Change (manifesto)

Last updated

Change
Change manifesto cover.jpg
Author Labour Party
LanguageEnglish
Series Labour general election manifestos
Publication date
13 June 2024
Publication place United Kingdom
Media type Political manifesto
Preceded by It's Time for Real Change (2019) 

Change is a political manifesto published in 2024 by the British Labour Party under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer. The manifesto sets out the party's new approach to policy, ahead of their successful campaign in the 2024 general election, in which they won a landslide victory. [1] [2]

Contents

Overview

The Labour general election campaign adopted "Change" as their slogan. [3] When launching the manifesto, Starmer referred to it as "a fairer, healthier, a more secure Britain, at the service of working people, with growth from every community. A Britain ready to restore that promise. The bond that reaches through the generations and says – this country will be better for your children." [4] [5] [6]

The manifesto itself focuses on economic growth, planning system reforms, infrastructure, what Starmer describes as clean energy, healthcare, education, childcare, crime, and strengthening workers' rights. [7] [8] It pledges a new publicly owned energy company (Great British Energy), a "Green Prosperity Plan", a Border Security Command, reducing patient waiting times in the National Health Service (NHS), and renationalisation of the railway network (Great British Railways). [9] It includes wealth creation and "pro-business and pro-worker" policies. [10] [11] The manifesto also pledged to give votes to 16 year olds, reform the House of Lords, and to tax private schools, with money generated going into improving state education. [12] [13]

Major points

First steps

During the 2024 general election campaign, six first steps were issued and detailed in the manifesto. The six steps are: [14]

  1. Deliver economic stability with tough spending rules, so the economy can grow and keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible.
  2. Cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments each week, during evenings and weekends, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes.
  3. Launch a new Border Security Command with hundreds of new specialist investigators and use counter-terror powers to smash criminal boat gangs.
  4. Set up Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean power company, to cut bills for good and boost energy security, paid for by a windfall tax on oil and gas giants.
  5. Crack down on antisocial behaviour, with more neighbourhood police paid for by ending wasteful contracts, tough new penalties for offenders, and a new network of youth hubs.
  6. Recruit 6,500 new teachers in key subjects to set children up for life, work and the future, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.

Five missions

  1. Kickstart economic growth. [15]
  2. Make Britain a clean energy superpower. [16]
  3. Take back our streets. [17]
  4. Break down barriers to opportunity. [18]
  5. Build an NHS fit for the future. [19]

Analysis

Channel 4 News's fact-checking of the manifesto found that a Labour government would "almost certainly preside over a lower net migration rate in the next few years – even if it's done little to bring this about" on the manifesto's immigration policies, while finding that it "may be difficult to evaluate in the future" whether a Labour government had met its pledge on GP outpatient appointments, and that the pledge on new teachers would "deliver half the increase in teacher numbers that the Conservatives managed in this parliament." [20] Full Fact's fact-checking evaluated as accurate the manifesto's claims that the 2010–2024 Conservative government had raised the tax burden to a 70-year high, had overseen a significant decrease in British Armed Forces staff, and a significant increase in child poverty. [21] The Institute for Fiscal Studies described the manifesto as "not a manifesto for those looking for big numbers", saying there was "almost nothing in the way of definite promises on spending." [22]

Reactions

The Child Poverty Action Group criticised the manifesto for not committing to ending the two child benefit cap, saying that until it was ended, "real change won’t come for the four million children in poverty." [23] The charity Humanists UK welcomed pledges on Lords reform, updating the curriculum, for a ban on conversion therapy, and for assurances that the UK would remain a member of the European Convention on Human Rights. It expressed disappointment that pre-manifesto Labour pledges on incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law, tackling unregistered illegal schools, and parliamentary time for assisted dying did not feature. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labour Party Conference</span> Annual gathering of the British Labour Party

The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the House of Commons is in recess, after each year's second Liberal Democrat Conference and before the Conservative Party Conference. The Labour Party Conference opens on a Sunday and finishes the following Wednesday, with an address by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party; the Leader's address is usually on the Tuesday. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Conservative Party Conference, which does not hold votes on party policy, at the Labour Party Conference, 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations, and the other 50% to Constituency Labour Parties, but all voting in both categories is restricted to nominated representatives. Conference decisions are not binding on the party leadership, even if carried unanimously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Miliband</span> British politician (born 1969)

Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2010 to 2015. Alongside his brother, David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keir Starmer</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024

SirKeir Rodney Starmer is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, and was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.

The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In a broader sense, the party has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. It is the governing party of the United Kingdom, having won the 2024 general election, and is currently the largest political party by number of votes cast and number of seats in the House of Commons, followed in seat share by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. There have been seven Labour prime ministers and fourteen Labour ministries. The party traditionally holds the annual Labour Party Conference during party conference season, at which senior Labour figures promote party policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Reeves</span> British politician (born 1979)

Rachel Jane Reeves is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds West and Pudsey, formerly Leeds West, since 2010. She previously held various shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet portfolios between 2010 and 2015 and from 2020 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Reynolds</span> British politician (born 1980)

Jonathan Neil Reynolds is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade since July 2024. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stalybridge and Hyde since 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Greenwood</span> British politician

Margaret Greenwood is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wirral West from 2015 to 2024. She is a member of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Rayner</span> Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 (born 1980)

Angela Rayner is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since July 2024. She has been Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020 and Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. Ideologically she identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Long-Bailey</span> British politician (born 1979)

Rebecca Roseanne Long-Bailey is a British independent, formerly Labour Party politician and solicitor who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford, previously Salford and Eccles, since 2015. She served in the Shadow Cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn, first as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2016 to 2017 and then as Shadow Business Secretary from 2017 to 2020. Under Keir Starmer, she served as Shadow Education Secretary from April to June 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,074,800 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. The governing Conservative Party, led by the prime minister Boris Johnson, won a landslide victory with a majority of 80 seats, a net gain of 48, on 43.6 per cent of the popular vote, the highest percentage for any party since the 1979 general election, though with a narrower popular vote margin than that achieved by the Labour Party over the Conservatives at the 1997 general election. This was the second national election to be held in 2019 in the United Kingdom, the first being the 2019 European Parliament election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Best for Britain</span> Civil society campaign to fight Brexit

Best for Britain is a civil society campaign formed of researchers, data scientists, strategists, and activists who say that they are working to fix "the problems Britain faces after Brexit". Originally launched on 26 April 2017 to stop Brexit and continue the UK's membership of the European Union (EU), the organisation's aim since 2021 has been strengthening UK-EU ties as well as protecting democratic rights within the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024, to elect 650 members of Parliament to the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The opposition Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, defeated the governing Conservative Party, led by Rishi Sunak, in a landslide victory.

The 2020 Labour Party leadership election was triggered after Jeremy Corbyn announced his intention to resign as the leader of the Labour Party following the party's defeat at the 2019 general election. It was won by Keir Starmer, who received 56.2 per cent of the vote on the first round and went on to become Prime Minister after winning the 2024 general election. It was held alongside the deputy leadership election, in which Angela Rayner was elected to succeed Tom Watson as deputy leader after Watson retired from Parliament in November 2019, in advance of the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March 2021 United Kingdom budget</span>

The March 2021 United Kingdom budget, officially known as Protecting the Jobs and Livelihoods of the British People was a budget delivered by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in March 2021. It was expected to be delivered in autumn 2020, but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It succeeds the budget held in March 2020, and the summer statement and Winter Economy Plan held in summer and autumn 2020, respectively. The budget is the second under Boris Johnson's government, also the second to be delivered by Sunak and the second since Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. The budget was the first for government expenditure in the United Kingdom to exceed £1 trillion.

David Richard Evans is a British political official who served as general secretary of the Labour Party from 25 September 2021 until 17 September 2024, having acted as general secretary since 26 May 2020. He served as an assistant general secretary of the Labour Party from 1999 to 2001. Evans was the regional director of the North West Labour Party from 1995 to 1999 and founded The Campaign Company, a political consultancy.

The political positions of Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020, have frequently changed. Views of his political philosophy are diverse.

The National Care Service (NCS) is a proposed publicly funded system of social care in the United Kingdom which was partially introduced by the Labour government of Gordon Brown in 2010 but abandoned soon after when the coalition government of David Cameron and Nick Clegg came to power in May 2010. Similar to the National Health Service, it would be free at the point of need and paid for through taxation. The Labour Party has continued to propose the creation of an NCS while in opposition, and has done so under each consecutive leader since Ed Miliband's leadership in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Rishi Sunak</span> Period of Government of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024

Rishi Sunak's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 25 October 2022 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Liz Truss, and ended on 5 July 2024 upon his resignation. He is the first British Asian and the first Hindu to hold the office. Sunak's premiership was dominated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, the cost-of-living crisis, and the Rwanda asylum plan. As prime minister, Sunak also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keir Starmer as Leader of the Opposition</span> Keir Starmers tenure as leader of the opposition (2020–2024)

Keir Starmer served as Leader of the Opposition from April 2020, following the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn after Labour's defeat at the 2019 general election and Starmer's election as Labour leader in the ensuing leadership election, until his party won a landslide victory at the 2024 general election in July 2024. During his tenure, Starmer moved Labour toward the political centre and emphasised the elimination of antisemitism within the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Keir Starmer</span> Period of Government of the United Kingdom from 2024

Keir Starmer's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 5 July 2024 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party. As prime minister, Starmer is serving concurrently as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union.

References

  1. ↑ Gibbons, Amy; Sigsworth, Tim (16 May 2024). "Labour Party manifesto 2024: Keir Starmer's election promises". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  2. ↑ "Mission-driven government: What has Labour committed to?". Institute for Government. 5 March 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  3. ↑ "Labour Party 'campaign bible' gives hints of general election strategy". BBC News. 17 January 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  4. ↑ "Keir Starmer launches 'Change' - Labour's general election manifesto". The Labour Party. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  5. ↑ "Labour launches manifesto as Sir Keir Starmer pledges to end political 'pantomime' and 'rebuild Britain'". Sky News. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  6. ↑ Stacey, Kiran; Mason, Rowena (12 June 2024). "Starmer promises 'long-term strategy' in business-friendly Labour manifesto". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  7. ↑ "Change". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  8. ↑ "Labour manifesto 2024: Find out how Labour will get Britain's future back". The Labour Party. 23 May 2024. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  9. ↑ Reid, Jenni (13 June 2024). "Britain's Labour Party pledges 'wealth creation' as it targets landslide election victory". CNBC. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "Starmer launches Labour's pro-business, pro-worker manifesto with £7.35bn of new taxes". Yahoo News. 13 June 2024. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  11. ↑ Crerar, Pippa; Mason, Rowena (13 June 2024). "Keir Starmer puts wealth creation at heart of Labour manifesto". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  12. ↑ "Change and growth: five key takeaways from the Labour manifesto launch". The Guardian. 13 June 2024. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  13. ↑ "Labour manifesto 2024: 12 key policies analysed". BBC News. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  14. ↑ "Labour's first steps for change". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  15. ↑ "Kickstart economic growth". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "Make Britain a clean energy superpower". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  17. ↑ "Take back our streets". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  18. ↑ "Break down barriers to opportunity". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  19. ↑ "Build an NHS fit for the future". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Helen (14 June 2024). "FactCheck: The Labour manifesto 2024". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  21. ↑ "Labour 2024 manifesto: fact checked". Full Fact. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  22. ↑ Boileau, Bee (13 June 2024). "Labour Party manifesto: an initial response". Institute for Fiscal Studies. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  23. ↑ Elton, Lottie (13 June 2024). "Key takeaways from Labour's manifesto pledges for work, benefits and disability rights". The Big Issue. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  24. ↑ "Labour Manifesto promises". Humanists UK. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.