British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to “rebuild Britain” on August 4 by creating 1 million jobs and homes. The socialist politician put full employment and house building at the heart of his bid for re-election as Labour's leader in a 10-point plan for the country.
Promising “a decent job for all”, Corbyn said he would create one million “good-quality” new jobs through £500 billion of investment in infrastructure, manufacturing and new industries (see full speech below).
He said the funding would be backed by a publicly owned national investment bank and regional development banks. And he pledged to build 1 million new homes in five years, including at least 500,000 council homes.
Also on the list were rent controls, secure tenancies and a charter of private tenants' rights as well as increased access to affordable home ownership.
Corbyn said his pledges were designed to ensure that “no one — and no one part of the country — should be left behind. The prosperity that a few enjoy is not shared by the many, our economic model in Britain is broken.
“But there is immense potential in the skills and talents of our people and huge opportunities ahead of us in science, technology and culture.
“We could all be living richer lives in a sustainable, more prosperous and more caring society.
“For too long, too many communities in Britain have been neglected, too many people's potential has been left untapped and their talents undeveloped. So we are going to invest in those communities and invest in our people.”
Corbyn also pledged to ensure stronger employment rights from the first day of a new job, an end to zero-hours contracts (a form of casual employment where workers are not guaranteed any hours), mandatory collective bargaining for companies with 250 or more workers and new employment and trade union rights.
He said he would end privatisation in the NHS and social care, and integrate the two. A new national education service would “deliver lifelong learning for all” and universal public childcare.
Corbyn vowed to “put the public back into our economy and services” by renationalising the railways and expanding the publicly controlled bus network.
A progressive tax system would ensure “that wealth and the highest earners are fairly taxed,” with action against “executive pay excess.”
His announcement preceded the first hustings of the leadership campaign, facing off against Labour MP Owen Smith in Cardiff on August 4.
Builders' union Ucatt acting general secretary Brian Rye said: “Jeremy Corbyn is creating a dynamic blueprint of a kinder, fairer Britain. This is clear evidence that a Jeremy Corybn-led country would get building.”
The 10 pledges are:
- An economy that works for all
- Secure homes for all
- Security at work
- Secure our NHS and social care
- A free national education service
- Action to secure our environment
- Democracy in our economy
- Cut income and wealth inequality
- Act to end prejudice and injustice
- Peace and justice abroad
[Reprinted from Morning Star Online.]
Video: Jeremy Corbyn - 10 Pledges to rebuild and transform Britain. Official Jeremy Corbyn Channel.
Jeremy Corny's full speech
The prosperity that a few enjoy is not shared by the many. Our economic model is broken.
But there is immense potential in the skills and talents of our people and huge opportunities ahead of us in science, technology and culture. We could all be living richer lives in a sustainable, more prosperous and more caring society.
For too long, too many communities in Britain have been neglected, too many people's potential has been left untapped and their talents undeveloped.
We are going to invest in those communities and invest in our people
Britain risks being left behind. Don't take it from me the CBI says Britain has the worst infrastructure in the OECD.
That has not happened by accident. This is about a failure of our economic model it is the economic model of 'privatise and neglect'.
This government isn't the only one to blame but it is the most gratuitous, with their failed austerity model of turbo-Thatcherism.
George Osborne cut government investment the investment that provides a platform for people and businesses to thrive.
The Tory government cut research spending by £1 billion in real terms how on earth are we going to become a strong modern economy if we cut science funding?
They cut subsidies in renewables the energy of the future Germany and the US are pouring money into this.
That's why we have announced a National Investment Bank to help channel £500 billion of investment over the next decade.
We'll invest in housing to secure homes for people. We will invest in the high speed broadband businesses need and stop languishing behind Bulgaria and Romania.
We will invest in renewable energy to transition to a low carbon economy and keep the lights on We'll invest in our transport network to better connect our cities and towns, especially in the North.
And we'll invest in the sectors and industries that create the high wage, high skill, high productivity jobs of the future.
Britain has got to catch up or we will all be left behind. The neglect of our country must end. We need a Labour government that rebuilds and transforms Britain.
We will build an economy that works for all with good jobs in every part of the country.
2. Too many people in Britain today do not have a secure home. The number of families in temporary accommodation has risen every year under the Tories. Last year 100,000 children weren't living in a home they could call their own.
In every year under this Conservative government street homelessness has risen too.
This is the result of Tory neglect the lowest level of housebuilding since the 1920s and grotesque policies, like the benefit cap and the bedroom tax that force people out of a home.
Everyone deserves the right to a secure place to live. But too many are squeezed into poor quality housing, paying too much and getting too little.
Too many private tenants live at the mercy of an unforgiving property market where a few unscrupulous landlords have free reign.
And too many of our young people have no real prospect of ever owning their own home.
Many are unable to save for a mortgage because sky high rents take up too much of their wages and many people can't afford to buy because a rich few have turned housing into an investment opportunity
The Tories think £250,000 is affordable for starter home – £450,000 in London. They live in a different world out of touch with the reality of life for millions of people in Britain.
We will build at least a million decent, secure homes in our first term in office.
We will build at least half million council houses so that a new generation can enjoy the security of tenure and affordable rents that previous generations enjoyed.
For private renters we will legislate to introduce rent controls implemented by local authorities and bring back security of tenure.
So Labour gives a secure homes guarantee. And because we believe in joined up government we will use the National Investment Bank to give discounted loans for zero carbon homes and increase regulation to encourage low carbon homes.
3. And for millions of people work is no longer a source of stability but a source of anxiety.
For the six million people earning less than the living wage, for the hundreds of thousands of people on zero hours contracts who don't know when they'll be working.
As we rebuild and transform our country we will put an end to the exploitation and injustice of low-paid, insecure work. Our housebuilding programme will create 120,000 jobs a year.
Backed up by investment our industrial strategy will build the new, clean industries of the future, powering the transition to a low-carbon society and creating one million good, secure jobs to restore dignity at work and pride in our communities.
So Labour will tackle insecurity at home and at work backed up by strong employment and trade union rights: With strong equal rights for all workers from day one whether full-time or part-time permanent or temporary.
By ending zero hours contracts, by legislating for collective bargaining in large employers and across sectors and by ensuring Britain complies with ILO conventions. We will make work secure.
4. Our NHS is Labour's proudest creation but it is under threat like never before
From a Tory government that has legislated for ever increasing competition and privatisation and that has put the NHS in record deficit and on the brink of disaster in many areas.
They have cut public health spending cut mental health services and cut social care.
A&Es are in crisis, waiting times are rising.
Labour will repeal the Health & Social Care Act. we will renationalise the NHS, ending privatisation.
This is not another top-down reorganisation but working with NHS staff and managers to unpick the damage and waste of the Tories.
We will restore mental health services and create true parity of esteem.
We will integrate the NHS and social care for elderly and disabled people funding dignity across the board Labour will secure our NHS and social care.
5. Education and skills will be the cornerstone of any successful economy in the 21st century.
We will build a National Education Service open to all throughout their lives
We will not do what the Tories are doing slashing funding for adult education and colleges we will not increase fees for courses but cut them on the way to making education what it should be – an opportunity for all – the opportunity to improve you skills and open your mind.
When we invest £500 billion in our country that investment will come with strings attached on employers to create good quality apprenticeships.
Too many of what the Tories call apprenticeships are low quality excuses to pay young people below the minimum wage. We will stop that exploitation.
Working with employers, trade unions and sector skills councils we will give young people real opportunities to develop in high skill, high wage industries.
Joined up government and to give the next generation the best start in life and to help parents we will extend free hours towards universal childcare.
A national education service, open to all providing opportunity from cradle to grave.
6. Britain needs to get back on track with meeting our climate change goals.
Nearly 80% of our environmental protections came from the EU and we cannot allow the referendum vote to turn us back into the dirty old man of Europe.
Our National Investment Bank will drive the expansion of green industries accelerating the transition to a low carbon economy.
We have to manage that transition through an active industrial strategy to ensure that old skills aren't lost as well as new skills learned.
No one and nowhere must be left behind. We will democratise our energy by investment in community owned energy schemes literally devolving power energy for the 60 million not the Big Six.
Labour will take action to secure our environment.
7. As Tory austerity has ravaged our country it is the already most deprived areas that have been hit the hardest.
We will ensure our network of regional investment banks work to empower local councils given them the investment their communities need.
In housing, energy, yes, but also in parks, the arts and leisure. We will give councils more powers and remove obstacles to bring services back in-house.
And to re-regulate the buses and unlike the Tories who want to remove the right for councils to run municipal bus services Labour will encourage publicly owned and publicly responsive bus services.
Ending the legalised larceny of the privatised railways will also help to end rip-off Britain. Labour will put the public back into our economy and services.
8. When Labour was elected by a landslide in 1997 and relaxed about people becoming “filthy rich”, chief executives earned around 50 times the wage of their average worker. Now it's heading towards 200 times.
Britain's wages are the most unequal in Europe. We will boost the wages of the poorest through making the minimum wage the living wage with no exceptions and at least £10 per hour by 2020.
We will reconfigure our tax system to create a more equal society and clamp down hard on those who would avoid their taxes. Labour will raise £10 billion from tightening Corporation Tax reliefs and bringing headline rates back to levels in George Osborne's first term.
We will introduce mandatory equality pay audits to stop women, disabled people and BME workers from being exploited.
There is grotesque inequality in our society and the Labour government I lead will tackle it. Labour will cut income and wealth inequality.
9. Prejudice and discrimination still scar our society. The rise in racially-motivated violence and hate speech in the wake of the referendum vote should shame us all.
But the fact that institutional racism continues in our criminal justice system should shame us too. BME people are still more likely to be stopped and searched, more likely to be charged, more likely to be sentenced and more likely to receive a harsher sentence.
Domestic violence now makes up 15% of all crime and two women a week die at the hands of their partner or ex-partner.
Labour will ensure that refuges are properly funded that the criminal justice system treats women with sensitivity and respect and we will introduce compulsory lessons in schools that cover sex, consent and healthy relationships. And we will restore dignity and respect to a social security system that has penalised and demonised disabled people.
We stopped the £4.4 billion cuts to disabled people's Personal Independence Payments and we will end the indignity of the current Work Capability Assessment system.
And we will defend Labour's Human Rights Act. Labour will take action to secure a more equal society.
10. Conflict resolution and human rights must be at the heart of our foreign policy.
We will work through the United Nations and continue to work with the EU to co-ordinate our efforts including to tackle the appalling refugee crisis.
A month ago I apologised on behalf of our party for the war on Iraq – an aggressive war that left Britain and the world less safe and damaged our standing around the world.
But it is not enough to apologise. Labour must work for a more peaceful world – act to resolve conflict through diplomacy and dialogue.
But we must also speak out against injustice whether that's the atrocities being committed in Aleppo by Assad forces or the war crimes in Yemen committed by Saudi Arabia armed by Britain.
We must also build human rights into our international trade policy.
Labour will put peace and justice at the heart of foreign policy.
These are my pledges for a Labour government to transform and rebuild Britain. Transforming and rebuilding Britain physically, socially and morally.
Labour will ensure that no one and nowhere is left behind. With the talent and the skill in this country, Britain can achieve so much more. Thank you for coming here today.
[Reposted from LabourList.]