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Home , East Midlands

LABOUR’S MANIFESTO FOR THE EAST FOREWORD

Britain needs a government that works The wealthy and powerful who have the for the whole country. When Labour system rigged in their favour will tell you says we stand for the many not the that real change isn’t possible. They’ll few, we mean we will build a fairer say it’s unrealistic. They’ll say we cannot country, where no one is held back and afford decent housing, free education, every community has its fair share of or well-paid, secure jobs. wealth and power. But we know change is not only The harmful inequality that scars our possible, but necessary. This election society is not an act of God or a law is our last chance to tackle the climate of physics. It is the result of deliberate and environmental emergency and Conservative government policy that a once in a generation chance to has made us one of the most unequal transform our country, take on the countries in Europe – both between vested interests and ensure that no the billionaires at the very top and community is left behind everybody else, and between the So the next Labour government will different parts of the UK. rebuild our economy and bring our It’s time to bring a divided country country back together by kick-starting together so we can get on with a Green Industrial Revolution that will delivering the real change Britain needs. make every region a world-leader in To drive that change we will unleash green industries - the cutting edge a record investment blitz, getting the industries of the future. economy moving in every corner of our Labour will put wealth and power in country. the hands of the many. Boris Johnson’s This is about the jobs at the end of your Conservatives, who think they’re born to road. It’s about breathing new life into rule, will only look after the privileged few. your area; reviving your high street; So we’re going after the tax dodgers. restoring the pride to your community. We’re going after the dodgy landlords. Our investment blitz will upgrade We’re going after the bad bosses. We’re our infrastructure in every town, going after the big polluters. Because we city and region, and rebuild our schools, know whose side we’re on - your side. hospitals, care homes and housing. And when Labour wins, the nurse wins, This is investment on a scale our the pensioner wins, the student wins, country has never known. the office worker wins, the engineer Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives wins. Every region wins. We all win. tried to wipe out British industry in the 1980s. This Conservative government is continuing that legacy. Over the last decade almost half a million Jeremy Corbyn, manufacturing jobs have been lost. Leader of the Labour Party

2 ON YOUR SIDE 1. INTRODUCTION

Labour will unlock the potential of We will kick start a Green Industrial everyone by building a fairer Britain. Revolution that will tackle the climate A Britain in which we care for each crisis while creating 60,000 good jobs other, in which wealth and power in the and expanding are shared, and in which every part the steel, automotive and renewable of the country gets its fair share of energy industries. investment and its say in shaping our future. We will make sure everyone has enough to live on and eradicate Years of under-investment and neglect in-work poverty in our first term by by Westminster have left too many tackling the causes of poverty and parts of the East Midlands stuck with inequality, such as low pay and high underpaid jobs, low productivity and living costs, while raising the floor slow growth. provided by our social safety net.

Under the Tories, too many people in We will rebuild our public services the East Midlands are struggling to and make them the best and most make ends meet or finding that work extensive in the world, paid for by is no longer a way out of poverty. creating a fairer taxation system Across the UK pay has stagnated in which those with the broadest while insecurity and inequality have shoulders pay a little more and risen. Wages are still lower than before everyone pays what they owe. the financial crisis, while across the country dividends paid to shareholders Labour is on the East Midlands’ side. are up 85%.

A decade of Tory cuts has pushed public services in the East Midlands to breaking point.

Labour has a plan to deliver real change for the East Midlands.

EAST MIDLANDS 3 2. Top commitments for the East Midlands

• £9 billion new investment from Labour’s Green Transformation Fund including electric vehicles, a steel recycling plant in and the Midlands Mainline • Connect 1.9 million households and businesses to full-fibre Broadband • 60,000 new high skilled green jobs • 9,000 new council and social homes a year by the end of the parliament • An immediate pay rise for 604,000 workers aged 16 and over

4 ON YOUR SIDE 3. Transforming the East Midlands

3.1 Labour’s Green Industrial • Investing in the offshore and onshore Revolution wind supply chain.

Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution • Investing in the electric vehicle supply will make the East Midlands wealthier chain and the electric vehicle charging and healthier, putting our economy network, protecting 11,000 workers and climate on a stable footing to directly employed in the automotive thrive in the 21st century. sector in the East Midlands while reducing emissions and improving air From the world’s first water-powered quality. cotton spinning mill, to the coalfields of and , to the • New plastic recycling facilities, match development of the , the East funded by the private sector, so that Midlands is renowned for its industry the UK no longer relies on exporting its and inventiveness. plastic waste to the rest of world.

But the absence of a coherent industrial • Small-scale, community-level and strategy and the threat of a Tory no- large-scale solar power, creating over deal threatens that legacy. 1,800 jobs locally.

Labour will kickstart a Green Industrial • Upgrading the internet connection of Revolution to transform the prospects 1.9 million households and businesses of the East Midlands and its people, to Full-Fibre Broadband – the highest investing £9 billion out of Labour’s possible standard of connectivity. Green Transformation Fund. This • Planting more than 49 million new includes: trees across the East Midlands by • Upgrading almost all of the 2 million 2024, creating 16,600 hectares of households across the East Midlands, new forest in areas such as Sherwood reducing bills, eliminating the vast Forest. majority of fuel poverty, and making If you live, work or do business in the our homes healthier and more East Midlands you will benefit from comfortable. Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution. • A strategy for UK steel, including It will mean 60,000 new skilled, well- investing to build a scrap steel paid jobs in the East Midlands that will recycling plant in Corby, safeguarding last long into the future. Labour’s new 4,000 existing steel jobs and creating climate apprenticeships will ensure a further 1,100 new jobs.

EAST MIDLANDS 5 local people can access these jobs and Labour will end this unfairness by become the engineers, technicians and investing to improve public transport construction workers of tomorrow. across the East Midlands, including electrification of the It will mean new opportunities for north of and west businesses working across the region, of to improve connectivity such as those specialising in renovation between and . and home maintenance and a growing local economy, with new wealth rippling out across all sectors. 3.3 Devolving Spending And because Labour will take a public Labour will make sure that investment is stake in new projects, we will improve spread evenly across the whole country towns and cities across the East by giving powers and funding to the Midlands by reinvesting profits in our East Midlands. We will bring about a public spaces. radical shift of power in Britain away from Westminster so that local people and communities have more control 3.2 Local transport over their own lives and prospects. For these new green industries to We will create an Office of Government flourish and grow, and for the hundreds in the East Midlands to co-ordinate of thousands of new green jobs to be policies at the regional level, and accessible to communities across the ensure the East Midlands has a voice East Midlands, they must be connected in Whitehall. A Local Transformation to the wider economy. This requires Fund will be used exclusively to fund decent public transport. infrastructure projects decided at a local The East Midlands has seen years of level by people in the East Midlands. underfunding in all forms of transport. Labour will create an East Midlands Spending per person was £773 lower Development Bank to make sure than in last year. the East Midlands gets its share of If the Tories win the General Election, investment for small businesses, transport funding to the East Midlands infrastructure projects and funding for will continue to be £2,895 per head new growth industries. Priorities for lower than in London over the years lending will be set by boards made up ahead. of key local stakeholders such as local chambers of commerce, trade unions Over the last decade we’ve seen the and councillors giving the East Midlands number of bus journeys reduce by 12% a new and powerful lever to rebuild its in the East Midlands. economy on its own terms.

6 ON YOUR SIDE Under the Tories, bank branches are closing, small businesses are struggling to access finance, and high streets are being decimated by store closures and job losses.

Labour’s new publicly owned Post Bank, run through the Post Office network, will provide loans for small businesses, co-ops and social enterprises. 265 Post Office branches across the East Midlands will host the Post Bank, providing the people of the East Midlands with face-to-face, trusted and affordable banking and free support and advice on how to launch, manage and grow a business.

EAST MIDLANDS 7 4. Work and social security

Work should provide a decent life for hour contracts and giving workers a all, guaranteeing not just dignity and right to a contract that reflects the respect in the workplace, but also the hours they regularly work. income and leisure time to allow for a The Tories’ flagship social security fulfilling life outside it. programme, Universal Credit (UC) has Labour will rapidly introduce a Real been a catastrophe. It has pushed Living Wage of £10 an hour giving a pay thousands of people into poverty, rise to approximately 604,000 workers caused families to lose their homes and aged 16 and over, across the East forced parents to visit food banks in Midlands, and use the savings to the order to feed their children. public finances to help small businesses Labour will scrap UC and replace it manage the extra cost. with a system dedicated to dignity, We will end insecure and precarious universalism and ending poverty. work for approximately 92,000 people We will spare 430,000 people in the in the East Midlands by banning zero- East Midlands set to be on UC by

8 ON YOUR SIDE immediately stopping people moving onto it and designing an alternative system that treats people with dignity and respect.

Over the course of three years we will end people’s dependence on food banks. In 2018/19, Trussell Trust food banks handed out 76,000 three-day emergency food parcels to people in crisis across the East Midlands. That included 28,000 parcels to children.

We will also bring justice to 279,000 women born in the 1950s across the East Midlands whose State Pension age has been unfairly changed by the Tories. We have a historic debt of honour to them and Labour will offer pay-outs of up to £31,000, with an average of £15,000, to compensate them.

We will maintain the Triple Lock on state pensions, protecting the incomes of 902,000 pensioners across the East Midlands.

The Tory decision to u-turn on their manifesto pledge and end the free TV license for over-75s is set to affect almost 304,000 households across the East Midlands, costing pensioners in the region a total of £45 million. Labour will reverse this cruel and unnecessary cut, and restore free TV licences for over-75s.

EAST MIDLANDS 9 5. Public Services

5.1 National Education Service That’s why our National Education Service will be at the of Labour’s Education makes our economy plan for real change stronger, our society richer and our people more fulfilled. Whether it is We will reverse cuts to Sure Start so businesses finding people with the that all communities across the East right skills, a tech start-up making Midlands have access to a Sure Start our economy more dynamic or more centre in their area. people in better paid work and able to We will give all 2, 3 and 4-year olds 30 contribute to public services, we all hours of free preschool education per benefit from an educated society. week and access to additional hours at The Conservatives have starved affordable, subsidised rates staggered our education system of funding, with incomes. In the East Midlands this transferring costs onto students, staff will provide free childcare to almost and communities and those in need 144,000 children, saving families have lost out most. between £388 and £5,208 a year.

10 ON YOUR SIDE As a result of Tory underfunding there the number of people waiting for are now 1,887 unqualified teachers an operation has now reached over across the East Midlands and over 749,000. 48,000 primary school children in Since 2010, the number of people over-sized classes. waiting longer than 4 hours in A&E has Labour will make sure schools are soared. In the first 6 months of 2019/20, properly funded to guarantee that over 373,000 people waited more than every school in the East Midlands has a 4 hours in A&E in the Midlands. qualified teacher in front of every class A Labour government will invest in the and is open a full five days a week, and NHS to give patients the modern, well- to cap primary school class sizes at 30. resourced services they need. We will As a result of Tory failure there are now increase expenditure across the health an extra 59,000 children in working sector by an average 4.3% a year. households living in poverty in the We will end the social care crisis that East Midlands. To tackle this crisis, has left 1.5 million elderly people across Labour will ‘poverty-proof’ schools, the country without the care they providing a free school meal to almost need. A Labour government will build a 407,000 primary school children in the comprehensive National Care Service East Midlands, encouraging breakfast for . clubs, and tackling the cost of school uniforms. We will start by providing free personal care to all older people who need it, and seek to extend this to all working- 5.2 NHS and Social Care age adults.

The National Health Service is one of Labour’s proudest 5.3 Police and crime achievements. The right to free-at- the-point-of-use healthcare, universal Government has a duty to keep and comprehensive in scope, is people safe. Our communities were socialism in action. endangered when the Conservatives took 1,535 police officers off the A decade of Tory health cuts and streets of the East Midlands. privatisations has pushed our greatest institution to the brink. Our hospitals Government funding to police services are crumbling, we have a shortage of has been cut by £216 million across 43,000 nurses, and patients are left forces in the East Midlands. As a result waiting far too long. there are 1,535 fewer officers, 267 fewer police community support officers and In the Midlands Commissioning Region, 1,605 fewer police staff.

EAST MIDLANDS 11 In the last year, recorded crime across the East Midlands increased by 15%, including violence which is up 39% and robbery which has increased 39%. Over the past five years, knife crime in the East Midlands has risen by 86%.

Last year the police recorded over 6 million offences, but the proportion leading to a charge or summons fell to its lowest level on record – thanks to Tory cuts, less than one in ten crimes now lead to a suspect being charged.

A Labour government will invest in policing to prevent crime and make our communities safer.

Across the country we will rebuild the whole police workforce, recruiting more police officers, police community support officers and other staff. We will re-establish neighbourhood policing and recruit 2,000 more frontline officers than the Conservatives.

In addition to our commitment to recruit more frontline officers, we will guarantee a nationwide network of youth clubs and other services for young people as a way of tackling problems such as mental ill-health and school exclusions, as well as involvement in knife and drug crime.

12 ON YOUR SIDE 6. Communities, Local Government and Housing

Tory cuts, which have been The country is facing a housing crisis. deliberately targeted at the poorest The number of socially rented homes areas of the country, have plunged our built has fallen over the past decade councils into crisis and pushed many by 2,905 to 385 last year in the East services to breaking point. The East Midlands, while private rent has gone Midlands has seen 26% of funding up by an average of £1,668 over the stripped from council budgets by last 10 years. Labour will be building consecutive Tory governments. approximately 9,000 new council and social homes in the East Midlands a Labour will reverse the Tory decade of year by the end of the parliament. austerity for local government and aim to restore council spending powers Labour will also deliver new discounted to 2010 levels over the lifetime of the homes for first-time buyers and a new Parliament, meaning more money for charter of rights for private renters. key local services such as libraries and bin collections.

EAST MIDLANDS 13 No one should sleep without a roof over their head in one of the richest countries in the world. But under the Tories, the number of people sleeping rough has more than doubled.

In the East Midlands, at least 358 people slept rough last year. Labour will end rough sleeping within five years, with a national plan driven by a Prime Minister-led taskforce.

We will tackle the wider causes of homelessness, raising the Local Housing Allowance in line with the 30th percentile of local rents, and earmarking an additional £1 billion a year for councils’ homelessness services.

14 ON YOUR SIDE 7. Environment

Nearly a decade of Tory neglect has and Nottingham among the worst led to more litter on our streets, with polluted parts of the country. The Tories reported incidences of fly-tipping have lost in court three times over rising by 71 per cent across the East their failure to reduce air pollution, but Midlands. Labour will introduce a new Clean Air Act to tackle the problem head-on. In government, Labour will implement a comprehensive Waste and Recycling We will increase funding for existing Strategy, investing £200 million in National Parks including the Peak new plastics recycling facilities for the District. and introducing new measures such as bottle recycling schemes.

More than 1.9 million people across the East Midlands live in areas where air quality is illegally poor, with Leicester

EAST MIDLANDS 15 13123_19 Reproduced from electronic media by Jennie Formby, General Secretary, the Labour Party, 16 on behalf of the Labour Party, both at Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT. ON YOUR SIDE