Labour has today pledged to target devolution, wage rises and protection of public services, among a range of fully funded manifesto commitments.
Launching his party’s General Election manifesto this morning, Labour leader Ed Miliband committed to cut the deficit every year with a range of policies requiring no additional borrowing.
Speaking in Manchester, he slammed the Coalition for cutting public services ‘back to the core’ and leaving communities ‘fraying at the edges’.
‘The plan we lay before you is no less ambitious because we live in a time of scarcity,’ he said.
‘It is more ambitious because it starts from a clear commitment to balance the books and because it does not stop there. This is a plan to change our country.
Outlining a string of devolution pledges, Miliband said it was ‘time to end a century of centralisation’ across the UK and added his party ‘want to win power in order to give it away’.
The manifesto includes vows to transfer £30bn of funding to city and county regions alongside longer term budgets for town halls, ‘fairer’ funding and an English Regional Cabinet Committee chaired by the prime minister and attended by major local government leaders.
Labour has pledged to see at least 200,000 new homes built every year by 2020 by prioritising capital investment and reforming the council house financing system. Town halls would also win powers to reduce the number of empty homes and raise tax on empty residences.
Miliband confirmed his party would also put ‘brownfield first’ over green belt land in planning decisions.
Further ‘ambitious’ plans outlined by the leader would see the minimum wage reach its highest ever proportion of average earnings, rising to over £8 an hour.
Miliband committed to legislate to ensure ‘everyone who works regular hours will get a regular contract, not a zero hours contract’.
