Leaked Labour manifesto reveals plans to renationalise railways and Royal Mail
Also includes plans for a £6billion tax raid on salaries of £80,000-plus
Most Left-wing manifesto since Michael Foot's 'longest suicide note in history'
Raises concerns Labour would go on 'gigantic borrowing spree' to fund it
Jeremy Corbyn's Labour manifesto would 'take Britain back to the 1970s' by re-nationalising railways, the energy industry and the Royal Mail, a leaked draft has revealed
The 43-page Labour manifesto also pledges a £6billion tax raid on people earning more than £80,000 a year. Pictured is Jeremy Corbyn with Labour supporters in Rotherham
The measures include:
A refusal to commit to cutting immigration levels;
Ruling out leaving the European Union without a deal, weakening Britain’s negotiating hand and suggesting Brexit might never happen;
Scrapping moves to push the state pension age beyond 66;
University tuition fees to be scrapped;
Councils ordered to build 100,000 homes a year for social rent;
Rent caps for the first time since the 1970s;
A £250billion spending splurge on infrastructure;
Pay caps to stop bosses earning more than 20 times the lowest salary at their firm;
A commitment to a ‘nuclear free world’.
But the manifesto is being called the most Left-wing document since Michael Foot's 1983 version, dubbed the 'longest suicide note in history'
THE LONGEST SUICIDE NOTE IN HISTORY' - THE 1983 MANIFESTO
Michael Foot's 1983 General Election manifesto was a 39-page booklet that was derided for its hard Left socialist policies.
Now Jeremy Corbyn is facing the same treatment for his campaign pledges, which run four pages longer than Mr Foot's.
Called The New Hope for Britain, the 1983 manifesto called for unilateral nuclear disarmament, higher taxation on the rich, a withdrawal from the then European Economic Community, the abolition of the House of Lords, and the re-nationalisation of recently privatised industries including shipbulding, British Aerospace and British Telecom.
The 1983 39-page manifesto from Michael Foot, pictured, was dubbed the 'longest suicide note in history' due to its far left policies. Mr Corbyn's manifesto is four pages longer +11
The 1983 39-page manifesto from Michael Foot, pictured, was dubbed the 'longest suicide note in history' due to its far left policies. Mr Corbyn's manifesto is four pages longer
But the policies put off voters and Margaret Thatcher led the Conservative Party to a resounding victory, boosted by her popularity over the Falklands War.
Labour ended up securing just 28 per cent of the vote, while the Tories received 42 per cent.
It meant the Conservatives gained almost 40 seats, while Labour lost 50, giving Mrs Thatcher a very comfortable 144-seat majority.
The slogan itself was the brainchild of Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, displaying the resentment for Mr Foot's policies from within his own party.
After the defeat in 1983, Labour began a gradual shift towards the political centre ground, first under Neil Kinnock and then Tony Blair, eventually rising to power in the 1997 General Election.
LABOUR HAS COLD FEET ABOUT USING TRIDENT
The Army would only be sent to war as a last resort under Labour, which is also ‘extremely cautious’ about using the Trident submarine system, its draft manifesto reveals.
Jeremy Corbyn, who has been against nuclear weapons throughout his political career, is committed to getting rid of the missiles in the long term as his party plans to ‘create a nuclear-free world’.
Setting out the party’s defence policy, he said: ‘Labour supports the renewal of the Trident submarine system.
But any prime minister should be extremely cautious about ordering the use of weapons of mass destruction which would result in the indiscriminate killing of millions of innocent civilians.
Labour would be 'extremely cautious' about using the Trident submarine system, according to the leaked manifesto. Pictured is the Trident-class Vanguard
Labour will lead multi-lateral efforts with international partners and the UN to create a nuclear-free world.’
There are fears that the party may shy from intervention in conflicts such as Syria having pledged to only deploy the Army once ‘all options have been exhausted’.
Mr Corbyn clashed with his then shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn over whether to launch air strikes in Syria in 2015 after he called on his MPs to block the Government plan, which was supported by Mr Benn.
The Labour leader had clashed with defence spokesman Nia Griffith over the future of Trident after he hinted it would not be included in the manifesto.
Miss Griffith said Trident was ‘vital’ to the UK’s defence despite her leader’s opposition.
EXPERTS SLAM CORBYN TAX PLAN
By Jason Groves, Political Editor for the Daily Mail
Labour's plan to increase corporation tax will hit jobs, wages and growth, a leading think-tank warned yesterday.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said a pledge to raise it from 19 per cent to 26 per cent by 2021 represented one of the biggest tax increases in the last 30 years’.
The IFS warned it could cause ‘substantial’ damage to the economy and hit revenues in the long-term as companies slashed investment in Britain.
It also dismissed Jeremy Corbyn’s suggestion that the increase would only hit fat-cat firms, saying; ‘All taxes are paid by people. Higher rates can reduce returns to shareholders, but there is evidence that a significant share of the burden is passed to workers in the form of lower wages.’
Labour also came under fire from small businesses after breaking a pledge to exempt them from tax increases.
The party yesterday confirmed that tax on small firms would rise to 21 per cent by 2021. Last night the Federation of Small Businesses said it would press Mr Corbyn to ‘honour the commitment he made’.
In a separate report, the IFS said Labour’s plans to increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour could cost jobs. It said that beyond a certain level, ‘minimum wages reduce hours and employment, penalising the groups they are supposed to help’.
A Labour spokesman said the wage pledge is ‘in line with reputable forecasts of the wage needed to maintain a decent standard of living by 2020’.
Payback for the unions and state control over industry
Leaked drafts of Labour’s election manifesto last night showed Jeremy Corbyn’s determination to take the country back to the 1970s. Executive Political Editor JACK DOYLE dissects the pledges.
Unions
Long Mr Corbyn’s ideological bedfellows, the unions funded his leadership campaign and provide the bulk of Labour Party cash after its private donors fled. This is their payback.
As well as imposing collective pay bargaining, Labour would impose deals across entire industries – handing vast new powers to the union barons and driving up inflation.
As a sop to the rail unions, driver-only trains would be banned.
Nationalisation
A determined assault on many of Margaret Thatcher’s privatisations of the 1980s, in an attempt to return the crown jewels of industry to state control, starting with the energy firms.
Government power firms would be created and National Grid renationalised.
The leaked manifesto said rail franchises would be renationalised when they come up for renewal. Pictured are RMT members campaigning for renationalisation outside Euston Station +11
The leaked manifesto said rail franchises would be renationalised when they come up for renewal. Pictured are RMT members campaigning for renationalisation outside Euston Station
As rail franchises come up for renewal, Mr Corbyn would return them to public hands.
Royal Mail would also be renationalised, requiring billions in compensation for shareholders.
Defence
The manifesto reveals the tortured compromises between a party that supports the Trident nuclear deterrent and a leader who wants to scrap it.
The suggestion that Labour would be ‘extremely cautious’ about using nuclear weapons is both a statement of the obvious and a signal to Vladimir Putin that Mr Corbyn would never press the button.
The armed forces would be used only when ‘all other options have been exhausted’, the manifesto says.
Tax and spend
No rises in income tax for anyone earning less than £80,000.
It is not clear how the manifesto’s spending spree would be paid for when rises in corporation tax and capital gains tax have already been spent several times over.
Migration and The EU
Millions of Labour voters backed Brexit because they want to end free movement of EU migrants.
Labour's leaked manifesto also pledges to rule out walking away from the EU without a Brexit deal
But the manifesto makes no promise to cut net migration, only ‘fair rules and reasonable management’ of migration.
Also rules out ‘no deal’ as a Brexit option, leaving Mr Corbyn open to the charge he will swallow whatever the EU offers.
Crime and no punishment
A pledge to make sending criminals to jail a ‘last resort’ could mean Labour slashing prisoner numbers by tens of thousands, closing jails and leaving criminals to roam the streets.
On welfare, Labour would end the spare room subsidy – dubbed the ‘bedroom tax’.
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