Sir Keir Starmer launched the Labour party manifesto in Manchester this morning saying his priority was growing the economy.
“Today we can lay a new foundation of stability and on that foundation we can start to rebuild Britain” he said at the launch at the Co-op headquarters in the City Centre
Starmer was heckled by a climate protester as he began his speech with the demonstrator swiftly escorted out
Starmer responded
“We gave up on being a party of protest 5 years ago, we want to be a party of power”
Voters he said had the chance to “turn the page decisively” on 14 years of “Conservative chaos” as he set out Labour’s plan for government
The launch included a moving speech from Terminal cancer sufferer Nathaniel who told the audience
“I can’t stop wondering that might have been. Because I spent over 100 days waiting for cancer treatment, when the government’s target is 62. And there’s a chance that if chemotherapy had come sooner, my cancer might not have spread”
Starmer promised that a Labour government would not raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT.
The other headlines included that all adults to receive a “genuine” minimum wage no matter your age
An increase in NHS appointments by 40,000 per week, funded by cracking down on tax avoidance and the creation of a new Border Security Command to tackle criminal boat gangs using counter-terror powers
Corporation tax would be capped at 25% throughout the Parliament
And the party would launch Great British Energy with a windfall tax on oil and gas giants
Starmer said his platform was a “total change of direction” — from the obsession with tax and spend as the two “levers” of government to the big goal of economic growth. He pledged “an end to the desperate era of gestures and gimmicks.”
