Higher taxes for rich and businesses to pay for pledges in opposition party’s election manifesto
The Labour Party would would increase taxes and borrowing in order to to pay for “a fairer, more prosperous society for the many, not just the few”, its leader Jeremy Corbyn has announced.
In its election manifesto for the 8 June election unveiled on Tuesday the party said it would spend £48.6 billion extra to deliver such pledges as a higher minimum wage of £10 an hour, abolish student fees at universities and put new sums into healthcare, social care and schools.
A vast range of public services would be nationalised, including water, energy and the railways, while transport infrastructure including the HS2 high-speed line from London to Scotland and London’s Crossrail 2 would be delivered.
Mr Corbyn said the party would pay for these by raising taxes for anyone earning over £80,000. The threshold for the 45p rate of income tax would fall to £80,000 from £150,000. Meanwhile, anyone earning over £123,000 would fall into a new 50p tax rate.
Launching the 124-page document in Bradford, Mr Corbyn said: “This is a programme of hope.
“The Tory campaign by contrast is built on one word, fear.
“Our proposals are of hope for the many all over this country and I am very proud to present our manifesto for the many, not the few.”
But the Conservatives said the proposals did not “add up”.
Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday: “If you look across that manifesto, the question isn’t what people are promising but can you believe people will deliver what they are promising?
“You can only fund our National Health Service, you can only have the funding that we have made available in relation to the nation’s child care if you have got that strong economy.
“What we see from Labour’s proposals today is they don’t add up and their nonsensical economic policies mean that it is ordinary working families that would pay the price of Labour’s coalition of chaos.”
A publication date for the Conservative manifesto had not been announced as Haber went to print this week.