Labour manifesto stresses gain – not pain
Updated on 12 April 2010
Thirteen years after they were promised by Tony Blair, trust and public sector reform are at the core of Labour’s general election manifesto.
Trust and reform of the public sector - 13 years after Tony Blair first promised it - are at the core of Labour's manifesto.
It promises greater independence for hospitals and schools, constitutional change, and aggressive job creation.
The manifesto contained no big spending pledges, but had a distinctly Blairite tinge in some of its proposed public service reforms.
The 76-page manifesto, the first to be unveiled by the major parties, promised "A future fair for all".
On tax, there is a pledge that there will be no rise in income tax rates and
no extension of VAT to new products - though NO promise to freeze existing rates.
School mergers and takeovers of under-performing schools could be taken over by, or merged with, more successful but non-profit-making management teams.
And there would be a power to replace police chiefs if their forces were deemed to be failing local residents.
Patients in England will be guaranteed the results of cancer tests within a week, and every hospital will be given independent foundation trust status.
And on political reform, constituents will be given the right to recall MPs who have been guilty of financial misconduct. There will also be referendums on electoral and Lords reform.
For more Channel 4 News coverage of Vote 2010
- Channel 4 News - Vote 2010 coverage
- Channel 4 News - Vote 2010: the latest election barometer
- How did Labour do on its 2005 manifesto pledges?
- Vote 2010: Election live blog - 12 April
The manifesto sets out three main themes -
Rebuilding the economy - helping businesses to create a million more skilled jobs and up to 70,000 advanced apprenticeships and modernising Britain's infrastructure through high-speed rail, a 'green' investment bank and offering broadband access for all.
Renewing society - promising to improve schools, the NHS and policing by allowing those local services which are not up to the mark to be replaced, improve care for the elderly, new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour and new protection for local pubs and post offices.
Restoring trust in politics - promising referendums on electoral and Lords reform, a right to recall MPs who have let down their voters and a free vote in Parliament on reducing the voting age to 16.
Mr Brown said that - as the 11 September attacks had changed security arrangements across the world, so the global recession had changed economic circumstances.
"This is the first post-crisis vote for our country and it is the most important vote for a generation," he said. "Get the decision right now - make the right choice now - and we not only renew our economy, but renew our society and renew our politics too."
Labour, said Mr Brown was "in the future business". And - while tacitly admitting that the party still lagged behind the Conservatives in the polls - he attempted to strike a note of confidence.
"The future will be progressive or Conservative, but it will not be both," he said.
"New Labour is in the fight of its life - and it is the fight for our and your future.
"I am confident the future is one of prosperity that can be both sustained and shared. I am confident in the vision we hold and the values that lead us towards it. I am confident in the team I lead and the promises and policies we promote."
Speaking against a backdrop of images of golden fields of corn, the Prime Minister won sustained applause from his audience of supporters and party workers, but the reporters penned to one side of the stage all wanted to ask him about what he had not said.
Were there unspoken plans to raise VAT? "Our deficit reduction plans add up without having to put up VAT," said Mr Brown. "I would hesitate, but suggest, that the Conservative party's plans do not add up without assuming that they will put up VAT."
But a past manifesto pledge not to raise income tax rates had been broken with the introduction of the 50p top rate of tax, he was told.
"I didn't want to raise the top rate of tax," he replied. "We had to do it because we had an international financial crisis.
"Look at other countries that are facing the impact of the global financial crisis and they have had to take extraordinary measures as well. We had to take that measure because we wanted to be sure we could have an economic recovery with a deficit reduction plan and we took the view that those with the broadest shoulders should be able to bear the biggest burden."
Labour also today released on YouTube its election broadcast titled "The Road Ahead", featuring the actor Sean Pertwee. It will be broadcast tonight.
Following Labour's manifesto launch, Shadow Cabinet member Liam Fox said: "Given that we have a broken economy, a broken society and broken politics, there was a distinct lack of ambition and imagination.
"People will look at the promises and say 'After 13 years of broken promises, why should be believe any of the promises in this one?' It's time for change."
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's chief of staff, Danny Alexander, said: "Every Labour manifesto since 1997 has been full of promises they have broken. They simply can't be trusted to do a single thing they say."
Carl Emmerson, the deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told Channel Four News that the £20billion of efficiency savings and spending curbs over the next four years, already announced in the Budget, would not go far enough to meet Labour's spending plans.
The party had decided in the past to impose further taxes on income, rather than spending, but the pledge not to increase the rates of income tax did not preclude a further rise in national insurance beyond that already announced.
"Clearly, if you were hoping for further details on exactly how the deficit is going to be cut in the medium term, you are not seeing a lot of it there," he said. "There is more pain to come, but the manifesto doesn't give you much indication of where that pain will be felt."
