
of our welfare state. Housing
Benefit will be reformed to
ensure that we do not subsidise
people to live in the private
sector on rents that other
ordinary working families could
not afford. And we will continue
to crack down on those who try
to cheat the benefit system.
Making work pay
The National Minimum
Wage is one of our proudest
achievements. It protects
and sustains millions of lowpaid workers. To ensure that
the lowest paid share fairly
in rising prosperity, the Low
Pay Commission’s remit will
have the goal of the National
Minimum Wage rising at least
in line with average earnings
over the period to 2015.
To underline our commitment
to helping the lowest paid
we will ask all Whitehall

2:3

Departments, within their
allocated budgets, to follow
the lead of those who already
pay the Living Wage. This will
be supported by measures to
address high pay in the public
sector - reducing pay-bill
pressure in the years ahead.
To ensure that work pays,
we will guarantee that when
someone who has found it
difficult to get into work comes
off benefits, their family will
be at least £40 a week better
off. This is our Better Off in
Work guarantee: together the
National Minimum Wage and
tax credits should always make
work pay. And we will consult
on further reforms to simplify
the benefits system and make
sure it gives people the right
incentives and personal support
to get into work and progress in
their jobs.
We want everyone to have
better prospects in work.
We will give the Low Pay
Commission additional
responsibilities to report
on productivity and career
progression in low-skilled, lowpaid sectors, bringing together
representatives from the
business community and social
partners.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Living standards

Getting ahead: investing
in you

Improving your living
standards

As we restore full employment
to the British economy, we
will seek to make work more
fulfilling and secure. That
means helping people to
improve their skills.

Our aim is to put more wealth
in the hands of the British
people. We have done all we
can to keep mortgage rates
low – at 0.5 per cent during
this recession compared to 15
per cent in the 1990s – and
will continue to do so in the
future. The direct tax and
benefit measures introduced
since 1997 mean that in 201011, households will be £1,450
a year better off on average. A
family with one child and one
person working full time will
have a minimum income of
£310 a week in October 2010 27 per cent higher in real terms
than in 1999. Tax credits will be
increased not cut.

We have rescued the
apprenticeship system
supporting more than 250,000
places a year, and we will
now expand technician-level
apprenticeships to ensure
Britain has the skills it needs for
the future.
We have legislated for a right
to request time for training
and will continue to invest in
workplace training through
Train to Gain. New Skills
Accounts will enable every
worker to make choices that
drive improvement and quality
in the skills system. Accounts
will help learners know what
training they are entitled to, the
level of funding available and
the benefits of training for their
careers. But good work is about
more than just skills. Stronger
employee engagement improves
innovation and productivity: we
will continue to promote more
effective employee engagement
in the workplace.

As family budgets are under
greater pressure, we will do
more to help people with the
cost of living. Council Tax
increases have fallen to their
lowest ever rate and we expect
them to stay low. There will
be more help with energy bills
through the Social Tariff and
Winter Fuel Payments, and we
will work with the regulator to
promote greater competition
and diversity in the supply
of energy to ensure falling
wholesale prices get passed onto
households in lower bills.

2:4

Fairness at work
We will strive to ensure fairness
at work for all employees,
continuing our crackdown
on exploitative gang-masters
and rogue employers. In all
sectors the law must be upheld,
properly enforcing safety and
employment rights, and tackling
tax avoidance. We will extend
the licensing approach to labour
providers in the construction
industry if the evidence
shows that is the best way to
enforce employment rights. We
have strengthened HMRC’s
enforcement of the minimum
wage. In future it will cooperate more closely with local
authorities to enforce minimum
wage legislation. We are
enacting the Agency Workers
Directive to offer additional
protection to agency workers in
relation to pay and conditions.
New legislation and the
Equality and Human Rights
Commission will ensure that
people are not held back at
work because of their gender,
age, disability, race and
religious or sexual orientation.
The new Equality Act will be
enforced, promoting fairness
across our society. The public
duty to promote equality of
opportunity is being extended.
We will encourage employers to
make greater use of pay reviews
and equality checks to eliminate

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Living standards

unfair pay gaps, including
inequalities in pay between men
and women.
Modern trade unions are an
important part of our society
and economy, providing
protection and advice for
employees, and working
for equality and greater
fairness in the workplace. We
welcome their positive role in
encouraging partnership and
productivity.
More home ownership
Owning your own home is the
aspiration of most families. We
want as many people as possible
to share in the benefits of home
ownership, and to have a stake
in an affordable home. That
everyone has access to a decent
home at a price they can afford
is a central Labour ambition.
We will widen home ownership:
over 160,000 households have
been supported into ownership
through government action
since 1997. We will exempt
purchases below £250,000
from stamp duty for the next
two years, benefiting more
than nine out of ten first-time
buyers. This will be paid for by
increasing stamp duty to five
per cent for homes worth more
than £1 million.

Our highly popular Home Buy
Direct scheme will continue.
We will work with Housing
Associations to develop a new
form of affordable housing
targeted at working families on
modest incomes who struggle
in the private sector and rarely
qualify for social housing. This
will focus on enabling working
people to rent an affordable
home at below market rates
while they build up an
equity stake.
We have acted decisively to
make repossession the last
resort, helping over 330,000
families stay in their homes so
that repossessions are running
at around half the rate of the
early 1990s recession. We will
now strengthen regulation to
ensure consistent standards
of consumer protection from
repossession, making the FSA
responsible for the regulation
of all mortgages. This means
transferring second charge
loans such as debt consolidation
loans, which are often issued
by sub-prime lenders, into
the FSA’s tougher regime –
guaranteeing equal protection
for homeowners.
We are investing £7.5 billion
over two years to 2011 to build
new houses, delivering 110,000
additional energy-efficient,
affordable homes to rent or

2:5

buy. We believe local authorities
should be able to play their
part in providing social
housing in the future; and we
will reform the council house
financing system to enable
local authorities to maintain
properties at the Decent Home
standard and to build up to
10,000 council houses a year by
the end of the next Parliament.
Tenant involvement in the
management of social housing
properties will be strongly
encouraged.
Better housing
This Government has led the
way in making sure that British
homes are greener homes
through our world-leading
commitment to all new homes
being zero carbon by 2016
and the construction of new
eco-towns, which will have
the highest standards of green
living yet seen in Britain.
Local authorities now have
greater flexibility over the
allocation of social housing in
order to promote mixed and
sustainable communities. We
will guarantee the three million
households who rent from a
private landlord the right to
a written tenancy agreement
and access to free and impartial
advice; and we will establish
a new National Landlord
Register.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Living standards

We are committed to ending
rough sleeping by 2012, and
we will tackle the problems
faced by homeless people with
multiple needs. We will provide
homeless 16 and 17 year olds
with Foyer-based supported
accommodation and training
including help with parenting
skills. Once there is enough
provision to provide universal
coverage we will legislate to
change the law so that for 16
and 17 year olds the right to
housing is met solely through
supported housing.
Our regeneration policies
have transformed previously
neglected communities, and
our great cities are among
the best in the world. We will
make savings in regeneration
funding and focus on tackling
worklessness, transforming the
prospects of those areas most
disconnected from the wider
economy.
Support with saving
We will do more to support
saving and spread wealth across
more families. The annual
limits for Individual Savings
Accounts have been raised to
£10,200 and will be indexlinked. The Pension Credit
capital disregard will increase
from £6,000 to £10,000.
The pioneering Savings

Gateway account for people on
lower incomes will be available
to over eight million families
from July 2010, providing a
match of 50p for each £1 saved
up to a limit of £300. We will
extend this approach even
further, giving a boost to savings
for more people on middle
incomes. To help encourage
the savings habit among
young adults, we will develop a
matched savings account for all
18-30 basic-rate taxpayers, as
set out in the Budget.
For the next generation we will
protect – not cut – the Child
Trust Fund – the world’s first
universal savings policy for
young people, already giving
4.8 million children a nest
egg for the future. We will
contribute an additional £100
a year to the Child Trust Funds
of all disabled children.
A new deal on personal
finances
In the post-crisis economy, we
will fight for consumers and
stand up to vested interests that
treat people unfairly, whether in
the private or public sector. We
want a fair deal for all.
The Post Office has an
invaluable role to play in
our communities and in
serving local businesses. To
promote trusted and accessible

2:6

banking, we will transform
the Post Office into a People’s
Bank offering a full range of
competitive, affordable products.
This will help sustain the
network and boost competition
in banking. The universal postal
service delivered by the Royal
Mail connects and binds us
together as a country. We are
firmly committed to the 28
million homes and businesses
across the country receiving
mail six days a week, with the
promise that one price goes
everywhere. The Royal Mail
and its staff are taking welcome
and needed steps to modernise
work practices. For the future,
continuing modernisation and
investment will be needed by the
Royal Mail in the public sector.
We will introduce a universal
service obligation on retail
banks, so that all consumers
with a valid address have a
legal right to a basic bank
account, and a right to redress
if this is refused. Banks will
have to publicly report on
the extent to which they are
under-serving communities.
And we will introduce a new
levy on the banks to help fund
a step-change in the scale of
affordable lending by thirdsector organisations, including
a new partnership with the Post
Office, offering an alternative
to loan sharks and high-cost
doorstep lending.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Living standards

Over the lifetime of the next
Parliament, as more affordable
lending becomes available, we
will clamp down on the interest
rates and other fees charged
by instant loan companies and
payday or doorstep lenders,
tackling the very high cost
lending that hits low-income
communities hardest. We will
introduce a single regulator
for consumer finance to
restore confidence and trust
with responsibility for the
supervision of all unsecured
lending being passed to the
Financial Services Authority.
And new rules governing how
financial products are sold will
be introduced with a crackdown
on unfair terms in contracts.
Finally, we will seek to promote
competition in high-street
banking by introducing
portable bank account and cash
ISA numbers that stimulate
switching where consumers
are dissatisfied, along with
consistent, easily understood
labelling of financial products.

2:7

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Excellence in education: every child the chance
to fulfil their potential

Education

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Education

The challenge for Britain
To raise standards, promote excellence and narrow
achievement gaps by giving the best school leaders
and federations more schools to run, and by giving
parents new rights and clear guarantees of high-quality
teaching and support for every pupil ­— underpinned by
increased spending. The Tories want to gamble with
our children’s education, putting school improvement
at risk and taking away the guarantees of an excellent
education for all.
The next stage of national renewal
•	 Spending increased on frontline Sure Start and free
childcare, schools and 16-19 learning.
•	 An expansion of free nursery places for two year olds
and 15 hours a week of flexible, free nursery education
for three and four year olds.
•	 Every pupil leaving primary school secure in the basics,
with a 3Rs guarantee of one-to-one and small-group
tuition for every child falling behind; and in secondary
school, every pupil with a personal tutor and a choice of
good qualifications.
•	 A choice of good schools in every area – and, where
parents are not satisfied – the power to bring in new
school leadership teams, through mergers and takeovers, with up to 1,000 secondary schools part of an
accredited schools group by 2015.
•	 Every young person guaranteed education or training
until 18, with 75 per cent going on to higher education,
or completing an advanced apprenticeship or technician
level training, by the age of 30.
Education is the key to personal
fulfilment, economic prosperity
and social mobility. Our goal
is educational excellence for
every child, whatever their

background or circumstances.
In 1997, half of our secondary
schools were below the basic
minimum standard. Now,

3:2

because of sustained investment
and reform, it is just one in
twelve, with standards rising
fastest in disadvantaged areas.
Nearly 100,000 more children
each year leave primary school
secure in reading, writing and
maths. School buildings, once
characterised by leaking roofs
and second-class facilities, are
being transformed. The quality
of teaching is the best ever and
teachers have the status and
respect they deserve.
Frontline spending on Sure
Start, childcare, schools and 1619 learning will be increased,
safeguarding our priorities
such as an additional 41,000
teachers and 120,000 teaching
assistants. But funding will not
rise as fast as in recent years,
making tough choices necessary
to focus resources on the front
line, with £950m saved through
collaboration and efficiency
in back office functions and
procurement and £500m from
quangos and central budgets.
The range and reach of
innovative school providers will
increase, spreading excellence
to all schools. We will strive to
get the best people into teaching
and give parents new rights
to secure good schooling for
their children. Participation
in post-school learning will
expand, with more and better
apprenticeships, improved

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Education

vocational education, and wider
access to higher education.
The early years
Good play-based early learning
gets children off to a flying start,
so that they begin school ready
to learn and achieve. We have
expanded high-quality early
learning and childcare, which
also supports parents to work
when they have young children
and improves family living
standards.
There are now over 3,500
Sure Start Children’s Centres
and every three and four year
old has access to free nursery
education, which is rising to
15 hours a week. Children’s
Centres will become the
bedrock of a new national
under-fives service: ‘one-stop
shops’, open to all families,
offering excellent affordable
childcare, healthcare and
parenting advice. The number
of free early learning places for
disadvantaged two year olds will
be expanded, on the way to our
long-term goal of universal free
childcare for this age group.
Flexible childcare
Busy working parents will
have more flexibility over
the hours their children have
access to nursery education,
such as taking them over two
full working days, as well as

greater choice over when
children start school. We will
also explore allowing parents to
carry over their free hours of
nursery education from year to
year. Childcare vouchers will
be retained, with all families
receiving income tax relief at
the basic rate, and childcare
standards will be raised by a
more qualified workforce.
We want to strengthen parental
engagement with Sure Start
Children’s Centres. Some
voluntary and third-sector
organisations already run
networks of Centres, and
we will now pioneer mutual
federations running groups of
local Children’s Centres in the
community interest.
Excellence for all: every
school a good school
Every parent wants their child
to attend an excellent school –
with the best possible teaching
and facilities. So for pupils and
parents we will set out in law
guarantees of the excellent
education and personal support
they can expect.
No school can be better than
the quality of its teachers. We
have the best generation of
teachers ever, supported by
teaching assistants and the
wider workforce. But we must
continue to get the very best

3:3

people into teaching, from the
most committed graduates
to the highest calibre career
switchers. Teach First will be
extended to attract more of the
best graduates into teaching,
including teaching in primary
schools.
We have invested heavily in the
professionalism and expertise
of the workforce, and will build
on this success with a new right
for every teacher to continuous
professional development;
in return they will have to
demonstrate high standards
of teaching to maintain their
licence to practise. We will
promote new Teacher Training
Academies and £10,000
‘golden handcuffs’ to attract
the best teachers into the most
challenging schools.
While the number of lowperforming schools has
decreased dramatically, we
cannot tolerate any coasting
or persistently poor schools.
Over the last decade, we have
developed a cadre of world-class
head teachers, radically opened
up our school system to new
providers, and worked with local
authorities and school governing
bodies to drive up standards.
Our task now is to devolve
more power and responsibility
to strong school leaders and
to spread excellence, with

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Education

up to 1,000 schools, through
mergers and take-overs, part
of an accredited school group
by 2015 – a new generation of
not-for-profit chains of schools
with a proven track record.
These will include excellent
school leaders from the
maintained sector, universities,
colleges, faith schools, academy
chains and independent schools.
We now have 200 academies
and over 50 National Challenge
Trusts, with another 200
academies in the pipeline. And
we are pioneering new cooperative trust schools where
parents, teachers and the local
community come together to
help govern their local school.
More power for parents
Where parents are dissatisfied
with the choice of secondary
schools in an area, local
authorities will be required
to act, securing take-overs of
poor schools, the expansion of
good schools, or in some cases,
entirely new provision. Where
parents at an individual school
want change, they will be able
to trigger a ballot on whether
to bring in a new leadership
team from a proven and trusted
accredited provider.
School Report Cards will give
every parent clear information
on standards, levels of parental
satisfaction and behaviour and

bullying. They will provide
information on the progress
being made by all pupils, not
just by some. We will consult on
giving every school an overall
grade for its performance.
We reject a return to the 11plus or a free-for-all admission
system. Our commitment to
fair admissions is essential
to liberating the potential of
every child. Ensuring all pupils
make progress also requires a
fair funding system, so we will
introduce a local pupil premium
to guarantee that extra funding
to take account of deprivation
follows the pupil. Barriers to
social mobility will be tackled
by giving disadvantaged families
free access to broadband to
support their child’s learning.
All parents will be guaranteed
online information about their
child’s progress and behaviour.
We have high expectations
for children with special
educational needs and schools
will be held to account for how
well they meet the needs of
these pupils. We are expanding
the number of specialist
dyslexia teachers and improving
teacher training for children
with autism. The statementing
process will be improved to give
more support to parents, and
the supply of teachers with the
specialist skills needed to teach
pupils with severe learning

3:4

disabilities in special schools will
be increased.
Primary schools: no child
left behind
More children than ever leave
primary school secure in the
basics. Every primary school
now offers whole-class teaching
of English using phonics, and
we are introducing specialist
teachers to achieve a similar
step-change in Maths. But
every parent rightly wants
far more, so our primary
curriculum reforms will create
more flexibility for teachers
to offer a broad, challenging
and engaging education, with
opportunities to play sport, and
to take part in arts, culture and
music, including the chance
to learn a musical instrument.
As part of these reforms, all
primary schools will teach a
modern foreign language. We
will create a specialist Mandarin
teacher training qualification,
so that many more primary
schools have access to a
qualified primary teacher able
to teach Mandarin.
Parents will be given a ‘3Rs
Guarantee’ that every pupil
who falls behind at primary
school and early in secondary
school will receive special oneto-one or small-group catch-up
provision. This will include
up to 40,000 six and seven

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Education

year olds benefiting from extra
tuition in English and Maths
through ‘Every Child a Reader’
and ‘Every Child Counts’, and
300,000 receiving ten hours
of one-to-one tuition in both
English and Maths when they
are older.
For primary-age children, we
are guaranteeing childcare and
constructive activities from
8am until 6pm in term-time at
their own or a neighbouring
school; this entitlement will
particularly help busy working
parents juggle work and family
life. We are extending the
provision of free school meals
so that an additional half a
million primary school children
in families on low incomes
will benefit from healthy and
nutritious food, and we are
trialing free school meals for
all primary school children in
pilot areas across the country.
Together, these schemes will
thoroughly test the case for
universal free school meals,
with the results available by
autumn 2011.
Secondary schools:
excellence for all, personal
to each
Our secondary schools have
been transformed by great
school leaders, teachers and
support staff. We will build on
these achievements, tailoring

education to the aspirations and
aptitudes of individual pupils.
All secondary school pupils
will have a Personal Tutor of
Studies, and we will work with
schools to extend one-to-one
or small-group tuition to pupils
in the run-up to their GCSEs.
Such an education should no
longer be the preserve of the
wealthiest few, but a central part
of the curriculum.
More young people will be able
to study single science subjects
and modern foreign languages.
Diplomas will strengthen the
status and quality of vocational
study and bring together
academic and vocational
programmes. And the Gifted
and Talented programme will
be reformed and improved,
guaranteeing additional
personalised support. We will
review the qualifications system
in 2013, with any changes
taking place in the Parliament
after next. Meanwhile, the new
independent exam regulator
will ensure that standards are
being maintained.
Because the learning
environment itself matters,
we will take forward our
Building Schools for the Future
programme to rebuild or
refurbish secondary schools,
giving our children firstrate facilities that support
inspirational teaching and

3:5

access to ICT, sports and the
arts.
Zero tolerance of poor
behaviour
The vast majority of schools
have good or outstanding
behaviour. But no child should
have their learning disturbed
by poor discipline in the
classroom. Teachers have
strong new powers to ensure
order and discipline and we
will support their use. Home
School Agreements will be
strengthened, making clear
the responsibilities of families
and pupils. Every parent will
agree to adhere to the school’s
behaviour rules, signing
contracts each year facing
real consequences if they fail
to live up to them, including
the option of a court-imposed
parenting order. Safer School
Partnerships will be extended to
every school where the head or
parents demand it.
Alternative education for
excluded pupils will be
transformed. New providers
will be encouraged to take over
existing Pupil Referral Units,
pioneering approaches that
bring order and discipline back
to young people’s lives. More
will be invested in anti-bullying
interventions including tackling
homophobic bullying.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Education

Cadet forces will move
increasingly into state schools
and we will expand spare time
activities for young people,
doubling those available –
including sport – on Friday
and Saturday nights, with
neighbourhood police teams
closely involved in areas
where youth crime is highest.
Teacher training institutions
will be asked to provide
specialist courses for teachers in
promoting pupils’ resilience and
responsibility.
All children safe
and thriving
Living in a family on a
low income, having special
educational needs or disabilities,
and being in care all remain
strongly linked to children
failing to achieve. We are
determined to narrow the gap
between these children and
their peers, and to continue
to invest in specialist services,
including short breaks for
disabled children. Learning
from the best systems around
the world, we will improve
foster and residential care. We
will expand specialised foster
care for the most vulnerable
children and the Care2Work
programme for all care leavers.
Through Children’s Trusts,
children and youth services
will work closely with schools

and colleges, increasingly
co-locating wider children’s
services with schools. Early
intervention programmes
with a proven impact will be
promoted. We will continue
to reduce teenage pregnancy
rates, with compulsory, highquality Sex and Relationship
Education.

change: raising the education
and training leaving age to 18.
All young people will stay on
in learning until 18, Education
Maintenance Allowances
will be retained and there
will be an entitlement to an
apprenticeship place in 2013 for
all suitably qualified 16-18 year
olds.

Ensuring all children are safe
from abuse and harm will
remain a top priority. The new
Vetting and Barring system
will protect children without
being unduly burdensome or
interfering in private family
arrangements. Social work
training will be radically
overhauled, raising the status
and standards of the profession,
and we will establish a National
College of Social Work. We will
publish detailed Serious Case
Review summaries that explain
the facts, but keep full reports
out of the public domain in
order to protect children’s
identities.

Further education colleges
are the backbone of our postschool education system and
they are leading the way with
new Diplomas, working with
schools. We will introduce
greater freedom for all colleges
to respond to local community
needs and free them up from
red tape. Students will be given
clearer information on the
quality of courses on offer, with
a ‘traffic-light’ grading system
for all courses and colleges. To
complement vocational learning
for 14-19 year olds in schools
and colleges, we will pioneer
University Technical Colleges
and new Studio Schools that
offer innovative curricula
involving practical learning and
paid work.

Staying on to get ahead
Staying on rates at age 16 are
increasing, thanks in part to our
school leavers’ guarantee of
a place at sixth form, college,
training or an apprenticeship.
But to ensure a new wave
of social mobility, we are
committed to an historic

3:6

Advanced apprenticeships will
be radically expanded, creating
up to 70,000 places a year.
These provide well-respected
routes into high-skilled careers
and further study at university
and will support our ambition
that three-quarters of young

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Education

people enter higher education
or complete an advanced
apprenticeship or equivalent
technician-level qualification
by the time they are 30. New
apprenticeship scholarships will
enable the best apprentices to
go on to higher education.
We will open up opportunity
for people from families on low
incomes to enter professions like
the media and law, expanding
paid internships for students.
To increase social mobility,
careers advice for young people,
including for younger children,
will be overhauled, ensuring
much better information and
guidance.
World-class higher
education
Higher education is
fundamental to our national
prosperity. Demand for highlevel skills is strong and growing,
and the supply of good
graduates is an increasingly
important factor in global
economic competition.
We have eliminated up-front
fees paid by parents and
students, and ensured that the
repayment of loans is related
to ability to pay. The higher
education participation rate
for young people from the
most disadvantaged areas has
increased every year since 2004.

The review of higher education
funding chaired by Lord
Browne will report later this
year. Our aim is to continue the
expansion of higher education,
widening access still further,
while ensuring that universities
and colleges have a secure,
long-term funding base that
protects world-class standards in
teaching and research. Ahead
of the review, we have provided
universities with funding to
recruit an extra 20,000 students
this year.
Universities must continue to
raise their game in outreach
to state schools, widening
participation and boosting
social mobility. We will
guarantee mentoring and
support for higher education
applications to all low-income
pupils with the potential for
university study, with extra
summer schools and help
with UCAS applications;
and expand programmes
to encourage highly able
students from low-income
backgrounds to attend Russell
Group universities. We support
universities that already widen
access by taking into account
the context of applicants’
achievement at school.
In the coming years, priority in
the expansion of student places
will be given to Foundation
Degrees and part-time study,

.

3:7

and to science, technology,
engineering and mathematics
degrees, as well as applied
study in key economic growth
sectors. The choices and views
of students should play an
important part in shaping
courses and teaching. All
universities will be required
clearly to set out how they will
ensure a high-quality learning
experience for students.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
World-leading healthcare: a patient-centred NHS

Health

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Health

The challenge for Britain
To build a better health service by protecting NHS
spending and by shifting to more preventative and
personal care, clear patient guarantees and greater care
in the home. The Tories will not introduce the necessary
reforms, would fail to guarantee access to services,
usher in a care postcode lottery, and put the interests of
patients second.
The next stage of national renewal
• Legally binding guarantees for patients including the
right to cancer test results within one week of referral,
and a maximum 18 weeks’ wait for treatment or the
offer of going private.
• Preventative healthcare through routine check-ups for
the over-40s and a major expansion of diagnostic testing.
• More personal care, with the right in law to choose from
any provider who meets NHS standards of quality at
NHS costs when booking a hospital appointment, oneto-one dedicated nursing for all cancer patients, and
more care at home.
• The right to choose a GP in your area open at evenings
and weekends, with more services available on the
high-street, personal care plans and rights to individual
budgets.
• Access to psychological therapy for those who need it.

The NHS embodies our values
of fairness and social justice
– for 60 years it has been the
embodiment of what it means
to be British. We will always put
the NHS first. In an insecure
world, people need first-class
healthcare they can rely on.
Under Labour, the NHS will

remain a universal health
service, not a second-rate safety
net. Only 15 years ago, the
very existence of the NHS was
in doubt. Now with sustained
investment and reform, the
NHS is delivering high-quality
healthcare in safer and more
convenient ways.

4:2

But to safeguard the NHS in
tougher fiscal times, we need
sustained reform. To prosper in
the future, the NHS will have
to respond to the challenges
facing healthcare systems across
the developed world: new cures
and breakthrough treatments,
an ageing society, an increased
number of people with longterm conditions, ever higher
public expectations at the same
time.
So we will be tougher in
ensuring value for money, more
determined in demanding the
highest standards of care and in
shifting rapidly to preventative
care. Above all, the interests
of the patient will come first.
No longer passive recipients
of care, patients will be active
partners with enforceable
guarantees, real choice, and
direct control over services.
These changes are essential
to maintain the principle at
the core of the NHS: of care
provided on the basis of need,
not ability to pay.
Protecting the NHS and
investing in the front line
In 1997, health spending as
a share of national income
was the second lowest of
all the major industrialised
countries. The resulting failures
were visible to all: long waits,

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Health

outdated buildings, too few
doctors and nurses.
Since then, investment and
reform have turned around the
public’s experience of the NHS.
A generation of new hospitals
has been built, entirely new
services created, and long waits
eliminated. We are undertaking
fundamental changes to
community services, tough
decisions on pay, and a shift in
care from the hospital to the
community.
As we complete our once-ina-generation programme of
hospital building, we will refocus
capital investment on primary
and community services so that
we rival the best healthcare
systems in the world with our
ability to identify disease early.
The reforms of recent years will
allow us to do more than ever
to release savings by cutting red
tape and directing resources to
where they matter most. We
will scale down the NHS IT
programme, saving hundreds of
millions of pounds, and over the
next four years, we will deliver
up to £20 billion of efficiencies
in the frontline NHS, ensuring
that every pound is reinvested in
frontline care.

Getting the most from
NHS resources: sustained
investment and reform
We will continue to press
ahead with bold NHS
reforms. All hospitals will
become Foundation Trusts,
with successful FTs given the
support and incentives to take
over those that are underperforming. Failing hospitals
will have their management
replaced. Foundation Trusts will
be given the freedom to expand
their provision into primary
and community care, and to
increase their private services
– where these are consistent
with NHS values, and provided
they generate surpluses that are
invested directly into the NHS.
We will support an active role
for the independent sector
working alongside the NHS
in the provision of care,
particularly where they bring
innovation – such as in end-oflife care and cancer services,
and increase capacity. We
will be uncompromising in
expecting high standards from
all NHS services – and in the
coming period we will expect
PCTs to challenge all services
to achieve the highest quality.
Where changes are needed, we
will be fair to NHS services and
staff and give them a chance to
improve, but where they fail to

4:3

do so we will look to alternative
provision.
Patient power will be increased.
Patients requiring elective
care will have the right, in law,
to choose from any provider
who meets NHS standards of
quality at NHS costs. And we
will also increase year-on-year
the payments made to hospitals
linked to patient satisfaction and
quality outcomes – up to ten per
cent of payment.
Prevention and early
intervention
The NHS must be as effective
at preventing ill health as it
is at treating those in need of
care. Prevention and early
intervention will be at the heart
of our plans for a reformed
healthcare system offering
more for every pound we
spend, significantly improving
survival rates for cancer, heart
disease and strokes so that we
are among the very best in the
world.
We all have a responsibility
to look after our own health,
supported by our family and
our employer. The ban on
smoking in public places will
be maintained. Wherever
necessary, we will act to protect
children’s health from tobacco,
alcohol and sunbeds.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Health

GPs will be encouraged to keep
their patients healthy through
exercise and healthy eating
advice. The ambitious Change
4 Life programme will support
a more active, health-conscious
country.
We will pioneer better mental
health care and tackle the
scourge of mental illness. Over
the next Parliament more than
8,000 new therapists will ensure
access to psychological therapy
for all who need it as we seek to
change our society’s attitudes to
mental illness.
Empowering NHS staff and
enabling Mutuals
Central to our agenda
for improvement is the
hardworking NHS workforce.
We will continue the process of
empowering staff – freeing them
from bureaucracy and ensuring
they get proper support.
We will expand the role of NHS
nurses, particularly in primary
care, in line with the best clinical
evidence. And across the NHS
we will extend the right for staff,
particularly nurses, to request to
run their own services in the notfor-profit sector. To strengthen
local accountability, we will
increase the membership of
Foundation Trusts to over three
million by the end of the next
Parliament.

The NHS will benefit from
a period of organisational
stability: we will make no topdown changes to the structure
of Primary Care Trusts or
Strategic Health Authorities
during the next Parliament, and
we will ensure stability in the
hospital payment system.
Real guarantees and real
choices for patients
People rightly want public
services that are not just
universal but also personal to
their needs. We will expand
patient choice, empowering
patients with information, and
giving individuals the right to
determine the time and place
of treatment. At the heart of
this will be new legally binding
guarantees enshrined in the
NHS constitution:
• The waiting-time guarantee
will ensure that treatment
begins within 18 weeks of
seeing your GP, or the NHS
will find you to go private.
• The cancer guarantee will
ensure that all patients see a
cancer specialist within two
weeks of GP referral and
that all cancer tests will be
completed and the results
received within just one week –
helping save tens of thousands
of lives over the next ten years.

4:4

• The health-check guarantee
will ensure that everyone
between 40 and 74 will
be guaranteed routine
health checks on the NHS,
preventing up to 10,000 heart
attacks and strokes each year.
• The GP access guarantee will
ensure everyone has the right
to choose a GP in their area
offering evening and weekend
opening.
A personal NHS
We will ensure the NHS suits
the lives of busy families
expanding further the
availability of GP-led health
centres open seven days a week
‘8 til 8’ in towns and cities.
NHS organisations will offer
telephone and online booking
via the NHS Choices website.
Online patient comments about
the quality of any NHS service
will inform people’s choices.
A new national 111 telephone
number will make nonemergency services far easier for
people to access and book.
We will bring the NHS closer
to people through a major
expansion in care available at
home, including chemotherapy
and dialysis. More services
will be available from GPs and
through local pharmacists.
Patients will have the right to
register with a GP anywhere
they choose, including near

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Health

their place of work. Choice of
when and where you are treated
will be extended whenever
patients are booking routine
appointments.
We will offer more personal
healthcare. All cancer patients
will be offered one-to-one
dedicated nursing for the
duration of their care and
we will work with Marie
Curie Cancer Care and other
providers to guarantee everyone
who wants it the opportunity to
receive palliative care in their
own home at the end of their
lives.
Everyone with a long-term
condition, such as those with
diabetes, will have the right to
a care plan and an individual
budget.
All women will have the right,
wherever it is safe, to a homebirth, and every expectant
mother will have a named
midwife providing continuity
of care. More mums and
dads will be offered single
rooms if they need to stay
in hospital overnight, and
post-natal care will be further
expanded so that every area
of the country has a Family
Nurse Partnership, supporting
families in greatest need.
With new rights to treatment
come new responsibilities

for patients: patients who fail
to turn up for pre-booked
appointments will not be
guaranteed fast-track treatment.
The NHS Constitution will
guarantee the legal rights of
patients, wherever they live,
to all treatments and drugs
approved by NICE for use in
the NHS. We will continue
to improve the process of
approving new drugs and
treatments so that these can be
made available to NHS patients
more quickly. We will ensure
all leading drugs available
internationally are assessed
by NICE and those which
are deemed effective will be
available within six months of
referral.
We will establish a new
National Care Service working
in partnership with the NHS
to transform the way care is
provided to the elderly and
disabled people.
Safety and cleanliness
We will ensure all hospitals
are clean and safe for both
patients and staff. More than
3,000 matrons across the NHS
will have the power to manage
wards, order deep cleaning,
and report problems directly
to hospital boards. Every
patient who comes into an
NHS hospital will be screened
for MRSA. We will establish

4:5

national standards of infection
control that get tougher every
year and which every hospital
and ward must meet. The safety
regulator will have the power
to close wards, impose fines
or order cleaning wherever
necessary.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Strengthening our communities, securing our borders

Crime and
immigration

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Crime and immigration

The challenge for Britain
To reduce the fear of crime by protecting frontline
policing while making the police more responsive and
accountable, and taking faster action on anti-social
behaviour. The Tories talk tough but vote soft on
issues from gun crime to DNA retention; would cut
police and PCSO numbers; and favour political police
chiefs over real reform. We will control immigration
with our new Australian-style points-based system —
unlike the arbitrary Tory quota, which would damage
business and growth.
The next stage of national renewal
• Provide the funding to maintain police and PCSO
numbers with neighbourhood police teams in every
area, spending 80 per cent of their time on the beat
visible in their neighbourhood; improve police
performance through online police report cards and
ensure failing forces are taken over by the best.
• Intervene earlier to prevent crime, with no-nonsense
action to tackle the problems caused by 50,000
dysfunctional families.
• Guarantee fast and effective action to deal with antisocial behaviour, including a right to legal injunctions for
repeat victims, funded by the police or council who let
them down.
• Expand tough ‘Community Payback’ for criminals who
don’t go to prison, giving everyone the right to vote on
the work they do.
• Control immigration through our Australian-style
points-based system, ensuring that as growth returns
we see rising levels of employment and wages, not
rising immigration, and requiring newcomers to earn
citizenship and the entitlements it brings.

5:2

Britain is far safer now than
when the Tories left office.
Crime is down by more than a
third; violent crime is down by
over 40 per cent, and the risk of
being a victim of crime is the
lowest since 1981. But people
are still worried about binge
drinking, problem families and
anti-social behaviour. We are
committed to tackling these
problems, not talking them up
to run Britain down.
We understand people’s
concerns about immigration –
about whether it will undermine
their wages or job prospects, or
put pressure on public services
or housing – and we have acted.
Asylum claims are down to the
levels of the early 1990s and
net inward migration has fallen.
We will use our new Australianstyle points-based system to
ensure that as growth returns
we see rising employment and
wages, not rising immigration –
but we reject the arbitrary and
unworkable Tory quota.
Protecting frontline
policing
There are now record numbers
of police officers – nearly
17,000 more than in 1997 –
backed up by 16,000 Police
Community Support Officers.
We are committed to giving the
police the resources to maintain
these numbers, with funding

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Crime and immigration

assured for the next three
years. To protect the front line
we are making tough choices
elsewhere: continuing to cut
bureaucracy and inefficiency in
procurement, IT and overtime.
Every community now has a
neighbourhood police team
committed to spending at
least 80 per cent of their
time on the beat visible in
their neighbourhood, and
responding to non-emergency
issues within 24 hours. To
ensure that communities
can determine local policing
priorities, neighbourhood police
teams will hold monthly beat
meetings - at which local people
will have a right to hold senior
commanders to account.
We will protect the police
from politicisation, but take
swift action where they are not
performing. Online crime maps
now give everyone monthly
information on crime in their
area, and we have supported
the Policing Inspectorate in
publishing new online ‘report
cards’, comparing how forces
perform. Where a police force
or local Basic Command
Unit consistently fails local
people, we will ensure either
that the senior management
team including the borough
commander or chief constable
is replaced, or it is taken over by
a neighbouring force or BCU.

Early intervention and
preventing crime
We need to do more and act
earlier to stop children going
down the wrong path. So we
will expand Family Nurse
Partnerships to all vulnerable
young mothers, reducing
future crime and behavioural
problems. For the 50,000
most dysfunctional families
who cause misery to their
neighbours, we will provide
Family Intervention Projects
– proven to tackle anti-social
behaviour – a no-nonsense
regime of one-to-one support
with tough sanctions for noncompliance.
Youth reoffending is now
falling, and the numbers in
youth custody have fallen by
30 per cent. We will expand
US-style street teams which
use youth pastors and vetted
ex-offenders to reach out to
disaffected young people;
Youth Conditional Cautions
which focus on rehabilitation
and reparation; and we will
introduce a preventative
element for all Anti-Social
Behaviour Orders for under
16s. To ensure there are more
things for teenagers to do we
will double the availability of
organised youth activities on
Friday and Saturday nights.

5:3

We will expand joint working
between police and the
probation service to supervise
prolific young offenders after
they get out of prison, and the
use of mentors including vetted
ex-prisoners to meet offenders
‘at the gate’ so they don’t slip
back into crime. And alcohol
treatment places will be trebled
to cover all persistent criminals
where alcohol is identified as a
cause of their crimes.
We need to try new approaches
to solving the most intractable
problems. So we will pioneer
Social Impact Bonds,
encouraging private investors
to support social entrepreneurs
and the third sector – and
harnessing additional
investment for crime prevention
at minimal cost to the taxpayer.
We have shown that Restorative
Justice can increase satisfaction
for victims and the police, and
we will bring in a Restorative
Justice Act to ensure it is
available wherever victims
approve it.
On drugs, our message is clear:
we will not tolerate illegal
drug use. We have reclassified
cannabis to Class B and
banned ‘legal highs’. More
addicts are being treated, with
a higher proportion going
on to drug-free lives. We will
switch investment towards those
programmes that are shown

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Crime and immigration

to sustain drug-free lives and
reduce crime.
Tough action on crime and
anti-social behaviour
Crime continued to fall during
the recession, in marked
contrast to the recessions of the
1980s and 1990s. Homicides are
at the lowest level for a decade –
gun murders are at their lowest
for 20 years, and our gun laws
are among the toughest in the
world. We have strengthened
the law on knife crime with jail
more likely, sentences longer,
and more police searches and
scanners – and knife crime has
fallen. We are tackling territorial
youth gangs with specific police
powers, and new approaches
that confront gangs while
supporting those who want to
leave gang life.
Domestic violence has fallen
by over 50 per cent since
1997, reporting of rape has
doubled, and rape convictions
have increased by more
than 50 per cent. But we are
committed to zero tolerance
of violence against women, so
we will continue to drive up
prosecution rates, tackle causes,
and raise awareness – as well
as maintaining women-only
services including a Sexual
Assault Referral Centre in every
area.

Labour is proud to be the
party that legislated first to
criminalise incitement to racial
hatred, religious hatred, and
homophobic hatred – and we
will reverse the Tory attempt to
undermine this latest legislation,
invoking the Parliament Act if
necessary to force it through.
To tackle the binge drinking
which can leave people reluctant
to venture into town centres
at night, we have banned
irresponsible promotions
and strengthened police and
council powers to close down
rowdy pubs and clubs, cracking
down on under-age and public
drinking. We have brought in a
right to petition local authorities
to end 24-hour licensing where
problems arise.
There were no specific powers
against anti-social behaviour in
1997. Now there are ASBOs,
parenting orders and dispersal
powers. Because we know
people want faster action on
ASB, we will guarantee an
initial response to any complaint
within 24 hours. Local
authorities and other agencies
will be required to give people
a named case worker who will
report back on progress, and
escalate action if the problem
persists. All relevant agencies –
not just neighbourhood police
teams – will hold monthly
public meetings to hear people’s

5:4

concerns; all PCSOs will have
stronger powers to tackle ASB;
a ‘Respect’ standard for the
private rented sector will be
introduced; and local ASB
champions will make agencies
work together to tackle cases.
Enforcement will also be
strengthened: we will ensure
that the great majority of
applications for ASBOs
take under a month and
that whenever an ASBO is
breached there is an expectation
of prosecution. And when
someone suffers repeated ASB
and the police, council, courts
or other agencies fail to act,
there must be a stronger form
of redress. So we will legislate
to give people financial support
to pursue legal injunctions, with
the costs met by the agency that
let them down.
Using technology to cut
crime
We will continue to make
full use of CCTV and DNA
technology: new weapons
deployed to strengthen our fight
against crime. We are proud of
our record on civil liberties and
have taken the DNA profiles of
children off the database and
tightened the rules around the
use of surveillance – but we are
also determined to keep our
streets safe.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Crime and immigration

CCTV reduces the fear of
crime and anti-social behaviour.
We have funded cameras in
nearly 700 areas, and brought
in a new power for people to
petition their local authority for
more CCTV.
Advances in DNA technology
have been critical in solving
serious crimes – last year alone
there were 832 positive matches
to the DNA database in cases of
rape, murder and manslaughter.
Labour will ensure that the most
serious offenders are added to
the database no matter where or
when they were convicted – and
retain for six years the DNA
profiles of those arrested but not
convicted.
The new biometric ID scheme
which already covers foreign
nationals will be offered to
an increasing number of
British citizens, but will not be
compulsory for them. It will
help fight the growing threat of
identity theft and fraud, as well
as crime, illegal immigration
and terrorism. In the next
Parliament ID cards and the ID
scheme will be self-financing.
The price of the passport and
ID cards together with savings
from reduced fraud across the
public services will fully cover
the costs of the scheme.

Punishment and reform
We have provided over 26,000
more prison places since 1997.
There are more criminals in
prison – not because crime is
rising but because violent and
serious offenders are going
to prison for longer. We will
ensure a total of 96,000 prison
places by 2014. More EU and
other foreign prisoners will be
transferred abroad, and we will
work to reduce the number of
women, young and mentally
ill people in prison. Any spare
capacity generated will reduce
costs while protecting the public.
For offenders not sentenced to
prison we have brought in tough
new ‘Community Payback’:
hard work in public, wearing
orange jackets. We will extend
nationwide the right for local
people to vote on what work
offenders do to pay back to the
communities they have harmed.
We will always put the victim
first in the criminal justice
system. We are creating a
National Victims Service to
guarantee all victims of crime
and anti-social behaviour sevenday-a-week cover and a named,
dedicated worker offering oneto-one support through the trial
and beyond. The compensation
offenders have to pay to victims
has been increased, and we
will now ensure victims get this
payment up front.

5:5

To help protect frontline
services, we will find greater
savings in legal aid and the
courts system – increasing the
use of successful ‘virtual courts’
which move from arrest, to trial,
to sentencing in hours rather
than weeks or months. We will
use the tax system to claw back
from higher-earning offenders
a proportion of the costs of
prison. Asset confiscation
will be a standard principle
in sentencing, extended from
cash to houses and cars. Every
community will have the right
to vote on how these assets
are used to pay back to the
community.
Terrorism and organised
crime
Our counter-terrorism approach
is one of the most sophisticated
in the world, and investment
has trebled since 2001, with
thousands more counterterrorist police and a doubling
of security service numbers.
We will continue to give the
police the tools they need to fight
terrorism while giving Parliament
and the courts oversight to
ensure these powers are not
overused. We condemn torture,
and our police and security
services will not co-operate with
those who use torture. We will
develop our Prevent strategy to
combat extremism.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Crime and immigration

We will continue to make
Britain a hostile place for
organised criminals, harassing
them with asset seizures, tax
investigations and other powers;
strengthening the Serious
Organised Crime Agency and
encouraging police forces to cooperate across force boundaries
and international borders; and
responding quickly to new
threats including cybercrime.
Strong borders and
immigration controls
We are committed to an
immigration system that
promotes and protects British
values. People need to know
that immigration is controlled,
that the rules are firm and fair,
and that there is support for
communities in dealing with
change.
Our borders are stronger than
ever. A new Border Agency
has police-level powers and
thousands more immigration
officers, 100 per cent of visas
are now biometric, and new
electronic border controls will
be counting people in and out
by the end of the year. Asylum
claims are back down to early
1990s levels, and the cost of
asylum support to the taxpayer
has been cut by half in the last
six years. Genuine refugees will
continue to receive protection.

Our new Australian-style pointsbased system is ensuring we
get the migrants our economy
needs, but no more. We will
gradually tighten the criteria
in line with the needs of the
British economy and the values
of British citizenship, and step
up our action against illegal
immigration. There will be
no unskilled migration from
outside the EU. Skilled jobs are
now advertised here first for
four weeks with more vacancies
going to local workers, and
public procurement will in
future give priority to local
people. The points-based
system will be used to control
migration with limits for highskilled workers and university
students. As growth returns
we want to see rising levels of
employment and wages, not
rising immigration.
We recognise that immigration
can place pressures on housing
and public services in some
communities so we will expand
the Migration Impact Fund,
paid for by contributions from
migrants, to help local areas.
We know that migrants who
are fluent in English are more
likely to work and find it easier
to integrate. So as well as
making our English test harder,
we will ensure it is taken by all
applicants before they arrive.
Local councils and other public

5:6

services should keep funding
for translation services to a
minimum. Many public-sector
workers are already required
to meet minimum standards of
English; we will build on this to
ensure that all employees who
have contact with the public
possess an appropriate level of
English language competence.
Because we believe coming
to Britain is a privilege and
not a right, we will break
the automatic link between
staying here for a set period
and being able to settle or gain
citizenship. In future, staying
will be dependent on the pointsbased system, and access to
benefits and social housing will
increasingly be reserved for
British citizens and permanent
residents – saving the taxpayer
hundreds of millions of pounds
each year. We will continue
to emphasise the value we
place on citizenship, and the
responsibilities as well as rights
it brings, through the citizenship
pledge and ceremony, and by
strengthening the test of British
values and traditions.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Supporting families throughout life

Families and
older people

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Families and older people

The challenge for Britain
To support all families in a rapidly changing world that
places new and rising demands on all of us. We will help
families to realise their aspirations — whatever their
circumstances — and we recognise the huge contribution
older people make to society and to family life. The
Tories propose a marriage tax allowance that is divisive
and unfair, will neglect growing care needs among frail
elderly people and disabled adults, and prioritise only
the privileged few.
The next stage of national renewal
• More help for parents to balance work and family life,
with a ‘Father’s Month’ of flexible paid leave.
• A new Toddler Tax Credit of £4 a week from 2012 to give
more support to all parents of young children – whether
they want to stay at home or work.
• The right to request flexible working for older workers,
with an end to default retirement at 65, enabling more
people to decide for themselves how long they choose to
keep working.
• A new National Care Service to ensure free care in the
home for those with the greatest care needs and a cap
on the costs of residential care so that everyone’s homes
and savings are protected from care charges after two
years in a care home.
• A re-established link between the Basic State Pension
and earnings from 2012; and help for ten million
people to build up savings through new Personal Pension
Accounts.

Strong families are the bedrock
of our society. Secure and stable
relationships between parents,
their children, grandparents
and other family members are
the foundation on which strong

communities are built. Today,
parents have rising aspirations
for their children and greater
choice about how they lead
their family and working lives.

6:2

Our society is ageing as
many more of us live long
and fulfilling lives, active in
our communities as we enjoy
retirement. Retired people bring
great strengths to our society –
as carers for family members,
active grandparents, and pillars
of local civic life.
Substantial challenges still
remain. Today, tough financial
times are placing extra pressures
on families – adding to the daily
challenges many already face
in going out to work to earn
a decent income, look after a
home, and care for children or
older relatives. In many families
these pressures fall particularly
on mothers. And like every
industrialised country across the
world, we need to adjust to an
ageing society – where demand
for health provision will grow,
and where the need for care will
rise rapidly.
We need services that help
families manage these new
pressures without creating huge
additional costs. We need to
go further to secure fairness in
later life and ensure that those
who plan and save for their
retirement are rewarded for
doing so. The additional costs
and burdens of old age must not
fall disproportionately on those
who have made provision for
themselves and their families.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Families and older people

Strengthening family life
Children thrive best in families
in which relationships are
stable, loving and strong. We
support couples who want to get
married and for whom marriage
offers the best environment
to raise children. Marriage is
fundamental to our society,
but financial support should
be directed at all children, not
just those with married parents.
We reject proposals that would
skew resources to the wealthy, or
penalise loving and committed
adults who, for whatever reason,
are not married, and stigmatise
their children.
In today’s fast-changing world,
parents want to be confident
they have the information
and choices they need to
protect their children. We will
continue to promote internet
safety for children, building on
the recommendations of Dr
Tanya Byron’s review. We will
support parents who challenge
aggressive or sexualised
commercial marketing. We
will ask Consumer Focus to
develop a website for parents
to register their concerns about
sexualised products aimed at
their children.
We have established the Family
Justice Review to examine
reforms to the family justice
system making it more child-

focused and family-centred.
Parents who are clear their
relationship has broken down
and cannot be restored need
more help to reach agreement
about future arrangements early
on in the process, for the benefit
of their children.
No child left behind in
poverty
No child should have to grow
up in poverty. The current
pressures on the personal
finances of families make the
goal of ending child poverty
more urgent than ever. So we
will continue to make progress
towards our historic goal of
ending child poverty by 2020,
building on the 2010 Child
Poverty Act.
In the next Parliament, we will
focus on helping families into
jobs and out of poverty. Where
parents, especially mothers, want
to stay at home or work parttime we will do more to help
families with younger children,
reducing poverty in those vital
early years of a child’s life. We
will ensure that work always pays
for hard-working lone parents.
The child element of the Child
Tax Credit will be increased
by £4 a week for families with
children aged one and two from
2012, paid regardless of the
marital status of the parents –
a Toddler Tax Credit.

6:3

A better work-life balance
More than ever, families want
support in balancing the
pressures of work and home. To
help parents strike this balance
we will extend real choice to
parents over how they organise
their parental leave.
We have already increased
paid maternity leave to nine
months. We continue to believe
that one year’s paid leave in
the baby’s first year would
be of great benefit to parents
and their children. However,
in the current economic
circumstances, progress will
inevitably be tougher. So we
will introduce more flexibility
to the nine months’ paid leave
that mothers currently enjoy
– allowing them to share this
entitlement with fathers after a
minimum of six months.
We will introduce a new
Fathers’ Month, four weeks
of paid leave rather than the
current two. We will also work
with employers on how this can
be taken flexibly – for instance,
two weeks around the birth, and
the remaining two weeks taken
flexibly over the first year of the
baby’s life, including the option
of sharing these extra weeks
between parents. This will be
paid for as savings accrue from
housing benefit through our
reforms.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Families and older people

Our new agenda for families
must reflect the change in
working patterns that has
emerged over the last 20 years.
A high proportion of parents
no longer work the traditional
day, while increasing numbers
of families depend on part-time
work to manage their caring
and job responsibilities. Many
still struggle to find quality parttime jobs that use their skills, so
we will promote the creation of
more highly skilled, quality jobs
for parents who choose to work
more flexibly.
We created the right to request
flexible working for parents
and carers so that millions of
individuals and their families
could exercise more choice
about how to balance their
work and caring responsibilities.
But as the burden of caring
increases in our society we
need to go further. By the end
of the next Parliament we will
ensure that the right to flexible
working is extended for older
people, recognising that many,
including grandparents, want
to vary their hours to the
benefit of their families and
to accommodate changing
lifestyles. We will consult on the
age at which this right should
apply.

Helping older people who
want to work
Age discrimination in the
workplace has been banned.
As well as promoting flexible
working, we will now proceed
to end default retirement at 65,
with a review to establish the
right way in which to support
more people to work longer
should they choose to do so. To
expand the choices available
for those wishing to work after
retirement, we will enable
people aged 60 and over to
claim Working Tax Credit if
they work at least 16 hours a
week, rather than 30 hours as
at present.
A good quality of life in
older age
The vast majority of older
people are well and active,
helping to strengthen our
families, communities and
wider society. Many charities,
voluntary organisations and
schools value and rely on the
contribution of older people
and we support the growing
number of excellent initiatives
creating greater understanding
across the generations. We
will continue to support older
people in getting involved in
their community by providing
matched funding for community
projects.

6:4

Parents who are able to call
on grandparents to help
with childcare, or during
emergencies, know how
essential their support is to a
strong family life. Grandparents
who give up work to help care
for their grandchildren must
not lose out, so they will receive
National Insurance Credits
towards their state pension. We
will remove the requirement
on grandparents to apply for
the court’s permission before
making an application for
contact with their grandchildren
and we will ensure that
grandparents and other family
members are always given first
consideration for adoption or
fostering.
Better pensions for all,
tackling pensioner poverty
Our commitment to fairness
has put pensioner poverty
at the top of our agenda for
Britain. Older-age poverty has
been dramatically reduced
compared to a generation ago.
We recognise that it is right
that pensions should rise in line
with the nation’s wealth. So to
increase security in retirement,
we will restore the link between
the basic state pension and
earnings from 2012 – a link
broken by the Tories in 1980.
Pension credit, which ensures
that no pensioner need live on
less than £132.60 per week

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Families and older people

or £202.40 for couples, and
supports the income of 2.7
million pensioner households,
will also rise in line with
earnings. Six in ten pensioners
currently pay no income tax.
We will continue to provide help
to pensioners, with the Winter
Fuel Payments (maintained
this winter at £250 for those
over state retirement age and
£400 for those aged 80 or over);
concessionary public-transport
fares; free TV licences for the
over-75s; and free eye tests and
prescriptions.
Saving for pensions
As a country, we need to
save more for retirement –
individuals, employers, and
the Government will all need
to play their part. We will
support ten million low-and
middle-income people to build
up savings through automatic
enrolment in occupational
pensions and new Personal
Pension Accounts, ensuring that
everyone in work is entitled to
matched contributions from
employers and government.
We will continue to make
pension saving more attractive
for individuals through
favourable tax treatment. And
we will promote stakeholder
pensions offering simple, lowcost and flexible products,

obliging employers to provide
access to a pension for all
employees. We will continue to
protect pension schemes when
a firm’s company scheme goes
bust. We are also introducing
more flexibility to make it easier
for companies to run good
schemes.
Between now and 2020 the
State Pension Age for woman
will rise to 65; and between
2024 and 2046, it will rise to
68 for both men and women,
helping to keep state pensions
affordable in the long term.
The reforms we are making to
public-sector pensions will keep
them sustainable and affordable
over the long term.
The National Care Service
and an age-friendly NHS
The cornerstone of a fair future
is ensuring everyone who needs
care and support, whether
through old age or disability,
is properly looked after. We
will establish a new National
Care Service and forge a new
settlement for our country as
enduring as that which the
Labour Government built after
1945. It will be a new settlement
for all those who need care,
for the carers who devote their
time and energy for the good of
others, and for families across
the country. The care of both
older people and disabled adults

6:5

will be transformed; unfair
postcode lotteries removed;
more people will be looked after
at home; and family homes
and savings will be protected
from catastrophic care costs.
To provide independence and
control for everyone with a care
need we will continue to expand
the use of individual budgets.
And to drive up standards, we
will develop a skilled and highly
motivated workforce.
The first stage of reform will
be to create a step-change in
the provision of services in the
home and in our communities.
From 2011 we will protect more
than 400,000 of those with the
greatest needs from all charges
for care in the home, and we
will create a national physio
support service helping people
in every area of the country to
regain their independence and
confidence after a crisis or the
first time they need care. These
services are essential if we are to
ensure more people are looked
after in their homes and overall
costs are to be controlled. They
will be funded through savings
and efficiencies in the health
budget and in local government.
During the next Parliament,
the second stage of reform
will centre on the development
of national standards and
entitlements to ensure highquality care for all, and an end

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Families and older people

to the unfair postcode lotteries
that affect too many families.
We also want to remove the
fear that families will lose the
family home in order to pay
for care bills. So, from 2014,
the National Care Service will
cap the costs of residential care
so that everyone’s homes and
savings are protected from care
charges after two years. We
will pay for this through our
decision to freeze Inheritance
Tax Thresholds until 2014-15,
by supporting more people over
the State Pension Age to stay
in work if they so wish, and
through efficiencies across the
NHS and the care system.
The final stage of reform, after
2015, will be a comprehensive
National Care Service, free at
the point of use not just for
older people, but all adults with
an eligible care need whoever
they are, wherever they live and
whatever condition leads to
them needing care. At the start
of the next Parliament we will
establish a Commission to reach
a consensus on the right way
of financing this system. The
Commission will determine the
options which should be open
to individuals so that people
can have choice and flexibility
about how they pay and to
ensure that the National Care
Service is funded in a fair way.
The Commission will make
recommendations in time for

implementation of the third
stage of reform after 2015, once
these proposals have been put to
the public at a general election.
Across the NHS we will improve
and personalise care for the
elderly and their families. This
will mean more NHS services
available in the home, with
greater use of tele-care and
personal nursing; reform of
the GP contract to help ensure
those with late-life depression
and anxiety are diagnosed and
supported; and better services
for those with dementia and
Alzheimer’s so that every area
of the country has access
to psychological therapy,
counselling and memory clinics.
There will be an end to the agediscrimination that has too often
seen older people disadvantaged
in the provision of health
services.

6:6

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Creative Britain: active and flourishing communities

Communities and
creative Britain

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Communities and creative Britain

The challenge for Britain
To build on the renaissance that British sport, culture
and the arts have enjoyed in the last decade in the
new climate of financial restraint. The voluntary and
community sector has a new lease of life, but needs its
potential to be fully harnessed. The Tories have always
neglected the arts and sport, regarding them as an easy
target for cuts.
The next stage of national renewal
•	 A golden decade of sport with the 2012 Olympics as a
great national and world-wide celebration.
•	 Registered Supporters Trusts enabled to buy stakes in
their club bringing mutualism to the heart of football.
•	 Operational independence for major museums and
galleries, with more lottery funding returning to the
arts, sport and culture after 2012.
•	 Protection for the post offices and pubs on which
community life depends.
•	 The BBC’s independence upheld; and Britain
equipped with a world-leading digital and broadband
infrastructure.

The sporting, artistic and
cultural life of Britain is rich
and diverse, internationally
renowned, and as vital to our
quality of life as it is to our
national prosperity. Since
1997, our creative industries,
arts and sport have become
the envy of the world. As the
2012 Olympics draw near,
we will make the most of our
place in the world’s spotlight

to showcase Britain, getting
more people playing sport and
attracting more visitors to the
UK.
Culture and the arts are vital to
a modern economy. But they
stand for more than material
success, reminding us that
society is not just a marketplace.
Promoting well-being means
sustaining the community

7:2

institutions that we most
cherish, and protecting those
areas of our public life that
embody the common good.
2012: creating an
Olympic generation
Hosting the 2012 Olympics
provides a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to showcase our
country’s great sporting talent.
The eyes of the world will be
on us as Team GB inspires
enthusiasm and national
pride. Our aim is to achieve
outstanding medal success at
the Olympics and Paralympics,
with a talent development
system striving for excellence,
and successful British athletes
spanning all disciplines and
events.
The Games will deliver a
golden legacy for future
generations, ushering in a new
era of sporting excellence. The
Olympics are already inspiring
a new generation of British
volunteers: over a quarter of
a million young people have
signed up to help run the
Games.
We will ensure that the
Olympics are delivered on time
and on budget, to the highest
standards. Britain will be the
first Olympic hosts to create a
world-class sports system, from
elite level to the grass roots. The

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Communities and creative Britain

impact of the Olympics will
be felt throughout the country,
helping to boost the UK tourist
industry.
Sport for All
We approach 2012 with a
proud record. Investment in
sport has increased eightfold.
We have begun a renaissance of
competitive sport in our schools,
investing as never before in our
sporting facilities. Taking part in
sport uncovers talent, improves
physical fitness, and encourages
important social skills. We are
providing more resources to
give every child the opportunity
to do at least five hours’ sport
per week. This will be provided
through extended schools,
community sports clubs and
3,000 new Olympic-inspired
sports clubs. We will invest in a
new national network of school
sports coaches to increase
the quality and quantity of
coaching in some of the most
deprived areas.
This will be backed by a Pupil
Guarantee ensuring that every
pupil should have access to
regular competitive sport along
with coaching, a choice of
different sports, and pathways
to elite and club development.
We will continue our investment
in free swimming for children
and the over-60s. People
of all ages and abilities can

apply to join one of the tens
of thousands of sports clubs
receiving public funding. And
there are over half a million
more adults taking part in
regular sporting activity than a
decade ago.
Protecting the integrity of
professional sport is vital:
we will toughen measures
to combat cheating and the
use of illegal substances in
sport. We will work with
governing authorities to
ensure that professional
clubs are accountable to
their stakeholders, and run
transparently on sound
financial principles, with
greater involvement of
local communities and
supporter representation.
Sports governing bodies will
be empowered to scrutinise
takeovers of clubs, ensuring
they are in the long-term
interests of the club and the
sport. We will develop proposals
to enable registered Supporters
Trusts to buy stakes in their
club.
The 2010s promise to be a
golden decade for British sport:
as well as the 2012 Olympics,
we will host the 2013 Rugby
League World Cup, the 2014
Commonwealth Games, and
the 2015 Rugby Union World
Cup. We aim to bring more
major international sporting

7:3

competitions to Britain,
beginning with our current
partnership with the English FA
to bring the 2018 World Cup to
England.
Arts, culture and museums
We have made unprecedented
investment in Britain’s cultural
life, widening access by
introducing free admission to
museums and galleries. Every
child and young person should
be entitled to five hours of art,
music and culture per week,
through learning to play a
musical instrument, visiting
local museums and joining film
clubs, or taking part in local
theatre. Through Creative
Partnerships we are ensuring
that young people in the most
deprived parts of the country
are able to fulfil their artistic
talents by working with local
arts and cultural organisations.
We have provided the first
nationwide programme of free
theatre to young people; now
we will build on the success
of the National Theatre’s
£10 Season to work with
theatres and sponsors to
provide reduced-rate tickets for
theatrical productions around
Britain. Our national cultural
life and creative industries can
prosper only by developing
young artistic talent. Creative
Bursaries will support the most

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Communities and creative Britain

artistically gifted young people
in their early professional
careers.
So that our cultural facilities
remain world-class, charities,
businesses and cultural
organisations must collaborate
more closely in the future. We
will review how incentives for
philanthropic support can
be strengthened. Our major
museums and galleries should
be operationally independent of
government, so we will legislate
to ensure their managerial and
financial autonomy.
We will maintain our
commitment to free admissions,
encouraging people of all
ages and a wide range of
backgrounds to visit. Every
child will have lifetime library
membership from birth.
Britain is enriched by its
unique historical heritage.
We will review the structures
that oversee English Heritage,
putting mutual principles at
the heart of its governance so
that people can have a direct
say over the protection and
maintenance of Britain’s built
historical legacy.
We will give public institutions
new rights to borrow works of
art from the national collection,
so that more people can benefit
from access to our national
artistic heritage.

National Lottery funding is
more in tune with people’s
priorities than ever. We
will promote greater public
involvement in the way that
National Lottery proceeds
are spent on good causes. A
proportion of Lottery funding
is going to the Olympics. After
2012, this proportion will return
to culture, heritage and sport.
Improving your community
The nature of the places
in which we live matters
enormously. We are happier,
more engaged and better able
to enjoy family life where there
are safe and welcoming public
spaces, good local amenities
and buildings in which we can
take pride.
Britain’s towns and cities have
undergone a renaissance in the
last decade. Our great cities
have been rebuilt and revitalised
and dilapidated schools and
hospitals replaced with modern
buildings. We will continue
to promote excellence in
architecture and design, helping
to foster civic pride and build
world-class places in which
people want to live and work.
We have introduced new design
standards for schools, to ensure
the very best architecture and
building design; we will extend

7:4

these to all new governmentfunded building programmes.
Protecting community life
Strong community life also
depends on protecting the
places in which people come
together. To give families access
to good recreational facilities,
we are investing £235 million
to create new or refurbished
play spaces and adventure
playgrounds. We will protect
the Post Office network, so that
it can fulfil its historic role as a
trusted institution serving the
community.
The local pub and social club
are also hubs of community
life. Too many pubs have closed
that could have been sustained
by local people. We will support
pubs that have a viable future
with a new fund for community
ownership in 2010-11. Councils
must take full account of the
importance of pubs to the local
community when assessing
proposals that change their
use, and we will make it more
difficult to demolish pubs.
Restrictive covenants applied by
pub companies to property sales
will be curbed and flexibility for
pubs to provide related services
promoted, making it easier
to have live entertainment
without a licence. A non-tie
option should be available for
pub tenants; we will act if the

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Communities and creative Britain

industry fails to make progress
on this.

community – helping more to
get off the ground.

To protect the character of
their areas, local authorities
now have greater powers to
reject applications for lapdancing clubs and we will
give councils new powers to
oppose gambling licences if
there are too many betting
shops operating in a high street.
The ‘cleaner neighbourhoods’
legislation will be used to clamp
down on litter, fly-tipping and
vandalism. We will extend the
use of participatory budgeting
to give local people a stronger
say. Community Land Trusts
enable local people to purchase
and run local amenities and
assets in their area such as
youth facilities, parks and open
spaces. We will promote the
transfer of buildings and land
to the ownership or control
of voluntary and community
groups.

We will extend the right
of public-sector workers
to request that they deliver
frontline services through a
social enterprise. Public-sector
workers in the NHS currently
enjoy this right. We will extend
this to more public services,
including social care, with
greater community involvement
in their governance.

Supporting social
enterprise
The Social Investment Bank
will make additional capital
available to social enterprises
with an initial endowment of
£75 million funded by dormant
accounts alongside existing
funding streams. We will
promote the creation of more
social enterprise hubs in every

The new mutualism
There is growing interest
in co-operative and mutual
organisations that people trust,
and that have the capacity
to unleash creativity and
innovation, creating new jobs
and services – particularly in
disadvantaged neighbourhoods
where traditional approaches
have failed in the past. We
want to see more local
organisations run on cooperative principles with an
expansion of Community
Interest Companies and thirdsector mutual organisations
that reinvest profits for the
public good. We will promote
this through the Co-operative
Party, Business Link, enterprise
education and the Regional
Development Agencies. To give
more people a stake in a highly
valued national asset, British
Waterways will be turned into

7:5

a mutually owned co-operative.
We will promote the use of
community shares that support
investment in football clubs,
pubs, renewable energy and
shops.
A vibrant voluntary sector
Britain has among the highest
levels of voluntary membership
in the world. We strongly
value the independence
of the voluntary and
community sector, including its
campaigning role, and will act
to maintain it. There will be
greater support for third-sector
organisations in competing for
public-sector contracts, ensuring
there is a level playing field with
the public and private sectors.
We will consult on putting the
Compact Commission – which
sets guidelines for effective
partnership working between
government and the third sector
in Britain – on a statutory
footing, and ensure greater
support for the Compact at
local level.
All young people should be
active and engaged in their
communities, so that it becomes
a normal part of growing up
to undertake service in the
community. We are taking
forward plans for a National
Youth Community Service, with
the goal that all young people
contribute at least 50 hours to

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Communities and creative Britain

their communities by the age
of 19, building on citizenship
education and community
engagement in schools.
Faith is enormously important
to millions of people in Britain,
shaping their values and the
way they live. We respect the
importance of belief and
welcome the contribution that
people of faith make to our
communities and society more
widely. We will actively combat
extremist groups who promote
fear, hatred and violence on the
basis of faith or race.
Britain’s creative
industries
In every nation and region of
Britain a wealth of creative
talent – in industries ranging
from film to fashion, design and
video games – has flourished,
and creative industries now
account for ten per cent of the
national economy.
The strength of Britain’s film
industry is a source of pride.
Through Labour’s film tax
credit we have ensured that
Britain – with its unique range
of skills and facilities – is the
right place to invest in film
production. So that films can
be enjoyed more widely too,
we will maintain the film tax
credit and create a merged
British Film Institute and UK

Film Council to establish a
single body to promote film
production and film heritage.
Subject to state aid clearance,
we will introduce a tax relief for
the UK video games industry.
We will support film festivals
around the country, and
establish a new biennial Festival
of Britain, beginning in 2013,
showcasing our major cultural
achievements and young British
talent across all of our creative
industries.
The BBC is the most admired
and trusted broadcaster in the
world: respected internationally
for its objectivity and its creative
excellence, and here in Britain
as a pillar of our cultural life.
We support an independent and
world-class BBC at the heart of
a vibrant public broadcasting
system. Our strong support for
its editorial independence and
the licence fee that finances
the BBC’s programmes and
activities will continue. The
BBC Trust should fully involve
the public in decision-making.
The licence-fee is guaranteed
for the ten-year Royal Charter
that took effect on 1 January
2007.
Channel 4 will continue as
a public-service broadcaster
providing distinctive
competition to the BBC,
alongside ITV and Channel
5. We are committed to

7:6

maintaining plurality in
regional news provision. We
will fund three regional news
programme pilots from the
digital switchover under-spend
in the current licence-fee
period.
The digital revolution is
transforming the world of
broadcasting. We are working
with the BBC and Digital
UK to ensure that TV’s
digital switch-over takes place
smoothly by 2012, providing
financial support and helping
elderly people and the most
vulnerable households in the
UK. To ensure we preserve
competition and protect
children and consumers on the
Internet, we will safeguard the
independence of Ofcom.
We are extending broadband
access to every business and
home, ensuring universal access
within a decade to high-speed
broadband across the country.
We will update the intellectual
property framework that is
crucial to the creative industries
– and take further action to
tackle online piracy.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A green future for Britain

A green recovery

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Green recovery

The challenge for Britain
To be on track for the transition to a low-carbon
economy in a way that is fair, secure and helps create
the jobs of the future, as we protect and enhance our
natural environment and quality of life. For the Tories
the environment has been all about image — by failing
to deliver on our renewable energy targets, reversing
our planning reforms and giving up on our new
industrial strategy, they would put Labour’s low-carbon
revolution in jeopardy.
The next stage of national renewal
•	 Achieve around 40 per cent low-carbon electricity by
2020 and create 400,000 new green jobs by 2015.
•	 Make greener living easier and fairer through ‘pay as
you save’ home energy insulation, energy-bill discounts
for pensioners and requiring landlords to properly
insulate rented homes.
•	 Move towards a ‘zero waste’ Britain, banning
recyclable and biodegradable materials from landfill.
•	 Link together new protected areas of habitat; maintain
the Green Belt; increase forest and woodland areas.
•	 Ensure fairness for food producers through EU reform
and a Supermarkets Ombudsman; and support post
offices, shops and pubs in rural communities.
Britain is a transition
economy: from high carbon
to low carbon. To avert the
catastrophe of unchecked
climate change we have begun
the shift to a different kind of
economic future. Our vision is
of a society where economic
prosperity and quality of life
come not from exploiting the
natural world but from its
defence.

This is a huge challenge,
not just for Britain but for
the world. Living within our
environmental means will
require a dramatic shift using
resources more efficiently and
reducing waste. We will need
to find new ways of balancing
the multiple uses of land:
safeguarding food security at
the same time as enriching our
natural environment; protecting

8:2

distinctive landscapes while
enabling environmentally
sensitive development.
Labour’s environmental agenda
reflects our values. Only active
government can shape markets
to prioritise green growth and
job creation. Environmental
sustainability cannot be left to
individuals and businesses acting
alone. We believe that people
have the right to a healthy
environment. That means giving
everyone access to the beauty
and amenity of natural places;
we want to make it easier to live
in a sustainable way whatever
your standard of living.
We believe in local community
action – enabling both elected
councils and community and
social enterprises to provide
environmental benefits to local
people. We are internationalists
too: only co-operative global
action – including a strong
European Union – can tackle
climate change and protect the
world’s precious environments.
Towards a green economy
We have established low-carbon
policy as one of the principal
engines of our economic
recovery and future growth.
Our aim is to create 400,000
new green jobs by 2015.
The foundation of Labour’s
approach has been leadership

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Green recovery

on climate change. The 2008
Climate Change Act made
Britain the first country in the
world to put its carbon targets
into law.
Internationally, we will continue
to work for an ambitious, fair
and legally binding climate
change agreement, building
on the Copenhagen Accord to
limit global temperature rises
to two degrees Celsius. In the
next Parliament, we will use our
leadership in the EU to push
for a strengthening of Europe’s
2020 emission reductions from
20 to 30 per cent by 2020 as
part of an ambitious global
deal. This would mean the UK
increasing its current target
of a 34 per cent reduction. As
part of the negotiations, we
believe Europe should agree
a second Kyoto commitment
period, provided all countries
are brought within a clear legal
framework.
Developing countries need help
to adapt, reduce deforestation
and emissions. From 2013 we
will provide climate assistance
additional to our commitment
to provide 0.7 per cent of
national income in overseas aid.
No more than ten per cent of
our aid will be counted towards
climate finance.

Clean energy
This Government is
revolutionising Britain’s energy
policy. We are building a clean
energy system which will
reduce Britain’s dependence
on imported oil and gas and
increase our energy security.
We are planning for around
40 per cent of our electricity to
come from low-carbon sources
by 2020 – renewables, nuclear
and clean fossil fuels. A major
drive for energy efficiency
will be enhanced by a ‘smart
grid’ using new information
technologies.
We are committed to meeting
15 per cent of our energy
demand from renewables by
2020. We already have more
offshore wind-power than any
other country in the world, and
our plans could see this increase
up to 40 times, alongside other
renewable technologies such
as tidal and marine, solar and
sustainable bio-energy. We
will make a decision early in
the next Parliament on the
feasibility of alternative options
for a tidal energy project on the
Severn, taking full account of
the environmental impacts.
We have taken the decisions
to enable a new generation of
nuclear power stations, and a
programme of four clean coal
plants with carbon capture

8:3

and storage technology with a
levy to fund them. We are the
only Government in the world
to have banned new unabated
coal-fired power stations.
To secure this investment –
likely to be worth around £150
billion over the next decade –
we have reformed the planning
system to reduce delays for
major infrastructure. We will
now reform the regulatory
system to provide the certainty
that investors need, and create a
Green Investment Bank to help
finance this transformation.
In stimulating the sustainable
use of resources, we will
move towards a ‘zero waste’
Britain, banning recyclable
and biodegradable materials
from landfill and continuing the
move towards universal water
metering in areas of water stress.
Our industrial strategy will
ensure that the drive to green
our economy will create jobs
and businesses in Britain in the
manufacture and installation of
low-carbon and environmental
technologies.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Green recovery

Making green living easier
and fairer
Everyone can play their part in
reducing carbon emissions and
protecting the environment.
Through our requirement that
energy companies provide
subsidies for insulation, we will
ensure that all household lofts
and cavity walls are insulated,
where practical, by 2015. By
2020 every home will have a
smart meter to help control
energy use and enable cheaper
tariffs; and we will enable seven
million homes to have a fuller
‘eco-upgrade’.
We will legislate to introduce
‘Pay As You Save’ financing
schemes under which homeenergy improvements can
be paid for from the savings
they generate on energy bills.
Already with our new ‘feedin tariffs’ and incentive for
renewable heat, households
fitting micro-generation
technologies such as solar
can earn financial rewards
from the energy they generate
themselves.
Labour is determined to end
fuel poverty and create a fair
energy system for all. We
will introduce a new Warm
Home Standard for social
housing and regulate landlords
so that privately rented
accommodation is properly

insulated. We have legislated for
compulsory contributions from
energy companies to protect the
vulnerable.

the introduction of ‘recycling
on the go’, with separated
public bins on the street and in
shopping centres.

To deliver the fairest deal for
consumers, we will ensure
greater competition in the
energy supply market. And we
will review the role of the water
regulator, Ofwat, to ensure
customers get the best deal and
their voice is heard in pricesetting.

We have championed the
increasing desire of many
to grow their own food,
encouraging local authorities
to provide more allotments
and getting kids to learn about
growing food in school. We
will work with community
organisations to make it easier
to find and use sites for ‘grow
your own’ schemes.

Encouraging greener living is
about communities, not just
individuals. We will devolve
power to local councils to hold
energy companies to account
for community energy efficiency
programmes, and give them
powers to develop local energy
systems such as renewables
and district heating. We want
local people to have a stake
in local renewable energy
projects such as wind farms.
So we will support community
organisations, co-ops and social
enterprises to provide energy
services, meaning lower prices
through bulk purchasing, and
the development of small-scale
renewables.
We have made it far easier
for everyone to recycle. From
nine per cent when we came
to office, now 37 per cent of
municipal waste is recycled or
composted. Next we will drive

8:4

Valuing nature for
everyone
For millions of people the
British countryside, and the
parks and commons of our
towns and cities, provide solace
from the pressures of modern
life. The riches of Britain’s
biodiversity – our native species,
both rare and commonplace –
depend on them.
We are committed not only to
protecting but also to enhancing
our natural environment, and
enabling it to be enjoyed by all.
The area of Green Belt has
increased over the last decade –
and we intend to sustain it. We
will maintain the target that 60
per cent of new development
should be on brownfield land.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Green recovery

We have created two National
Parks in the New Forest and
South Downs, and given the
public a Right to Roam our
mountains, moors and heaths.
We will now extend this to the
whole English coastline.
Competing pressures – from
greater food production to
housing and natural flood
defences – are making the
management of land resources
ever more challenging. We will
introduce a new framework
for managing our land that
can more effectively reconcile
these pressures. We will put
forward new areas for protected
landscape and habitat status,
focusing on green corridors
and wildlife networks to link
up existing sites. And we will
commit to increasing the
area covered by forest and
woodland.
Our air, rivers and beaches are
now the cleanest they have been
since the height of the industrial
revolution. We will continue
to ensure progress. Having
doubled spending on flood
defence over the last decade we
will bring forward legislation
to improve floods and water
management.
We have banned foxhunting
and animal testing for cosmetics
and tobacco, and we will bring
forward further animal welfare

measures. We will campaign
internationally to end illegal
trading in ivory and to protect
species such as polar bears, seals
and bluefin tuna, as well as for an
EU-wide ban on illegally logged
timber, banning it domestically if
this does not succeed.
Sustainable farming,
healthy food
We want British farming to be
profitable and competitive. We
need our farmers to produce
more food, nurturing our
countryside and biodiversity.
We will continue to seek reform
of the Common Agriculture
Policy (CAP) to facilitate the
creation of fairer and betterfunctioning agricultural
markets, enabling farmers to
return a reasonable profit from
food production at lower cost to
the consumer.
In order to protect farmers
and food suppliers from unfair
and uncompetitive practices by
major retailers, we will create
a Supermarket Ombudsman.
Consumers have the right to
know where food comes from.
We are working with the food
industry and retailers to ensure
proper food labelling, including
tougher and clearer ‘country of
origin’ information. This will
also help to level the playing
field for British farmers.

8:5

An economically viable and
environmentally sustainable
fishing industry is vital for our
coastal communities. We will
push for fundamental reform
of the EU Common Fisheries
Policy.
Thriving rural communities
Those who live in rural
areas are entitled to excellent
amenities and services, as are
those who live in towns and
cities. Rural communities
face unique challenges. We
are committed to continued
investment in frontline services
in rural areas.
Already £3.9 billion is being
spent on support for the rural
economy and we will continue
to provide specific support
to rural businesses. We are
building 10,000 homes in
rural areas up to 2011. We are
protecting rural bus services
and making it more difficult for
rural schools to be closed.
Rural businesses and
communities must have the
broadband connections they
need. We are committed to
universal broadband access,
irrespective of location. The
levy on fixed phone lines will
pay for expansion of fast
broadband connections to rural
areas.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Green recovery

Rural villages should never be
left without essential services.
Councils now have to ensure
that the importance of local
services to the community
is taken into account before
granting planning permission
to change their use, and we will
strengthen this to protect viable
shops, pubs and community
facilities. We will continue
to encourage and support
imaginative solutions in rural
communities to the provision of
locally owned services.

8:6

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A new politics: renewing our democracy
and rebuilding trust

Democratic reform

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Democratic reform

The challenge for Britain
To forge a new constitutional and political settlement
in Britain so that we restore trust in politics, and our
political institutions are properly held to account by
the people. The Tories oppose any real reform of the
political system that has let the public down. Their
policies would result in a postcode lottery based on
‘free-for-all’ localism rather than genuine empowerment
and a future fair for all.
The next stage of national renewal
•	 Referenda, held on the same day, for moving to the
Alternative Vote for elections to the House of Commons
and to a democratic and accountable Second Chamber.
•	 Improved citizenship education for young people
followed by a free vote in Parliament on reducing the
voting age to 16.
•	 Legislation to ensure Parliaments sit for a fixed term
and an All Party Commission to chart a course to a
Written Constitution.
•	 A statutory register of lobbyists, with MPs banned
from working for lobbying companies and required to
seek approval for paid outside appointments.
•	 Stronger local government, with increased local
democratic scrutiny over all local public services.

We face a deep crisis of
trust in politics following the
parliamentary expenses scandal.
Faith in our political institutions
was seriously eroded by the
abuses of the expenses system.
Only radical change can begin
to renew our democracy.

Cleaning up politics
We acted swiftly to clean
up politics by creating an
Independent Parliamentary
Standards Authority (IPSA) to
set pay and pensions for MPs,
as well as their allowances. And
we will take further measures
to restore trust in our politics.

9:2

MPs who are found responsible
for financial misconduct will
be subject to a right of recall if
Parliament itself has failed to
act against them. The House
of Lords and the new Second
Chamber will be brought
under the aegis of IPSA.
We will create a Statutory
Register of Lobbyists to ensure
complete transparency in their
activities. We will ban MPs from
working for generic lobbying
companies and require those
who want to take up paid
outside appointments to seek
approval from an independent
body to avoid jobs that conflict
with their responsibilities to the
public.
But this is only the start.
People want a greater say in
how the country is governed
and for politicians to be more
accountable to those they serve.
So while we are proud of our
record of devolving power and
reforming the constitution, we
believe that further and more
radical reform is imperative if
we are to renew our democratic
public life. Britain needs a new
constitutional and political
settlement for a new era.
A new politics
To begin the task of building
a new politics, we will let
the British people decide on
whether to make Parliament

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Democratic reform

more democratic and
accountable in referenda
on reform of the House of
Commons and House of Lords,
to be held on the same day, by
October 2011.
To ensure that every MP is
supported by the majority of
their constituents voting at
each election, we will hold a
referendum on introducing the
Alternative Vote for elections to
the House of Commons.
We will ensure that the
hereditary principle is removed
from the House of Lords.
Further democratic reform to
create a fully elected Second
Chamber will then be achieved
in stages. At the end of the next
Parliament one third of the
House of Lords will be elected;
a further one third of members
will be elected at the general
election after that. Until the
final stage, the representation of
all groups should be maintained
in equal proportions to now.
We will consult widely on these
proposals, and on an open-list
proportional representation
electoral system for the Second
Chamber, before putting them
to the people in a referendum.

to chart a course to a Written
Constitution. We are proud to
have brought in the Human
Rights Act, enabling British
citizens to take action in British
courts rather than having to
wait years to seek redress in
Strasbourg. We will not repeal
or resile from it.
Our society rightly demands
respect from young people. At
the same time, society should
respect young people’s views
and aspirations. The success
of elections for local Youth
Mayors and the UK Youth
Parliament strengthens the
case for reducing the voting
age to 16, a change to which
Labour is committed. However,
we believe that prior to this
happening, we need further to
improve citizenship education
in schools so that young people
are better prepared for their
democratic responsibilities; a
report will be commissioned
on how best to achieve this so
that we can raise standards
in citizenship education,
before providing a free vote
in Parliament on reducing the
voting age to 16, for which we
will make government time
available.

To further strengthen our
democracy and renew our
constitution, we will legislate for
Fixed Term Parliaments and
set up an All Party Commission

Stronger accountability
A new politics also means
strengthening the power of
Parliament to hold the executive
to account. We have supported
changes to how Parliament
functions in order to strengthen
Select Committees and to give a
stronger voice to backbenchers.
The public will be given a new
right to petition the House of
Commons to trigger debates
on issues of significant public
concern. Parliament must better
reflect the diversity of modern
Britain. Labour already has a
higher proportion of female
and black and ethnic minority
MPs than any other party. We
will take forward the proposals
of the recent Speaker’s
Conference so that the House
of Commons properly reflects
the diversity of modern Britain.
We strongly support measures
that improve the transparency
of parliamentary institutions
and government, and want
to see this principle extended
throughout public life. To
encourage freedom of speech
and access to information,
we will bring forward new
legislation on libel to protect
the right of defendants to speak
freely.
The cost of politics to the
taxpayer must be minimised,
but we reject using this as

9:3

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Democratic reform

an excuse to gerrymander
constituency boundaries in the
interests of one political party.
We will establish a non-partisan
Parliamentary Boundaries
Review to examine the rules
for constructing parliamentary
constituencies. We have
already legislated to enable the
individual registration of voters.
We will now act, legislating
further if necessary, to end the
unacceptable situation where
three million eligible voters
cannot vote because they are
not registered to do so.
We believe that the funding
of political parties must be
reformed if the public is to
regain trust in politics. Our
starting point should be the
Hayden Phillips proposals
of 2008. We will seek to
reopen discussions on partyfunding reform, with a clear
understanding that any changes
should only be made on the
basis of cross-party agreement
and widespread public support.
Devolving power
The new politics also means
radical change to local public
services. Our goal is for much
greater local flexibility and
responsiveness, so that services
are shaped around the personal
needs of citizens, not the silos
of government departments.
Greater accountability –

with public services built
around users, scrutinised
by democratically elected
local councils, and with clear
rights of redress for citizens
– will strengthen support for
collectively provided services,
while driving efficiency and
effectiveness in expenditure.
Local government and its
partners in public services
are already pooling budgets
across localities. Our radical
Total Place agenda will take
this further, giving local areas
additional freedom to achieve
better services and more
savings, cutting bureaucracy
and management costs, while
placing a greater on early
intervention. Ring-fenced
budgets, central targets and
indicators will be cut back.
Local government is at the
forefront of tackling the major
challenges our society faces,
from climate change to ageing.
Increasingly, councils are the
motors of economic growth
and regeneration, particularly
in our great cities. We will
give local government new
powers to lead in the provision
and financing of social and
affordable housing, tackle
climate change and work with
the NHS in our new National
Care Service.

9:4

These reforms provide the
foundations for fundamental
change. In contrast to ‘no frills’
councils that charge twice for all
but the most basic services, we
believe that local government
must further empower residents
to hold it to account and deliver
better, more personalised
services. Alongside enhanced
scrutiny powers for councillors,
we are introducing petitioning
powers for local residents to
demand action, and extending
neighbourhood agreements
where citizens set out the
standards of services they
expect locally.
We will also extend the powers
available to our major cityregions, building upon the
pioneering arrangements in
Greater Manchester, Leeds
and Birmingham. Cityregions will be able to gain
additional powers to improve
transport, skills and economic
development and acquire
greater borrowing flexibility.
Where new city-region
authorities are created, we will
give residents the opportunity to
trigger a referendum for directly
electing a Mayor, with Londonstyle powers. More towns
should be encouraged to apply
for city status and have the
chance to acquire it in future
competitions.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Democratic reform

Our towns and cities need
modern, sustainable transport
infrastructure. We will support
tram schemes into the major
cities, including upgrades to
the Manchester, Nottingham,
Birmingham and Tyne & Wear
light-rail systems, a modern
trolley bus in Leeds, and more
Oyster-style electronic ticketing
promoting cheap and easy
interchange between public
transport in cities.
We recognise that buses are
a lifeline, having doubled
investment since 1997. We will
provide punctuality data on all
bus routes so passengers can
hold services to account. We
want greater use of Londonstyle powers to regulate bus
routes where local bus services
are not serving communities
well, and we will work with the
Competition Commission to
ensure that the bus companies
do not make excess profits at
the expense of passengers.
We have increased funding
for local government by 45
per cent in real terms since
1997. Through tough capping
powers and efficiencies, this
year we have seen the lowest
Council Tax rises on record
and we expect them to stay
low. Excessive rises will be
capped. We will not hold a
Council Tax revaluation in
the next Parliament and we

will establish a cross-party
commission to review the future
of local government finance to
ensure it is meeting our goals
of accountability, equity and
efficiency across the country.

on them by public agencies,
so that people can use and
control their own personal
data in their interaction with
service providers and the wider
community.

Public services in the
digital age

Opening up government –
central and local – in this way
offers huge potential for Britain.
We can use new technologies
to give people a say on policymaking; enable citizens to carry
out more of their dealings with
government online; and save
money for taxpayers as we
switch services over to digitalonly delivery.

Citizens expect their public
services to be transparent,
interactive and easily accessible.
We will open up government,
embedding access to
information and data into the
very fabric of public services.
Citizens should be able to
compare local services, demand
improvements, choose between
providers, and hold government
to account.
We have led the world with
the creation of data.gov.uk,
putting over 3,000 government
datasets online. Entrepreneurs
and developers have used
these datasets to unleash
social innovation, creating
applications and websites for
citizens from local crime maps
to new guides to help find
good care homes or GPs. We
will now publish a Domesday
Book of all non-personal
datasets held by government
and its agencies, with a default
assumption that these will
be made public. We will
explore how to give citizens
direct access to the data held

9:5

Digital government also
demands digital inclusion. So
we will build on our network
of UK Online centres and
public libraries to spread free
internet access points within the
community, and develop new
incentives for users to switch to
online services.
Protecting the UK and
supporting the Union
Devolution has strengthened
the UK, preserving the
union on the basis of a fairer
partnership. The UK is strong
enough and flexible enough to
devolve power while retaining
the benefits of staying together.
The Scottish Parliament and
the Welsh Assembly have put

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Democratic reform

more power in the hands of
local people. All the evidence
is that devolution works, and
is popular. We will implement
the recommendations of
the Calman Commission,
including giving the Scottish
Parliament additional taxraising powers, and seek ways
to build consensus behind these
changes.

marriage to Roman Catholics
and the primacy of male
members of the Royal family.
However, any reform would
need the agreement of all the
Commonwealth countries
of which the Queen is the
Sovereign.

In Wales, we will work with the
Welsh Assembly Government
on a referendum to enhance
the powers to make laws
affecting Wales in Wales;
and to ensure that Wales
is not disproportionately
disadvantaged by the
application of the central
government funding formula.
For the first time, Northern
Ireland can look forward to a
stable and prosperous future
as a result of the Good Friday,
St Andrews and Hillsborough
Agreements. Supported by
unprecedented public funding,
we will continue to invest in
the institutions of devolution,
so that the Unionist and
Republican traditions can work
together for all the people of
Northern Ireland.
Our constitutional monarchy
is the source of deep pride and
strength for our country. We
believe that there is a case for
reform of the laws concerning

9:6

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
Meeting the challenges of the new global age

A global future

labour.org.uk/manifesto

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A global future

The challenge for Britain
To harness our strengths and values, as we develop
Britain’s world role in a global era, using our alliances
and networks in order to promote security, economic
prosperity, development and to safeguard the
environment. The contrast with the Tory view could not
be starker: they are stuck in the past, spurning alliances
in Europe and helpless to defend our interests or secure
the global change we need.
The next stage of national renewal
• Conduct a Strategic Defence Review to equip our Armed
Forces for 21st Century challenges, and support our
troops and veterans.
• Use our international reach to build security and
stability – combating terrorism and extremism, curbing
proliferation, preventing and resolving conflict, and
tackling climate change.
• Lead the agenda for an outward-facing European Union
that delivers jobs, prosperity and global influence.
• Re-energise the drive to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, supporting sustainable growth and
combating poverty.
• Reform the UN, International Financial Institutions,
the G8 and G20, and NATO to adapt to the new global
challenges.
Afghanistan: our
commitment
There is no greater
responsibility than to commit
our troops into action. That is
why we take our responsibilities
in Afghanistan and to our
Armed Forces so seriously.
A stable Afghanistan and a

stable Pakistan means a safer
Britain: if Afghanistan fell to
the Taleban, Al Qaeda could
regroup, and Pakistan’s stability
and our national security would
be threatened.
Our Armed Forces are serving
with incredible courage and
skill alongside representatives

10:2

of more than 40 other nations.
They are a credit to the
country and an example to
the world. We have met every
request for extra equipment
for Afghanistan: in the last
four years we have doubled the
number of helicopters, and
spent £1.7 billion on 1,800 new
vehicles – including the Mastiff,
brought into service in record
time and saving lives with
world-leading protection against
mines and roadside bombs.
Our forces are working to
a clear strategy – to protect
the Afghan people and train
Afghan security forces. The
London conference in January
2010 agreed there should be
300,000 Afghan Army and
Police by the end of 2011,
with British forces and other
countries shifting more of their
effort into training to begin
the process of handing over
responsibility for districts and
provinces to Afghan forces later
this year.
Afghanistan is not a war
without end. Together the
military and civilian effort
is designed to create the
conditions for a political
settlement that keeps Al Qaeda
out, reconciles tribal interests,
and involves Afghanistan’s
neighbours. It will lock in the
long-term gains delivered by
our aid programme since 2002

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A global future

– with millions more children,
especially girls, going to school,
big reductions in child mortality,
and better access to basic
healthcare. It requires stronger
local administration and less
corruption, combined with a
way back for former fighters
who are prepared to renounce
links to Al Qaeda and abide by
the Afghan constitution.
Strengthening our Armed
Forces and national
security
The first duty of government
is to protect the security of
its citizens. We have created
Britain’s first ever National
Security Strategy to strengthen
our response to fast-moving
and interconnected threats,
from terrorism and nuclear
proliferation to new challenges
like cybersecurity. We have
trebled investment in counterterrorism at home, combined
with multilateral action against
terrorism and extremism
abroad, not just in the AfghanPakistan border areas – still the
main source of the threat – but
also in Yemen and Somalia.
Our commitment to defence
is non-negotiable. Defence
spending has increased by ten
per cent in real terms since
1997. Funding for Iraq and
Afghanistan is additional to
that, with the Treasury Reserve

providing £18 billion in total so
far and an estimated £5 billion
in the next year.
Despite this continued
investment, acute cost pressures
remain in long-term defence
projects. We are reforming
defence procurement, making
further reductions in civilian
staff, and cutting lower-priority
spending on headquarters costs,
travel and consultancy.
A Strategic Defence Review
will look at all areas of defence,
but we will maintain our
independent nuclear deterrent.
We will fight for multilateral
disarmament, working for a
world free of nuclear weapons,
in the Non Proliferation Treaty
Review conference and beyond
– combining support for civilian
nuclear energy with concerted
action against proliferation.
We are committed to a strong
Navy based on the new aircraft
carriers, an Air Force with two
state-of-the-art fast-jet fleets as
well as additional helicopters,
transport planes and unmanned
drones, and a strong, high-tech
Army, vastly better equipped
than it was in 1997.
The growth in the core defence
budget has also enabled us
to guarantee fair pay for all
our forces, including the first
ever tax-free bonus for those

10:3

on operations abroad, while
strengthening our support for
their welfare. Service families
can now retain their place on
NHS waiting lists when they are
deployed to another part of the
country. Further education is
free for those leaving the forces
with six years’ service or more.
We have invested hundreds of
millions of pounds to reverse
a legacy of decades of neglect
of forces’ accommodation,
and we are helping service
personnel get onto the housing
ladder. Homelessness among
service leavers has been sharply
reduced, and the law changed
to give them better access to
social housing.
The new Queen Elizabeth
Hospital in Birmingham will
have a military-run ward
and the largest single-floor
critical care unit in the world.
Headley Court and the new
Army Recovery Capability will
continue to offer world-leading
support to those rehabilitating
after serious injury. We
have doubled the lump-sum
payments for the most seriously
injured to £570,000, and
increased the lifetime-income
payments by up to a third.
As a sign of our continued
commitment to the military
community, we will introduce
a Forces Charter to enshrine

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A global future

in law the rights of forces,
their families, and Veterans.
A Veterans ID card will help
Veterans access their improved
benefits and will be free to
service leavers. We will continue
to strengthen mental health
provision in partnership with
the Combat Stress charity, and
roll out our Welfare Pathway to
give personnel and their families
better support and advice.
A strong Britain in a
reformed Europe
We are proud that Britain is
once again a leading player
in Europe. Our belief is that
Britain is stronger in the world
when the European Union is
strong, and that Britain succeeds
when it leads in Europe and sets
the agenda for change. Sullen
resistance and disengagement
achieve nothing.
Stronger competitiveness
must be Europe’s economic
priority. Europe will only
grow and prosper if it is
dynamic and knowledge-based,
with excellent universities,
competitive companies, and
thriving start-ups, underpinned
by a modern infrastructure of
digital communications and
low-carbon transport. The
EU should strive to improve
the regulatory environment, in
particular for small and medium
sized business. But we reject

any attempt to renegotiate or
unravel social rights for the
British people, and believe that
economic strength and social
protection go hand-in-hand –
a modern EU must enhance
competitiveness and growth
while guaranteeing security and
fair rights at work.
Fundamental reform of the
EU budget remains necessary,
with further changes to the
Common Agricultural Policy
on the way to ending export
subsidies. Transfers within the
EU must target those areas that
are least well off. On the Euro,
we hold to our promise that
there will be no membership of
the single currency without the
consent of the British people in
a referendum.
We support the enlargement
of EU membership to include
Croatia, and believe that
all Western Balkan states
should open negotiations on
EU accession by 2014 – one
hundred years after the start of
the First World War. Turkey’s
future membership is a key test
of Europe’s potential to become
a bridge between religions and
regions; there must be continued
progress on its application to
join the EU. In its foreign policy,
Europe should play a key role
in conflict resolution and the
promotion of security, and work
bilaterally to achieve its goals

10:4

with the leading global powers
in each region of the world.
On climate change, the EU has
a critical leadership role to play
in securing a legally binding
UN agreement, reducing its
emissions by 30 per cent on
1990 levels in the context of an
ambitious global deal. It must
also offer stronger leadership on
global poverty reduction.
We will strengthen co-operation
with our EU partners in
fighting crime and international
terrorism, and support practical
European co-operation on
defence, in partnership with
NATO. To symbolise its
commitment to global peace
and justice, and energise its
young people, we propose a
European Peace Corps.
The poverty of the Tory vision
is summed up by their false
choice between an alliance
with the United States and
one with Europe. In Europe
they are not just isolated,
but marginalised – in a tiny
group of far-right parties that
endorses extreme views and is
stuck in climate-change denial.
Elsewhere in the world their
anti-European attitudes are
seen as undermining British
influence. They are helpless to
shape change, or defend our
interests.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A global future

Strengthening global
security and preventing
conflict
We strongly believe in cooperation between nations
for a safer world. We will
continue to press for stronger
international action against
terrorism and learn the lessons
of recent experience to prevent
and defuse conflict and build
stability and the rule of law in
places that would otherwise
shelter terrorist networks. We
have shown in Afghanistan and
elsewhere that our military,
diplomats and development
staff can set an international
standard for joint working, but
we will not put the aid budget
under military control. We
will spend at least half of our
new bilateral aid in fragile and
conflict-affected states.
Having played a leading role
in the international agreement
to ban cluster bombs, we are
leading the campaign for a
legally binding global arms
trade treaty in 2012.
We will continue to drive reform
of the humanitarian agencies
at the UN and work to build
an international consensus on
‘responsibility to protect’, while
supporting the International
Criminal Court in bringing
previously untouchable
criminals to justice. We will

advocate a new international
convention to enable the
prosecution of perpetrators of
genocide and crimes against
humanity.
There is no more important
part of the world for global
security than the Middle East.
We support the creation of a
viable Palestinian state that can
live alongside a secure Israel.
All the countries of the region
have a role to play in delivering
the vision of the Arab Peace
Initiative – normalised relations
between Arab states and Israel
in return for a Palestinian state.
They also have a shared interest
in preventing the acquisition
of nuclear weapons by Iran.
This is the gravest nuclear
threat to global security since
the foundation of the NonProliferation Treaty in the
1960s. We support engagement
and pressure on the Iranian
regime; it is threatening its own
people as well as the security of
the region and the world.
In Africa, Labour has made
aid, trade, conflict prevention
and good governance a priority.
We will support the final
stages of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement in Sudan,
and maintain the pressure for
Zimbabwe to transition back
to democracy as quickly as
possible.

10:5

We will work with Greece and
Turkey for long-term stability in
Cyprus; and continue to support
bilateral efforts by India and
Pakistan to improve relations.
The two countries have
profound ties to the UK, which
we are determined to nurture.
We will keep up the pressure for
the release of Aung Sang Suu
Kyi and a return to democracy
in Burma.
We strongly support
reconstruction and
reconciliation in Sri Lanka. We
believe that both the LTTE
and the Government of Sri
Lanka must be held to account
for the loss of civilian life, and
we will continue to urge the Sri
Lankan Government to fulfil its
commitment to a full and fair
investigation into war crimes
committed in the final months
of the civil war.
Human rights and democracy
are a central feature of our
foreign policy for a simple
reason – we believe human
rights are universal, and it is
the job of strong and mature
democracies to support the
development of free societies
everywhere – while upholding
our own legal and moral
obligations.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A global future

The global poverty
emergency: our moral
duty, our common interest
Labour’s international
leadership on development
has helped transform the lives
of millions across the world.
Yet too many people still live
in extreme poverty, die from
treatable diseases, or are denied
the chance to go to school.
We will lead an international
campaign to get the Millennium
Development Goals back on
track. We remain committed
to spending 0.7 per cent of
national income on aid from
2013, and we will enshrine this
commitment in law early in the
next Parliament. Our aid will
target the poorest and most
excluded – spent transparently
and evaluated independently.
We will fight corruption,
investing more to track, freeze,
and recover assets stolen
from developing countries.
Further action will be taken to
strengthen developing countries’
tax systems, reduce tax evasion,
improve reporting, and crack
down on tax havens. To increase
accountability, we will allocate at
least five per cent of all funding
developing country budgets for
the purpose of strengthening
the role of Parliaments and civil
society.

Our leadership on debt
cancellation has freed 28
countries from the shackles
of debt. We will continue to
drive this agenda, building on
legislation to clampdown on
vulture funds.
Access to health, education,
food, water and sanitation are
basic human rights. We will
spend £8.5 billion over eight
years to help more children go
to school; maintain our pledge
to spend £6 billion on health
between 2008 and 2015 and £1
billion through the Global Fund
to support the fight against
HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria;
fight for universal access to
prevention, treatment and
care for HIV/AIDS by 2010;
and deliver at least 30 million
additional anti-malarial bednets over the next three years.
We will provide £1 billion
for water and sanitation by
2013, driving this issue up the
international agenda, and over
£1 billion on food security and
agriculture. We will push for
the establishment of a Global
Council on Child Hunger. We
will help save the lives of six
million mothers and babies by
2015 and, because international
focus on the needs of women
and girls is vital, we will double
core funding to the new UN
Women’s agency. While the
Tories would favour private

10:6

schemes, we will work closely
with NGOs and developing
countries to eliminate user fees
and promote healthcare and
education free at the point
of access. We will encourage
other countries to ratify the
ILO conventions on labour
standards, as we have done.
Trade can lift millions out of
poverty. We will work with the
private sector, trade unions
and co-operatives to promote
sustainable development,
quadruple our funding for fair
and ethical trade, and press for
a fair World Trade Organisation
deal, with no enforced
liberalisation for poor countries,
and increased duty-free and
quota-free access.
Reforming global
institutions
In today’s world, power is
shifting, flowing downwards and
outwards towards new non-state
actors, networked by modern
communications. Governments
and global institutions must
respond to this change – and
reform to meet new challenges.
They need to be more effective
but also more inclusive. To
secure global change, we will
make the case for:
•T
 he extension of the G8.
•A
 clearer mandate for the
World Bank to focus on the

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010
A global future

poorest countries and promote
low-carbon development;
and for the IMF to focus on
financial stability, with both
becoming more inclusive.
• Radical UN reform, including
new membership of the
Security Council, budgetary
reform, and an overhaul of
UN agencies.
• Continuing reform of NATO
and stronger international
co-operation to tackle security
challenges, while building the
capacity of regional security
organisations including the
African Union.
• The enduring role of the
Commonwealth – a unique
organisation for fostering
understanding and trust,
spanning a quarter of the
world’s population.
International commitments
and a voice for Britain in global
affairs are not an optional extra
for Labour. They are central to
our vision of a better Britain.
We have strengthened our
international alliances and will
continue to do so in ways that
speak to our deepest values as a
nation.

10:7

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

50 steps to a future fair for all
1.	 Secure the recovery by supporting the economy now, and more
than halve the deficit by 2014 through economic growth, fair taxes
and cuts to lower priority spending.
2.	 Realise our stakes in publicly controlled banks to secure the best
deal for the tax-payer, introduce a new global levy, and reform the
rules for banking to ensure no repeat of past irresponsibility.
3.	 Create UK Finance for Growth, bringing £4 billion together to
provide capital for growing businesses, investing in the growth
sectors of the future.
4.	 Build a high-tech economy, supporting business and industry
to create one million more skilled jobs and modernising our
infrastructure with High Speed Rail, a Green Investment Bank and
broadband access for all.
5.	 Encourage a culture of long-term commitment to sustainable
company growth, requiring a super-majority of two-thirds of
shareholders in corporate takeovers.
6.	 200,000 jobs through the Future Jobs Fund, with a job or training
place for young people who are out of work for six months, but
benefits cut at ten months if they refuse a place; and anyone
unemployed for more than two years guaranteed work, but no
option of life on benefits.
7.	 A National Minimum Wage rising at least in line with average
earnings, and a new £40-a-week Better Off in Work guarantee.
8.	 More advanced apprenticeships and Skills Accounts for workers to
upgrade their skills.
9.	 No stamp duty for first-time buyers on all house purchases below
£250,000 for two years, paid for by a five per cent rate on homes
worth more than £1 million.
10.	 A People’s Bank at the Post Office; a Universal Service Obligation on
banks to serve every community; a clampdown on interest rates for
doorstep and payday loans.

11:1

The Labour Party Manifesto 2010

11.	 Spending increased on frontline Sure Start and free childcare,
schools and 16-19 learning.
12.	 An expansion of free nursery places for two year olds and 15
hours a week of flexible, free nursery education for three and four
year olds.
13.	 Every pupil leaving primary school secure in the basics, with a
3Rs guarantee of one-to-one and small-group tuition for every
child falling behind; and in secondary school, every pupil with a
personal tutor and a choice of good qualifications.
14.	 A choice of good schools in every area – and, where parents are
not satisfied – the power to bring in new school leadership teams,
through mergers and take-overs, with up to 1,000 secondary
schools part of an accredited schools group by 2015.
15.	 Every young person guaranteed education or training until 18, with
75 per cent going on to higher education, or completing an advanced
apprenticeship or technician level training, by the age of 30.
16.	 Legally binding guarantees for patients including the right to
cancer test results within one week of referral, and a maximum 18
weeks’ wait for treatment or the offer of going private.
17.	 Preventative healthcare through routine check-ups for the over-40s
and a major expansion of diagnostic testing.
18.	 More personal care, with the right in law to choose from any
provider who meets NHS standards of quality at NHS costs when
booking a hospital appointment, one-to-one dedicated nursing for
all cancer patients, and more care at home.
19.	 The right to choose a GP in your area open at evenings and
weekends, with more services available on the high-street,
personal care plans and rights to individual budgets.
20.	 Access to psychological therapy for those who need it.

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21.	 Provide the funding to maintain police and PCSO numbers with
neighbourhood police teams in every area, spending 80 per cent
of their time on the beat visible in their neighbourhood; improve
police performance through online report cards and ensure failing
forces are taken over by the best.
22.	 Intervene earlier to prevent crime, with no-nonsense action to
tackle the problems caused by 50,000 dysfunctional families.
23.	 Guarantee fast and effective action to deal with anti-social
behaviour, including a right to legal injunctions for repeat victims,
funded by the police or council who let them down.
24.	 Expand tough ‘Community Payback’ for criminals who don’t go to
prison, giving everyone the right to vote on the work they do.
25.	 Control immigration through our Australian-style points-based
system, ensuring that as growth returns we see rising levels of
employment and wages, not rising immigration, and requiring
newcomers to earn citizenship and the entitlements it brings.
26.	 More help for parents to balance work and family life, with a
‘Father’s Month’ of flexible paid leave.
27.	 A new Toddler Tax Credit of £4 a week from 2012 to give more
support to all parents of young children – whether they want to
stay at home or work.
28.	 The right to request flexible working for older workers, with an
end to default retirement at 65, enabling more people to decide for
themselves how long they choose to keep working.
29.	 A new National Care Service to ensure free care in the home
for those with the greatest care needs and a cap on the costs
of residential care so that everyone’s homes and savings are
protected from care charges after two years in a care home.
30.	 A re-established link between the Basic State Pension and earnings
from 2012; help for ten million people to build up savings through
new Personal Pension Accounts.

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31.	 A golden decade of sport with the 2012 Olympics as a great
national and world-wide celebration.
32.	 Registered Supporters Trusts enabled to buy stakes in their club
bringing mutualism to the heart of football.
33.	 Operational independence for major museums and galleries,
with more lottery funding returning to the arts, sport and culture
after 2012.
34.	 Protection for the post offices and pubs on which community
life depends.
35.	 The BBC’s independence upheld; and Britain equipped with a
world-leading digital and broadband infrastructure.
36.	 Achieve around 40 per cent low-carbon electricity by 2020 and
create 400,000 new green jobs by 2015.
37.	 Make greener living easier and fairer through ‘pay as you save’
home energy insulation, energy-bill discounts for pensioners and
requiring landlords to properly insulate rented homes.
38.	 Move towards a ‘zero waste’ Britain, banning recyclable and
biodegradable materials from landfill.
39.	 Link together new protected areas of habitat; maintain the Green
Belt; increase forest and woodland areas.
40.	 Ensure fairness for food producers through EU reform and a
Supermarkets Ombudsman; and support post offices, shops and
pubs in rural communities.

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1687_10 Promoted by Ray Collins, General Secretary, the Labour Party, on behalf of the Labour Party and reproduced from electronic media supplied by The Labour Party all at 39 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HA.

41.	 Referenda, held on the same day, for moving to the Alternative
Vote for elections to the House of Commons and to a democratic
and accountable Second Chamber.
42.	 Improved citizenship education for young people followed by a
free vote in Parliament on reducing the voting age to 16.
43.	 Legislation to ensure Parliaments sit for a fixed term and an All
Party Commission to chart a course to a Written Constitution.
44.	 A statutory register of lobbyists, with MPs banned from working
for lobbying companies and required to seek approval for paid
outside appointments.
45.	 Stronger local government, with increased local democratic
scrutiny over all local public services.
46.	 Conduct a Strategic Defence Review to equip our Armed Forces for
21st Century challenges, and support our troops and veterans.
47.	 Use our international reach to build security and stability –
combating terrorism and extremism, curbing proliferation,
preventing and resolving conflict, and tackling climate change.
48.	 Lead the agenda for an outward-facing European Union that
delivers jobs, prosperity and global influence.
49.	 Re-energise the drive to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals, supporting sustainable growth and combating poverty.
50.	 Reform the UN, International Financial Institutions, the G8 and
G20, and NATO to adapt to the new global challenges.

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