---
election_year: 1997
party_id: labour
party_name: Labour Party
party_leader: Tony Blair
political_spectrum: centre-left
victory: true
government_outcome: majority
sections:
  - economy
  - taxation
  - health
  - education
  - housing
  - defence
  - foreign-policy
  - environment
  - transport
  - law-and-order
  - welfare
  - democracy-and-constitution
  - energy
  - science-and-technology
  - local-government
---


# Labour Party Manifesto 1997

## new Labour because Britain deserves better

## Britain will be better with new Labour

'Our case is simple: that Britain can and must be better'

'The vision is one of national renewal, a country with drive, purpose and energy'

'In each area of policy a new and distinctive approach has been mapped out, one that
differs from the old left and the Conservative right. This is why new Labour is new'

'New Labour is a party of ideas and ideals but not of outdated ideology. What counts is
what works. The objectives are radical. The means will be modern'

' This is our contract with the people'

I believe in Britain. It is a great country with a great history. The British people are a
great people. But I believe Britain can and must be better: better schools, better
hospitals, better ways of tackling crime, of building a modern welfare state, of equipping
ourselves for a new world economy.

I want a Britain that is one nation, with shared values and purpose, where merit comes
before privilege, run for the many not the few, strong and sure of itself at home and abroad.

I want a Britain that does not shuffle into the new millennium afraid of the future, but
strides into it with confidence.

I want to renew our country's faith in the ability of its government and politics to deliver
this new Britain. I want to do it by making a limited set of important promises and achieving
them. This is the purpose of the bond of trust I set out at the end of this introduction, in
which ten specific commitments are put before you. Hold us to them. They are our covenant
with you.

I want to renew faith in politics by being honest about the last 18 years. Some things the
Conservatives got right. We will not change them. It is where they got things wrong that
we will make change. We have no intention or desire to replace one set of dogmas by another.

I want to renew faith in politics through a government that will govern in the interest of
the many, the broad majority of people who work hard, play by the rules, pay their dues and
feel let down by a political system that gives the breaks to the few, to an elite at the top
increasingly out of touch with the rest of us.

And I want, above all, to govern in a way that brings our country together, that unites our
nation in facing the tough and dangerous challenges of the new economy and changed society
in which we must live. I want a Britain which we all feel part of, in whose future we all
have a stake, in which what I want for my own children I want for yours.

## A new politics

The reason for having created new Labour is to meet the challenges of a different world.
The millennium symbolises a new era opening up for Britain. I am confident about our
future prosperity, even optimistic, if we have the courage to change and use it to build
a better Britain.

To accomplish this means more than just a change of government. Our aim is no less than
to set British political life on a new course for the future.

People *are* cynical about politics and distrustful of political promises. That is
hardly surprising. There have been few more gross breaches of faith than when the
Conservatives under Mr Major promised, before the election of 1992, that they would not
raise taxes, but would cut them every year; and then went on to raise them by the largest
amount in peacetime history starting in the first Budget after the election. The Exchange
Rate Mechanism as the cornerstone of economic policy, Europe, health, crime, schools,
sleaze - the broken promises are strewn across the country's memory.

The Conservatives' broken promises taint all politics. That is why we have made it our
guiding rule not to promise what we cannot deliver; and to deliver what we promise. What
follows is not the politics of a 100 days that dazzles for a time, then fizzles out. It is
not the politics of a revolution, but of a fresh start, the patient rebuilding and renewing
of this country - renewal that can take root and build over time.

That is one way in which politics in Britain will gain a new lease of life. But there is
another. We aim to put behind us the bitter political struggles of left and right that
have torn our country apart for too many decades. Many of these conflicts have no
relevance whatsoever to the modern world - public versus private, bosses versus workers,
middle class versus working class. It is time for this country to move on and move forward.
We are proud of our history, proud of what we have achieved - but we must learn from our
history, not be chained to it.

## New Labour

The purpose of new Labour is to give Britain a different political choice: the choice
between a failed Conservative government, exhausted and divided in everything other than
its desire to cling on to power, and a new and revitalised Labour Party that has been
resolute in transforming itself into a party of the future. We have rewritten our
constitution, the new Clause IV, to put a commitment to enterprise alongside the commitment
to justice. We have changed the way we make policy, and put our relations with the trade
unions on a modern footing where they accept they can get fairness but no favours from a
Labour government. Our MPs are all now selected by ordinary party members, not small
committees or pressure groups. The membership itself has doubled, to over 400,000, with
half the members having joined since the last election.

We submitted our draft manifesto, new Labour new life for Britain, to a ballot of all our
members, 95 per cent of whom gave it their express endorsement.

We are a national party, supported today by people from all walks of life, from the
successful businessman or woman to the pensioner on a council estate. Young people have
flooded in to join us in what is the fastest growing youth section of any political party
in the western world.

## The vision

We are a broad-based movement for progress and justice. New Labour is the political arm of
none other than the British people as a whole. Our values are the same: the equal worth of
all, with no one cast aside; fairness and justice within strong communities.

But we have liberated these values from outdated dogma or doctrine, and we have applied
these values to the modern world.

I want a country in which people get on, do well, make a success of their lives. I have no
time for the politics of envy. We need more successful entrepreneurs, not fewer of them.
But these life-chances should be for all the people. And I want a society in which ambition
and compassion are seen as partners not opposites - where we value public service as well
as material wealth.

New Labour believes in a society where we do not simply pursue our own individual aims but
where we hold many aims in common and work together to achieve them. How we build the
industry and employment opportunities of the future; how we tackle the division and
inequality in our society; how we care for and enhance our environment and quality of life;
how we develop modern education and health services; how we create communities that are
safe, where mutual respect and tolerance are the order of the day. These are things we must
achieve together as a country.

The vision is one of national renewal, a country with drive, purpose and energy. A Britain
equipped to prosper in a global economy of technological change; with a modern welfare state;
its politics more accountable; and confident of its place in the world.

## Programme: a new centre and centre-left politics

In each area of policy a new and distinctive approach has been mapped out, one that differs
both from the solutions of the old left and those of the Conservative right. This is why
new Labour is new. We believe in the strength of our values, but we recognise also that the
policies of 1997 cannot be those of 1947 or 1967. More detailed policy has been produced by
us than by any opposition in history. Our direction and destination are clear.

The old left would have sought state control of industry. The Conservative right is content
to leave all to the market. We reject both approaches. Government and industry must work
together to achieve key objectives aimed at enhancing the dynamism of the market, not
undermining it.

In **industrial relations**, we make it clear that there will be no return to flying
pickets, secondary action, strikes with no ballots or the trade union law of the 1970s.
There will instead be basic minimum rights for the individual at the workplace, where
our aim is partnership not conflict between employers and employees.

In **economic management**, we accept the global economy as a reality and reject the
isolationism and 'go-it-alone' policies of the extremes of right or left.

In **education**, we reject both the idea of a return to the 11-plus and the monolithic
comprehensive schools that take no account of children's differing abilities. Instead we
favour all-in schooling which identifies the distinct abilities of individual pupils and
organises them in classes to maximise their progress in individual subjects. In this way
we modernise the comprehensive principle, learning from the experience of its 30 years of
application.

In **health** policy, we will safeguard the basic principles of the NHS, which we
founded, but will not return to the top-down management of the 1970s. So we will keep
the planning and provision of healthcare separate, but put planning on a longer-term,
decentralised and more co-operative basis. The key is to root out unnecessary
administrative cost, and to spend money on the right things - frontline care.

On **crime**, we believe in personal responsibility and in punishing crime, but also
tackling its underlying causes - so, tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime,
different from the Labour approach of the past and the Tory policy of today.

Over-centralisation of **government** and lack of accountability was a problem in
governments of both left and right. Labour is committed to the democratic renewal of our
country through decentralisation and the elimination of excessive government secrecy.

In addition, we will face up to the new issues that confront us. We will be the party of
**welfare reform**. In consultation and partnership with the people, we will design a
modern welfare state based on rights and duties going together, fit for the modern world.

We will stand up for Britain's interests in **Europe** after the shambles of the last
six years, but, more than that, we will lead a campaign for reform in Europe. Europe isn't
working in the way this country and Europe need. But to lead means to be involved, to be
constructive, to be capable of getting our own way.

We will put concern for the **environment** at the heart of policy-making, so that it is
not an add-on extra, but informs the whole of government, from housing and energy policy
through to global warming and international agreements.

We will search out at every turn new ways and new ideas to tackle the new issues: how to
encourage more flexible working hours and practices to suit employees and employers alike;
how to harness the huge potential of the new information technology; how to simplify the
processes of the government machine; how to put public and private sector together in
partnership to give us the infrastructure and transport system we need.

We will be a radical government. But the definition of radicalism will not be that of
doctrine, whether of left or right, but of achievement. New Labour is a party of ideas
and ideals but not of outdated ideology. What counts is what works. The objectives are
radical. The means will be modern.

So the party is transformed. The vision is
clear. And from that vision stems a modern programme of change and renewal for Britain.
We understand that after 18 years of one-party rule, people want change, believe that it
is necessary for the country and for democracy, but require faith to make the change.

We therefore set out in the manifesto that follows ten commitments, commitments that form
our bond of trust with the people. They are specific. They are real. Judge us on them.
Have trust in us and we will repay that trust.

Our mission in politics is to rebuild this bond of trust between government and the people.
That is the only way democracy can flourish. I pledge to Britain a government which shares
their hopes, which understands their fears, and which will work as partners with and for
all our people, not just the privileged few. This is our contract with the people.

**Over the five years of a Labour government:**

- **Education will be our number one priority, and we will increase the share
 of national income spent on education as we decrease it on the bills of economic
 and social failure**

- **There will be no increase in the basic or top rates of income tax**

- **We will provide stable economic growth with low inflation, and promote
 dynamic and competitive business and industry at home and abroad**

- **We will get 250,000 young unemployed off benefit and into work**

- **We will rebuild the NHS, reducing spending on administration and
 increasing spending on patient care**

- **We will be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, and halve
 the time it takes persistent juvenile offenders to come to court**

- **We will help build strong families and strong communities, and lay the
 foundations of a modern welfare state in pensions and community care**

- **We will safeguard our environment, and develop an integrated transport
 policy to fight congestion and pollution**

- **We will clean up politics, decentralise political power throughout the
 United Kingdom and put the funding of political parties on a proper and
 accountable basis**

- **We will give Britain the leadership in Europe which Britain and Europe
 need**

We have modernised the Labour Party and we will modernise Britain. This means knowing where
we want to go; being clear-headed about the country's future; telling the truth; making
tough choices; insisting that all parts of the public sector live within their means;
taking on vested interests that hold people back; standing up to unreasonable demands from
any quarter; and being prepared to give a moral lead where government has responsibilities
it should not avoid.

Britain does deserve better. And new Labour will be better for Britain.

**Tony Blair**

A copy of the manifesto is available in Braille and on cassette.
Please phone 0171 277 3410

Visit Labour's general election website at

## We will make education our number one priority

- Cut class sizes to 30 or under for 5, 6 and 7 year-olds

- Nursery places for all four year-olds

- Attack low standards in schools

- Access to computer technology

- Lifelong learning through a new University for Industry

- More spending on education as the cost of unemployment falls

Education has been the Tories' biggest failure. It is Labour's number one priority.

It is not just good for the individual. It is an economic necessity for the nation. We will
compete successfully on the basis of quality or not at all. And quality comes from
developing the potential of all our people. It is the people who are our greatest natural
asset. We will ensure they can fulfil their potential.

Nearly half of 11 year-olds in England and Wales fail to reach expected standards in English
and maths. Britain has a smaller share of 17 and 18 year-olds in full-time education than
any major industrial nation. Nearly two thirds of the British workforce lack vocational
qualifications.

There are excellent schools in Britain's state education system. But far too many children
are denied the opportunity to succeed. Our task is to raise the standards of every school.

We will put behind us the old arguments that have bedevilled education in this country. We
reject the Tories' obsession with school structures: all parents should be offered real
choice through good quality schools, each with its own strengths and individual ethos.
There should be no return to the 11-plus. It divides children into successes and failures
at far too early an age.

We must modernise comprehensive schools. Children are not all of the same ability, nor do
they learn at the same speed. That means 'setting' children in classes to maximise progress,
for the benefit of high-fliers and slower learners alike. The focus must be on levelling up,
not levelling down.

With Labour, the Department for Education and Employment will become a leading office of
state. It will give a strong and consistent lead to help raise standards in every school.
Standards, more than structures, are the key to success. Labour will never put dogma before
children's education. Our approach will be to intervene where there are problems, not where
schools are succeeding.

Labour will never force the abolition of good schools whether in the private or state sector.
Any changes in the admissions policies of grammar schools will be decided by local parents.
Church schools will retain their distinctive religious ethos.

We wish to build bridges wherever we can across education divides. The educational apartheid
created by the public/private divide diminishes the whole education system.

## Zero tolerance of underperformance

Every school has the capacity to succeed. All Local Education Authorities (LEAs) must
demonstrate that every school is improving. For those failing schools unable to improve,
ministers will order a 'fresh start' - close the school and start afresh on the same site.
Where good schools and bad schools coexist side by side we will authorise LEAs to allow
one school to take over the other to set the underperforming school on a new path.

## Quality nursery education guaranteed for all four year-olds

Nursery vouchers have been proven not to work. They are costly and do not generate more
quality nursery places. We will use the money saved by scrapping nursery vouchers to
guarantee places for four year-olds. We will invite selected local authorities to pilot
early excellence centres combining education and care for the under-fives. We will set
targets for universal provision for three year-olds whose parents want it.

## New focus on standards in primary schools

Primary schools are the key to mastering the basics and developing in every child an
eagerness to learn.

Every school needs baseline assessment of pupils when they enter the school, and a
year-on-year target for improvement.

We will reduce class sizes for five, six and seven year-olds to 30 or under, by phasing out
the assisted places scheme, the cost of which is set to rise to £180 million per year.

We must recognise the three 'r's for what they are - building blocks of all learning that
must be taught better. We will achieve this by improving the skills of the teaching force;
ensuring a stronger focus on literacy in the curriculum; and piloting literacy summer
schools to meet our new target that within a decade every child leaves primary school with
a reading age of at least 11 (barely half do today).

Our numeracy taskforce will develop equally ambitious targets. We will encourage the use of
the most effective teaching methods, including phonics for reading and whole class
interactive teaching for maths.

## Attacking educational disadvantage

No matter where a school is, Labour will not tolerate under-achievement.

Public/private partnerships will improve the condition of school buildings.

There will be education action zones to attack low standards by recruiting the best
teachers and head teachers to under-achieving schools; by supporting voluntary mentoring
schemes to provide one-to-one support for disadvantaged pupils; and by creating new
opportunities for children, after the age of 14, to enhance their studies by acquiring
knowledge and experience within industry and commerce.

To attack under-achievement in urban areas, we have developed a new scheme with the Premier
League. In partnerships between central government, local government and football clubs,
study support centres will be set up at Premier League grounds for the benefit of local
children. The scheme will be launched on a pilot basis during the 1997/8 season.

We support the greatest possible integration into mainstream education of pupils with special
educational needs, while recognising that specialist facilities are essential to meet
particular needs.

## Realising the potential of new technology

Labour is the pioneer of new thinking. We have agreed with British Telecom and the cable
companies that they will wire up schools, libraries, colleges and hospitals to the
information superhighway free of charge. We have also secured agreement to make access
charges as low as possible.

For the Internet we plan a National Grid for Learning, franchised as a public/private
partnership, which will bring to teachers up-to-date materials to enhance their skills, and
to children high-quality educational materials. We will use lottery money to improve the
skills of existing teachers in information technology.

In opposition, Labour set up the independent Stevenson Commission to promote access for
children to new technology. Its recent report is a challenging programme for the future. We
are urgently examining how to implement its plans, in particular the development of
educational software through a grading system which will provide schools with guarantees
of product quality; and the provision for every child of an individual email address. An
independent standing committee will continue to advise us on the implementation of our
plans in government.

**The role of parents**

We will increase the powers and responsibilities of parents.

There will be more parent governors and, for the first time, parent representatives on LEAs.

A major objective is to promote a culture of responsibility for learning within the family,
through contracts between all schools and parents, defining the responsibilities of each.
National guidelines will establish minimum periods for homework for primary and secondary
school pupils.

Teachers will be entitled to positive support from parents to promote good attendance and
sound discipline. Schools suffer from unruly and disruptive pupils. Exclusion or suspension
may sometimes be necessary. We will, however, pilot new pupil referral units so that
schools are protected but these pupils are not lost to education or the country.

## New job description for LEAs

The judge and jury of LEA performance will be their contribution to raising standards.

LEAs are closer to schools than central government, and have the authority of being locally
elected. But they will be required to devolve power, and more of their budgets, to heads and
governors. LEA performance will be inspected by Ofsted and the Audit Commission. Where
authorities are deemed to be failing, the secretary of state may suspend the relevant powers
of the LEA and send in an improvement team.

## Grant maintained schools

Schools that are now grant maintained will prosper with Labour's proposals, as will every
school.

Tory claims that Labour will close these schools are false. The system of
funding will not discriminate unfairly either between schools or between pupils. LEAs will
be represented on governing bodies, but will not control them. We support guidelines for
open and fair admissions, along the lines of those introduced in 1993; but we will also
provide a right of appeal to an independent panel in disputed cases.

## Teachers: pressure and support

Schools are critically dependent on the quality of all staff. The majority of teachers are
skilful and dedicated, but some fall short. We will improve teacher training, and ensure
that all teachers have an induction year when they first qualify, to ensure their
suitability for teaching.

There will be a general teaching council to speak for and raise standards in the profession.
We will create a new grade of teachers to recognise the best. There will, however, be speedy,
but fair, procedures to remove teachers who cannot do the job.

The strength of a school is critically dependent on the quality of its head. We will
establish mandatory qualifications for the post. A head teacher will be appointed to a
position only when fully trained to accept the responsibility.

## Higher education

The improvement and expansion needed cannot be funded out of general taxation. Our proposals
for funding have been made to the Dearing Committee, in line with successful policies
abroad.

The costs of student maintenance should be repaid by graduates on an income-related basis,
from the career success to which higher education has contributed. The current system is
badly administered and payback periods are too short. We will provide efficient
administration, with fairness ensured by longer payback periods where required.

## Lifelong learning

We must learn throughout life, to retain employment through new and improved skills. We will
promote adult learning both at work and in the critical sector of further education.

In schools and colleges, we support broader A-levels and upgraded vocational qualifications,
underpinned by rigorous standards and key skills.

Employers have the primary responsibility for training their workforces in job-related
skills. But individuals should be given the power to invest in training. We will invest
public money for training in Individual Learning Accounts which individuals - for example
women returning to the labour force - can then use to gain the skills they want. We will
kickstart the programme for up to a million people, using £150 million of TEC money
which could be better used and which would provide a contribution of £150, alongside
individuals making small investments of their own. Employers will be encouraged to make
voluntary contributions to these funds. We will also promote the extension of the Investors
in People initiative into many more small firms.

Our new University for Industry, collaborating with the Open University, will bring new
opportunities to adults seeking to develop their potential. This will bring government,
industry and education together to create a new resource whose remit will be to use new
technology to enhance skills and education. The University for Industry will be a
public/private partnership, commissioning software and developing the links to extend
lifelong learning.

## Government spending on education

The Conservatives have cut government spending on education as a share of national income
by the equivalent of more than £3 billion as spending on the bills of economic and
social failure has risen. We are committed to reversing this trend of spending. Over the
course of a five-year Parliament, as we cut the costs of economic and social failure we
will raise the proportion of national income spent on education.

## We will promote personal prosperity for all

- Economic stability to promote investment

- Tough inflation target, mortgage rates as low as possible

- Stick for two years within existing spending limits

- Five-year pledge: no increase in income tax rates

- Long-term objective of ten pence starting rate of income tax

- Early Budget to get people off welfare and into work

The Conservatives have in 18 years created the two longest, deepest recessions this century.

We have experienced the slowest average growth rate of any similar period since the second
world war. There has been a fundamental failure to tackle the underlying causes of inflation,
of low growth and of unemployment. These are:

- too much economic instability, with wild swings from boom to bust

- too little investment in education and skills, and in the application of
 new technologies

- too few opportunities to find jobs, start new businesses or become
 self-employed

- too narrow an industrial base and too little sense of common purpose in the
 workplace or across the nation.

Britain can do better. We must build on the British qualities of inventiveness, creativity
and adaptability. New Labour's objective is to improve living standards for the many, not
just the few. Business can and must succeed in raising productivity. This requires a
combination of a skilled and educated workforce with investment in the latest technological
innovations, as the route to higher wages and employment.

An explicit objective of a Labour government will be to raise the trend rate of growth by
strengthening our wealth-creating base. We will nurture investment in industry, skills,
infrastructure and new technologies. And we will attack long-term unemployment, especially
among young people. Our goal will be educational and employment opportunities for all.

Economic stability is the essential platform for sustained growth. In a global economy the
route to growth is stability not inflation. The priority must be stable, low-inflation
conditions for long-term growth. The root causes of inflation and low growth are the same -
an economic and industrial base that remains weak. Government cannot solve all economic
problems or end the economic cycle. But by spending wisely and taxing fairly, government
can help tackle the problems. Our goals are low inflation, rising living standards and high
and stable levels of employment.

## Spending and tax: new Labour's approach

The myth that the solution to every problem is increased spending has been comprehensively
dispelled under the Conservatives. Spending has risen. But more spending has brought neither
greater fairness nor less poverty. Quite the reverse - our society is more divided than it
has been for generations. The level of public spending is no longer the best measure of
the effectiveness of government action in the public interest. It is what money is actually
spent on that counts more than how much money is spent.

The national debt has doubled under John Major. The public finances remain weak. A new Labour
government will give immediate high priority to seeing how public money can be better used.

New Labour will be wise spenders, not big spenders. We will work in partnership with the
private sector to achieve our goals. We will ask about public spending the first question
that a manager in any company would ask - can existing resources be used more effectively
to meet our priorities? And because efficiency and value for money are central, ministers
will be required to save before they spend.

Save to invest is our approach, not tax and spend.

The increase in taxes under the Conservatives is the most dramatic evidence of economic
failure. Since 1992 the typical family has paid more than £2,000 in extra taxes -
the biggest tax hike in peacetime history, breaking every promise made by John Major at
the last election. The tragedy is that those hardest hit are least able to pay. That is
why we strongly opposed the imposition of VAT on fuel: it was Labour that stopped the
government from increasing VAT on fuel to 17. 5 per cent.

Taxation is not neutral in the way it raises revenue. How and what governments tax sends
clear signals about the economic activities they believe should be encouraged or
discouraged, and the values they wish to entrench in society. Just as, for example, work
should be encouraged through the tax system, environmental pollution should be discouraged.

New Labour will establish a new trust on tax with the British people. The promises we make
we will keep. The principles that will underpin our tax policy are clear:

- to encourage employment opportunities and work incentives for all

- to promote savings and investment

- and to be fair and be seen to be fair.

New Labour is not about high taxes on ordinary families. It is about social justice and a
fair deal.

New Labour therefore makes the following economic pledges.

## Fair taxes

There will be no return to the penal tax rates that existed under both Labour and Conservative
governments in the 1970s.

To encourage work and reward effort, we are pledged not to raise the basic or top rates of
income tax throughout the next Parliament.

Our long-term objective is a lower starting rate of income tax of ten pence in the pound.
Reducing the high marginal rates at the bottom end of the earning scale - often 70 or 80
per cent - is not only fair but desirable to encourage employment.

This goal will benefit the many, not the few. It is in sharp contrast to the Tory goal of
abolishing capital gains and inheritance tax, at least half the benefit of which will go
to the richest 5,000 families in the country.

We will cut VAT on fuel to five per cent, the lowest level allowed.

We renew our pledge not to extend VAT to food, children's clothes, books and newspapers and
public transport fares.

We will also examine the interaction of the tax and benefits systems so that they can be
streamlined and modernised, so as to fulfil our objectives of promoting work incentives,
reducing poverty and welfare dependency, and strengthening community and family life.

## No risks with inflation

We will match the current target for low and stable inflation of 2. 5 per cent or less.
We will reform the Bank of England to ensure that decision-making on monetary policy is
more effective, open, accountable and free from short-term political manipulation.

## Strict rules for government borrowing

We will enforce the 'golden rule' of public spending - over the economic cycle, we will
only borrow to invest and not to fund current expenditure.

We will ensure that - over the economic cycle - public debt as a proportion of national
income is at a stable and prudent level.

## Stick to planned public spending allocations for the first two years of office

Our decisions have not been taken lightly. They are a recognition of Conservative
mismanagement of the public finances. For the next two years Labour will work within the
departmental ceilings for spending already announced. We will resist unreasonable demands
on the public purse, including any unreasonable public sector pay demands.

## Switch spending from economic failure to investment

We will conduct a central spending review and departmental reviews to assess how to use
resources better, while rooting out waste and inefficiency in public spending.

Labour priorities in public spending are different from Tory priorities.

## Tax reform to promote saving and investment

We will introduce a new individual savings account and extend the principle of TESSAs
and PEPs to promote long-term saving. We will review the corporate and capital gains tax
regimes to see how the tax system can promote greater long-term investment.

## Labour's welfare-to-work Budget

We will introduce a Budget within two months after the election to begin the task of
equipping the British economy and reforming the welfare state to get young people and the
long-term unemployed back to work. This welfare-to-work programme will be funded by a
windfall levy on the excess profits of the privatised utilities, introduced in this Budget
after we have consulted the regulators.

## We will help create successful and profitable businesses

- Backing business: skills, infrastructure, new markets

- Gains for consumers with tough competition law

- New measures to help small businesses

- National minimum wage to tackle low pay

- Boost local economic growth with Regional Development Agencies

- A strong and effective voice in Europe
 /UL>

Labour offers business a new deal for the future. We will leave intact the main changes of
the 1980s in industrial relations and enterprise. We see healthy profits as an essential
motor of a dynamic market economy, and believe they depend on quality products, innovative
entrepreneurs and skilled employees. We will build a new partnership with business to
improve the competitiveness of British industry for the 21st century, leading to faster
growth.

Many of the fundamentals of the British economy are still weak. Low pay and low skills go
together: insecurity is the consequence of economic instability; the absence of quality
jobs is a product of the weakness of our industrial base; we suffer from both high
unemployment and skills shortages. There is no future for Britain as a low wage economy:
we cannot compete on wages with countries paying a tenth or a hundredth of British wages.

We need to win on higher quality, skill, innovation and reliability. With Labour, British
and inward investors will find this country an attractive and profitable place to do
business.

New Labour believes in a flexible labour market that serves employers and employees alike.
But flexibility alone is not enough. We need *'flexibility plus'*:

- plus higher skills and higher standards in our schools and colleges

- plus policies to ensure economic stability

- plus partnership with business to raise investment in infrastructure, science and
 research and to back small firms

- plus new leadership from Britain to reform Europe, in place of the current policy
 of drift and disengagement from our largest market

- plus guaranteeing Britain's membership of the single market - indeed opening up
 further markets inside and outside the EU - helping make Britain an attractive
 place to do business

- plus minimum standards of fair treatment, including a national minimum wage

- plus an imaginative welfare-to-work programme to put the long-term unemployed
 back to work and to cut social security costs.

## A reformed and tougher competition law

Competitiveness abroad must begin with competition at home. Effective competition can
bring value and quality to consumers. As an early priority we will reform Britain's
competition law. We will adopt a tough 'prohibitive' approach to deter anti-competitive
practices and abuses of market power.

In the utility industries we will promote competition wherever possible. Where competition
is not an effective discipline, for example in the water industry which has a poor
environmental record and has in most cases been a tax-free zone, we will pursue tough,
efficient regulation in the interests of customers, and, in the case of water, in the
interests of the environment as well. We recognise the need for open and predictable
regulation which is fair both to consumers and to shareholders and at the same time
provides incentives for managers to innovate and improve efficiency.

## Reinvigorate the Private Finance Initiative

Britain's infrastructure is dangerously run down: parts of our road and rail network are
seriously neglected, and all too often our urban environment has been allowed to
deteriorate.

Labour pioneered the idea of public/private partnerships. It is Labour local authorities
which have done most to create these partnerships at local level.

A Labour government will overcome the problems that have plagued the PFI at a national
level. We will set priorities between projects, saving time and expense; we will seek a
realistic allocation of risk between the partners to a project; and we will ensure that
best practice is spread throughout government. We will aim to simplify and speed up the
planning process for major infrastructure projects of vital national interest.

We will ensure that self-financing commercial organisations within the public sector - the
Post Office is a prime example - are given greater commercial freedom to make the most of
new opportunities.

## Backing small business

The number of small employers has declined by half a million since 1990. Support for small
businesses will have a major role in our plans for economic growth. We will cut unnecessary
red tape; provide for statutory interest on late payment of debts; improve support for
high-tech start-ups; improve the quality and relevance of advice and training through a
reformed Business Links network and the University for Industry; and assist firms to enter
overseas markets more effectively.

## Local economic growth

Prosperity needs to be built from the bottom up. We will establish one-stop regional
development agencies to co-ordinate regional economic development, help small business
and encourage inward investment. Many regions are already taking informal steps to this
end and they will be supported.

## Strengthen our capability in science, technology and design

The UK must be positively committed to the global pursuit of new knowledge, with a strong
science base in our universities and centres of excellence leading the world. The Dearing
Committee represents a significant opportunity to promote high-quality standards in science
teaching and research throughout UK higher education. We support a collaborative approach
between researchers and business, spreading the use of new technology and good design, and
exploiting our own inventions to boost business in the UK.

## Promoting new green technologies and businesses

There is huge potential to develop Britain's environmental technology industries to create
jobs, win exports and protect the environment.

Effective environmental management is an increasingly important component of modern business
practice. We support a major push to promote energy conservation - particularly by the
promotion of home energy efficiency schemes, linked to our environment taskforce for the
under-25s. We are committed to an energy policy designed to promote cleaner, more efficient
energy use and production, including a new and strong drive to develop renewable energy
sources such as solar and wind energy, and combined heat and power. We see no economic case
for the building of any new nuclear power stations.

## Key elements of the 1980s trade union reforms to stay

There must be minimum standards for the individual at work, including a minimum wage, within
a flexible labour market. We need a sensible balance in industrial relations law - rights
and duties go together.

The key elements of the trade union legislation of the 1980s will stay - on ballots,
picketing and industrial action. People should be free to join or not to join a union.
Where they do decide to join, and where a majority of the relevant workforce vote in a
ballot for the union to represent them, the union should be recognised. This promotes
stable and orderly industrial relations. There will be full consultation on the most
effective means of implementing this proposal.

## Partnership at work

The best companies recognise their employees as partners in the enterprise. Employees
whose conditions are good are more committed to their companies and are more productive.
Many unions and employers are embracing partnership in place of conflict. Government
should welcome this.

We are keen to encourage a variety of forms of partnership and enterprise, spreading
ownership and encouraging more employees to become owners through Employee Share Ownership
Plans and co-operatives. We support too the Social Chapter of the EU, but will deploy our
influence in Europe to ensure that it develops so as to promote employability and
competitiveness, not inflexibility.

## A sensibly set national minimum wage

There should be a statutory level beneath which pay should not fall - with the minimum
wage decided not on the basis of a rigid formula but according to the economic circumstances
of the time and with the advice of an independent low pay commission, whose membership will
include representatives of employers, including small business, and employees.

Every modern industrial country has a minimum wage, including the US and Japan. Britain used
to have minimum wages through the Wages Councils. Introduced sensibly, the minimum wage will
remove the worst excesses of low pay (and be of particular benefit to women), while cutting
some of the massive £4 billion benefits bill by which the taxpayer subsidises companies
that pay very low wages.

## We will get the unemployed from welfare to work

- Stop the growth of an 'underclass' in Britain

- 250,000 young unemployed off benefit and into work

- Tax cuts for employers who create new jobs for the long-term unemployed

- Effective help for lone parents

There are over one million fewer jobs in Britain than in 1990. One in five families has no
one working. One million single mothers are trapped on benefits. There is a wider gap
between rich and poor than for generations.

We are determined not to continue down the road of a permanent have-not class, unemployed
and disaffected from society. Our long-term objective is high and stable levels of
employment. This is the true meaning of a stakeholder economy - where everyone has a stake
in society and owes responsibilities to it.

The best way to tackle poverty is to help people into jobs - real jobs. The unemployed have
a responsibility to take up the opportunity of training places or work, but these must be
real opportunities. The government's workfare proposals - with a success rate of one in
ten - fail this test.

Labour's welfare-to-work programme will attack unemployment and break the spiral of
escalating spending on social security. A one-off windfall levy on the excess profits of
the privatised utilities will fund our ambitious programme.

## Every young person unemployed for more than six months in a job or training

We will give 250,000 under-25s opportunities for work, education and training. Four options
will be on offer, each involving day-release education or training leading to a
qualification: private-sector job: employers will be offered a 60 pound-a-week rebate for
six months work with a non-profit voluntary sector employer, paying a weekly wage, equivalent
to benefit plus a fixed sum for six months full-time study for young people without
qualifications on an approved course a job with the environment taskforce, linked to
Labour's citizens' service programme. Rights and responsibilities must go hand in hand,
without a fifth option of life on full benefit.

## Every 16 and 17 year-old on the road to a proper qualification by the year 2000

Nearly a third of young people do not achieve an NVQ level two qualification by age 19.
All young people will be offered part-time or full-time education after the age of 16. Any
under-18 year-old in a job will have the right to study on an approved course for
qualifications at college. We will replace the failed Youth Training scheme with our new
Target 2000 programme, offering young people high-quality education and training.

## Action on long-term unemployment

New partnerships between government and business, fully involving local authorities and the
voluntary sector, will attack long-term joblessness. We will encourage employers to take on
those who have suffered unemployment for more than two years with a 75 pound-a-week tax
rebate paid for six months, financed by the windfall levy. Our programme for the phased
release of past receipts from council house sales will provide new jobs in the construction
industry.

## Lone parents into work

Today the main connection between unemployed lone parents and the state is their benefits.
Most lone parents want to work, but are given no help to find it. New Labour has a positive
policy. Once the youngest child is in the second term of full-time school, lone parents
will be offered advice by a proactive Employment Service to develop a package of job
search, training and after-school care to help them off benefit.

## Customised, personalised services

We favour initiatives with new combinations of available benefits to suit individual
circumstances. In new and innovative 'Employment Zones', personal job accounts will combine
money currently available for benefits and training, to offer the unemployed new options -
leading to work and independence. We will co-ordinate benefits, employment and career
services, and utilise new technology to improve their quality and efficiency.

## Fraud

Just as we owe it to the taxpayer to crack down on tax avoidance, so we must crack down on
dishonesty in the benefit system. We will start with a clampdown on Housing Benefit fraud,
estimated to cost £2 billion a year, and will maintain action against benefit fraud
of all kinds.

## We will save the NHS

- 100,000 people off waiting lists

- End the Tory internal market

- End waiting for cancer surgery

- Tough quality targets for hospitals

- Independent food standards agency

- New public health drive

- Raise spending in real terms every year - and spend the money on patients
 not bureaucracy

Labour created the NHS 50 years ago. It is under threat from the Conservatives. We want to
save and modernise the NHS.

But if the Conservatives are elected again there may well not be an NHS in five years' time
- neither national nor comprehensive. Labour commits itself anew to the historic principle:
that if you are ill or injured there will be a national health service there to help; and
access to it will be based on need and need alone - not on your ability to pay, or on who
your GP happens to be or on where you live.

In 1990 the Conservatives imposed on the NHS a complex internal market of hospitals competing
to win contracts from health authorities and fundholding GPs. The result is an NHS strangled
by costly red tape, with every individual transaction the subject of a separate invoice.
After six years, bureaucracy swallows an extra £1.5 billion per year; there are 20,000
more managers and 50,000 fewer nurses on the wards; and more than one million people are on
waiting lists. The government has consistently failed to meet even its own health targets.

There can be no return to top-down management, but Labour will end the Conservatives'
internal market in healthcare. The planning and provision of care are necessary and distinct
functions, and will remain so. But under the Tories, the administrative costs of purchasing
care have undermined provision and the market system has distorted clinical priorities.
Labour will cut costs by removing the bureaucratic processes of the internal market.

The savings achieved will go on direct care for patients. As a start, the first £100
million saved will treat an extra 100,000 patients. We will end waiting for cancer surgery,
thereby helping thousands of women waiting for breast cancer treatment.

## Primary care will play a lead role

In recent years, GPs have gained power on behalf of their patients in a changed relationship
with consultants, and we support this. But the development of GP fundholding has also brought
disadvantages. Decision-making has been fragmented. Administrative costs have grown. And a
two-tier service has resulted.

Labour will retain the lead role for primary care but remove the disadvantages that have
come from the present system. GPs and nurses will take the lead in combining together
locally to plan local health services more efficiently for all the patients in their area.
This will enable all GPs in an area to bring their combined strength to bear upon individual
hospitals to secure higher standards of patient provision. In making this change, we will
build on the existing collaborative schemes which already serve 14 million people.

The current system of year-on-year contracts is costly and unstable. We will introduce
three- to five-year agreements between the local primary care teams and hospitals.
Hospitals will then be better able to plan work at full capacity and co-operate to enhance
patient services.

## Higher-quality services for patients

Hospitals will retain their autonomy over day-to-day administrative functions, but, as
part of the NHS, they will be required to meet high-quality standards in the provision of
care. Management will be held to account for performance levels. Boards will become more
representative of the local communities they serve. A new patients' charter will concentrate
on the quality and success of treatment. The Tories' so-called 'Efficiency Index' counts
the number of patient 'episodes', not the quality or success of treatment. With Labour,
the measure will be quality of outcome, itself an incentive for effectiveness. As part of
our concern to ensure quality, we will work towards the elimination of mixed-sex wards.

Health authorities will become the guardians of high standards. They will monitor services,
spread best practice and ensure rising standards of care.

The Tory attempt to use private money to build hospitals has failed to deliver. Labour will
overcome the problems that have plagued the Private Finance Initiative, end the delays,
sort out the confusion and develop new forms of public/private partnership that work better
and protect the interests of the NHS. Labour is opposed to the privatisation of clinical
services which is being actively promoted by the Conservatives.

Labour will promote new developments in telemedicine - bringing expert advice from
regional centres of excellence to neighbourhood level using new technology.

## Good health

A new minister for public health will attack the root causes of ill health, and so improve
lives and save the NHS money. Labour will set new goals for improving the overall health of
the nation which recognise the impact that poverty, poor housing, unemployment and a polluted
environment have on health.

Smoking is the greatest single cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK.
We will therefore ban tobacco advertising.

Labour will establish an independent food standards agency. The £3.5 billion BSE
crisis and the E. coli outbreak which resulted in serious loss of life, have made
unanswerable the case for the independent agency we have proposed.

## NHS spending

The Conservatives have wasted spending on the NHS. We will do better. We will raise
spending on the NHS in real terms every year and put the money towards patient care. And
a greater proportion of every pound spent will go on patient care not bureaucracy.

## An NHS for the future

The NHS requires continuity as well as change, or the system cannot cope. There must be
pilots to ensure that change works. And there must be flexibility, not rigid
prescription, if innovation is to flourish.

Our fundamental purpose is simple but hugely important: to restore the NHS as a public
service working co-operatively for patients, not a commercial business driven by
competition.

## We will be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime

- Fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders

- Reform Crown Prosecution Service to convict more criminals

- Police on the beat not pushing paper

- Crackdown on petty crimes and neighbourhood disorder

- Fresh parliamentary vote to ban all handguns

Under the Conservatives, crime has doubled and many more criminals get away with their
crimes: the number of people convicted has fallen by a third, with only one crime in 50
leading to a conviction. This is the worst record of any government since the Second
World War - and for England and Wales the worst record of any major industrialised
country. Last year alone violent crime rose 11 per cent.

We propose a new approach to law and order: tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.
We insist on individual responsibility for crime, and will attack the causes of crime by
our measures to relieve social deprivation.

The police have our strong support. They are in the front line of the fight against crime
and disorder. The Conservatives have broken their 1992 general election pledge to provide
an extra 1,000 police officers. We will relieve the police of unnecessary bureaucratic
burdens to get more officers back on the beat.

## Youth crime

Youth crime and disorder have risen sharply, but very few young offenders end up in court,
and when they do half are let off with another warning. Young offenders account for seven
million crimes a year.

Far too often young criminals offend again and again while waiting months for a court
hearing. We will halve the time it takes to get persistent young offenders from arrest
to sentencing; replace widespread repeat cautions with a single final warning; bring
together Youth Offender Teams in every area; and streamline the system of youth courts to
make it far more effective.

New parental responsibility orders will make parents face up to their responsibility for
their children's misbehaviour.

## Conviction and sentencing

The job of the Crown Prosecution Service is to prosecute criminals effectively. There is
strong evidence that the CPS is over-centralised, bureaucratic and inefficient, with
cases too often dropped, delayed, or downgraded to lesser offences.

Labour will decentralise the CPS, with local crown prosecutors co-operating more effectively
with local police forces.

We will implement an effective sentencing system for all the main offences to ensure greater
consistency and stricter punishment for serious repeat offenders. The courts will have to
spell out what each sentence really means in practice. The Court of Appeal will have a
duty to lay down sentencing guidelines for all the main offences. The attorney general's
power to appeal unduly lenient sentences will be extended.

The prison service now faces serious financial problems. We will audit the resources
available, take proper ministerial responsibility for the service, and seek to ensure
that prison regimes are constructive and require inmates to face up to their offending
behaviour.

## Disorder

The Conservatives have forgotten the 'order' part of 'law and order'. We will tackle the
unacceptable level of anti-social behaviour and crime on our streets. Our 'zero tolerance'
approach will ensure that petty criminality among young offenders is seriously addressed.

Community safety orders will deal with threatening and disruptive criminal neighbours.
Labour has taken the lead in proposing action to tackle the problems of stalking and
domestic violence.

Child protection orders will deal with young children suffering neglect by parents because
they are left out on their own far too late at night.

Britain is a multiracial and multicultural society. All its members must have the protection
of the law. We will create a new offence of racial harassment and a new crime of racially
motivated violence to protect ethnic minorities from intimidation.

## Drugs

The vicious circle of drugs and crime wrecks lives and threatens communities. Labour will
appoint an anti-drugs supremo to co-ordinate our battle against drugs across all government
departments. The 'drug czar' will be a symbol of our commitment to tackle the modern
menace of drugs in our communities.

We will pilot the use of compulsory drug testing and treatment orders for offenders to
ensure that the link between drug addiction and crime is broken. This will be paid for
by bringing remand delays down to the national targets.

We will attack the drug problem in prisons. In addition to random drug testing of all
prisoners we will aim for a voluntary testing unit in every prison for prisoners ready
to prove they are drug-free.

## Victims

Victims of crime are too often neglected by the criminal justice system. We will ensure
that victims are kept fully informed of the progress of their case, and why charges may
have been downgraded or dropped.

Greater protection will be provided for victims in rape and serious sexual offence trials
and for those subject to intimidation, including witnesses.

## Prevention

We will place a new responsibility on local authorities to develop statutory partnerships
to help prevent crime. Local councils will then be required to set targets for the
reduction of crime and disorder in their area.

## Gun control

In the wake of Dunblane and Hungerford, it is clear that only the strictest firearms laws
can provide maximum safety. The Conservatives failed to offer the protection required.
Labour led the call for an outright ban on all handguns in general civilian use. There
will be legislation to allow individual MPs a free vote for a complete ban on handguns.

Labour is the party of law and order in Britain today.

## We will strengthen family life

- Help parents balance work and family

- Security in housing and help for homeowners

- Tackle homelessness using receipts from council house sales

- Dignity and security in retirement

- Protect the basic state pension and promote secure second pensions

We will uphold family life as the most secure means of bringing up our children. Families
are the core of our society. They should teach right from wrong. They should be the first
defence against anti-social behaviour. The breakdown of family life damages the fabric of
our society.

Labour does not see families and the state as rival providers for the needs of our citizens.
Families should provide the day-to-day support for children to be brought up in a stable
and loving environment. But families cannot flourish unless government plays its distinctive
role: in education; where necessary, in caring for the young; in making adequate provision
for illness and old age; in supporting good parenting; and in protecting families from
lawlessness and abuse of power. Society, through government, must assist families to achieve
collectively what no family can achieve alone.

Yet families in Britain today are under strain as never before. The security once offered
by the health service has been undermined. Streets are not safe. Housing insecurity grows.
One in five non-pensioner families has no one working; and British men work the longest
hours in Europe.

The clock should not be turned back. As many women who want to work should be able to do so.
More equal relationships between men and women have transformed our lives. Equally, our
attitudes to race, sex and sexuality have changed fundamentally. Our task is to combine
change and social stability.

## Work and family

Families without work are without independence. This is why we give so much emphasis to our
welfare-to-work policies.

Labour's national childcare strategy will plan provision to match the requirements of the
modern labour market and help parents, especially women, to balance family and working life.

There must be a sound balance between support for family life and the protection of business
from undue burdens - a balance which some of the most successful businesses already strike.
The current government has shown itself wholly insensitive to the need to help develop
family-friendly working practices. While recognising the need for flexibility in
implementation and for certain exemptions, we support the right of employees not to be
forced to work more than 48 hours a week; to an annual holiday entitlement; and to limited
unpaid parental leave. These measures will provide a valuable underpinning to family life.

The rights of part-time workers have been clarified by recent court judgements which we
welcome.

We will keep under continuous review all aspects of the tax and benefits systems to ensure
that they are supportive of families and children. We are committed to retain universal
Child Benefit where it is universal today - from birth to age 16 - and to uprate it at
least in line with prices. We are reviewing educational finance and maintenance for those
older than 16 to ensure higher staying-on rates at school and college, and that resources
are used to support those in most need. This review will continue in government on the
guidelines we have already laid down.

## Security in housing

Most families want to own their own homes. We will also support efficiently run social and
private rented sectors offering quality and choice.

The Conservatives' failure on housing has been twofold. The two thirds of families who own
their homes have suffered a massive increase in insecurity over the last decade, with
record mortgage arrears, record negative equity and record repossessions. And the
Conservatives' lack of a housing strategy has led to the virtual abandonment of social
housing, the growth of homelessness, and a failure to address fully leaseholder reform.
All these are the Tory legacy.

Labour's housing strategy will address the needs of homeowners and tenants alike.

We will reject the boom and bust policies which caused the collapse of the housing market.

We will work with mortgage providers to encourage greater provision of more flexible
mortgages to protect families in a world of increased job insecurity.

Mortgage buyers also require stronger consumer protection, for example by extension of the
Financial Services Act, against the sale of disadvantageous mortgage packages.

The problems of gazumping have reappeared. Those who break their bargains should be liable
to pay the costs inflicted on others, in particular legal and survey costs. We are
consulting on the best way of tackling the problems of gazumping in the interests of
responsible home buyers and sellers.

## The rented housing sector

We support a three-way partnership between the public, private and housing association
sectors to promote good social housing. With Labour, capital receipts from the sale of
council houses, received but not spent by local councils, will be re-invested in building
new houses and rehabilitating old ones. This will be phased to match the capacity of the
building industry and to meet the requirements of prudent economic management.

We also support effective schemes to deploy private finance to improve the public housing
stock and to introduce greater diversity and choice. Such schemes should only go ahead with
the support of the tenants concerned: we oppose the government's threat to hand over council
housing to private landlords without the consent of tenants and with no guarantees on rents
or security of tenure.

We value a revived private rented sector. We will provide protection where most needed: for
tenants in houses in multiple occupation. There will be a proper system of licensing by
local authorities which will benefit tenants and responsible landlords alike.

We will introduce 'commonhold', a new form of tenure enabling people living in flats to own
their homes individually and to own the whole property collectively. We will simplify the
current rules restricting the purchase of freeholds by leaseholders.

## Homelessness

Homelessness has more than doubled under the Conservatives. Today more than 40,000 families
in England are in expensive temporary accommodation. The government, in the face of Labour
opposition, has removed the duty on local authorities to find permanent housing for
homeless families. We will impose a new duty on local authorities to protect those who are
homeless through no fault of their own and are in priority need.

There is no more powerful symbol of Tory neglect in our society today than young people
without homes living rough on the streets. Young people emerging from care without any
family support are particularly vulnerable. We will attack the problem in two principal
ways: the phased release of capital receipts from council house sales will increase the
stock of housing for rent; and our welfare-to-work programme will lead the young unemployed
into work and financial independence.

## Older citizens

We value the positive contribution that older people make to our society, through their
families, voluntary activities and work. Their skills and experience should be utilised
within their communities. That is why, for example, we support the proposal to involve
older people as volunteers to help children learn in pre-school and after-school clubs.
In work, they should not be discriminated against because of their age.

The provision of adequate pensions in old age is a major challenge for the future. For
today's pensioners Conservative policies have created real poverty, growing inequality
and widespread insecurity.

The Conservatives would abolish the state-financed basic retirement pension and replace
it with a privatised scheme, with a vague promise of a means-tested state guarantee if
pensions fall beneath a minimum level. Their proposals mean there will be no savings on
welfare spending for half a century; and taxes will have to rise to make provision for
new privately funded pensions. Their plans require an additional £312 billion
between now and 2040 through increased taxes or borrowing, against the hope of savings
later, with no certainty of security in retirement at the end.

We believe that all pensioners should share fairly in the increasing prosperity of the
nation. Instead of privatisation, we propose a partnership between public and private
provision, and a balance between income sourced from tax and invested savings. The basic
state pension will be retained as the foundation of pension provision. It will be increased
at least in line with prices. We will examine means of delivering more automatic help to
the poorest pensioners - one million of whom do not even receive the Income Support which
is their present entitlement.

We will encourage saving for retirement, with proper protection for savings. We will reform
the Financial Services Act so that the scandal of pension mis-selling - 600,000 pensions
mis-sold and only 7,000 people compensated to date - will not happen again.

Too many people in work, particularly those on low and modest incomes and with changing
patterns of employment, cannot join good-value second pension schemes. Labour will create
a new framework - stakeholder pensions - to meet this need. We will encourage new
partnerships between financial service companies, employers and employees to develop these
pension schemes. They will be approved to receive people's savings only if they meet high
standards of value for money, flexibility and security.

Labour will promote choice in pension provision. We will support and strengthen the
framework for occupational pensions. Personal pensions, appropriately regulated, will
remain a good option for many. Labour will retain SERPS as an option for those who wish
to remain within it. We will also seek to develop the administrative structure of SERPS
so as to create a 'citizenship pension' for those who assume responsibility as carers, as
a result lose out on the pension entitlements they would otherwise acquire, and currently
end up on means-tested benefits.

We overcame government opposition to pension splitting between women and men on divorce.
We will implement this in government.

We aim to provide real security for families through a modern system of community care. As
people grow older, their need for care increases. The Conservative approach is to promote
private insurance and privatisation of care homes. But private insurance will be
inaccessible to most people. And their policy for residential homes is dogmatic and will
not work. We believe that local authorities should be free to develop a mix of public and
private care.

We recognise the immense amount of care provision undertaken by family members, neighbours
and friends. It was a Labour MP who piloted the 1995 Carers Act through Parliament. We will
establish a Royal Commission to work out a fair system for funding long-term care for the
elderly. We will introduce a 'long-term care charter' defining the standard of services
which people are entitled to expect from health, housing and social services. We are
committed to an independent inspection and regulation service for residential homes, and
domiciliary care.

Everyone is entitled to dignity in retirement. Under the Tories, the earnings link for state
pensions has been ended, VAT on fuel has been imposed, SERPS has been undermined and
community care is in tatters. We will set up a review of the central areas of insecurity
for elderly people: all aspects of the basic pension and its value, second pensions
including SERPS, and community care. The review will ensure that the views of pensioners
are heard. Our watchword in developing policy for pensions and long-term care will be to
build consensus among all interested parties.

## We will help you get more out of life

- Every government department a 'green' department

- Efficient and clean transport for all

- New arts and science talent fund for young people

- Reform the lottery

- Improve life in rural areas

- Back World Cup bid

The millennium is the time to reaffirm our responsibility to protect and enhance our
environment so that the country we hand on to our children and our grandchildren is a
better place in which to live. It also provides a natural opportunity to celebrate and
improve the contribution made by the arts, culture and sport to our nation. We need a new
and dynamic approach to the 'creative economy'. The Department of National Heritage will
develop a strategic vision that matches the real power and energy of British arts, media
and cultural industries.

## Protecting the environment

Our generation, and generations yet to come, are dependent on the integrity of the
environment. No one can escape unhealthy water, polluted air or adverse climate change. And
just as these problems affect us all, so we must act together to tackle them. No
responsible government can afford to take risks with the future: the cost is too high. So it
is our duty to act now.

The foundation of Labour's environmental approach is that protection of the environment
cannot be the sole responsibility of any one department of state. All departments must
promote policies to sustain the environment. And Parliament should have an environmental
audit committee to ensure high standards across government.

Throughout this manifesto, there are policies designed to combine environmental
sustainability with economic and social progress. They extend from commitments at local
level to give communities enhanced control over their environments, to initiatives at
international level to ensure that all countries are contributing to the protection of
the environment.

A sustainable environment requires above all an effective and integrated transport policy
at national, regional and local level that will provide genuine choice to meet people's
transport needs. That is what we will establish and develop.

## Railways

The process of rail privatisation is now largely complete. It has made fortunes for a few,
but has been a poor deal for the taxpayer. It has fragmented the network and now threatens
services. Our task will be to improve the situation as we find it, not as we wish it to be.
Our overriding goal must be to win more passengers and freight on to rail. The system must
be run in the public interest with higher levels of investment and effective enforcement of
train operators' service commitments. There must be convenient connections,
through-ticketing and accurate travel information for the benefit of all passengers.

To achieve these aims, we will establish more effective and accountable regulation by the
rail regulator; we will ensure that the public subsidy serves the public interest; and we
will establish a new rail authority, combining functions currently carried out by the rail
franchiser and the Department of Transport, to provide a clear, coherent and strategic
programme for the development of the railways so that passenger expectations are met.

The Conservative plan for the wholesale privatisation of London Underground is not the
answer. It would be a poor deal for the taxpayer and passenger alike. Yet again, public
assets would be sold off at an under-valued rate. Much-needed investment would be delayed.
The core public responsibilities of the Underground would be threatened.

Labour plans a new public/private partnership to improve the Underground, safeguard its
commitment to the public interest and guarantee value for money to taxpayers and passengers.

## Road transport

A balanced transport system must cater for all the familiar modes of transport: cars -
whether owned, leased or shared; taxis; buses; bicycles and motorcycles. All needs must
be addressed in transport planning to ensure the best mix of all types of transport, offer
quality public transport wherever possible and help to protect the environment.

The key to efficient bus services is proper regulation at local level, with partnerships
between local councils and bus operators an essential component. There must be improved
provision and enforcement of bus lanes. Better parking facilities for cars must be linked
to convenient bus services to town centres.

Road safety is a high priority. Cycling and walking must be made safer, especially around
schools.

We remain unpersuaded by the case for heavier, 44-tonne lorries mooted by the Conservatives.
Our concern is that they would prove dangerous and damaging to the environment.

Our plans to reduce pollution include working with the automotive industry to develop
'smart', efficient and clean cars for the future, with substantially reduced emission
levels. The review of vehicle excise duty to promote low-emission vehicles will be
continued.

We will conduct an overall strategic review of the roads programme against the criteria of
accessibility, safety, economy and environmental impact, using public/private partnerships
to improve road maintenance and exploiting new technology to improve journey information.

## Shipping and aviation

The Tory years have seen the near-extinction of Britain's merchant fleet. Labour will work
with all concerned in shipping and ports to help develop their economic potential to the
full.

The guiding objectives of our aviation strategy will be fair competition, safety and
environmental standards. We want all British carriers to be able to compete fairly in the
interests of consumers.

## Life in our countryside

Labour recognises the special needs of people who live and work in rural areas. The
Conservatives do not. Public services and transport services in rural areas must not be
allowed to deteriorate. The Conservatives have tried to privatise the Post Office. We
opposed that, in favour of a public Post Office providing a comprehensive service.
Conservative plans would mean higher charges for letters and put rural post offices under
threat.

We favour a moratorium on large-scale sales of Forestry Commission land. We recognise that
the countryside is a great natural asset, a part of our heritage which calls for careful
stewardship. This must be balanced, however, with the needs of people who live and work in
rural areas.

The total failure of the Conservatives to manage the BSE crisis effectively and to secure
any raising of the ban on British beef has wreaked havoc on the beef and dairy industries.
The cost to the taxpayer so far is £3.5 billion.

Labour aims to reform the Common Agricultural Policy to save money, to support the rural
economy and enhance the environment.

Our initiatives to link all schools to the information superhighway will ensure that
children in rural areas have access to the best educational resources.

Our policies include greater freedom for people to explore our open countryside. We will
not, however, permit any abuse of a right to greater access.

We will ensure greater protection for wildlife. We have advocated new measures to promote
animal welfare, including a free vote in Parliament on whether hunting with hounds should
be banned by legislation.

Angling is Britain's most popular sport. Labour's anglers' charter affirms our long-standing
commitment to angling and to the objective of protecting the aquatic environment.

**Arts and culture**

The arts, culture and sport are central to the task of recreating the sense of community,
identity and civic pride that should define our country. Yet we consistently undervalue
the role of the arts and culture in helping to create a civic society - from amateur
theatre to our art galleries.

Art, sport and leisure are vital to our quality of life and the renewal of our economy.
They are significant earners for Britain. They employ hundreds of thousands of people.
They bring millions of tourists to Britain every year, who will also be helped by Labour's
plans for new quality assurance in hotel accommodation.

We propose to set up a National Endowment for Science and the Arts to sponsor young talent.
NESTA will be a national trust - for talent rather than buildings - for the 21st century.
NESTA will be partly funded by the lottery; and artists who have gained high rewards from
their excellence in the arts and wish to support young talent will be encouraged to donate
copyright and royalties to NESTA.

## Sport

A Labour government will take the lead in extending opportunities for participation in
sports; and in identifying sporting excellence and supporting it.

School sports must be the foundation. We will bring the government's policy of forcing
schools to sell off playing fields to an end. We will provide full backing to the bid to
host the 2006 football World Cup in England. A Labour government will also work to bring
the Olympics and other major international sporting events to Britain.

## A people's lottery

The lottery has been a financial success. But there has been no overall strategy for the
allocation of monies; and no co-ordination among the five distributor bodies about the
projects deserving to benefit from lottery funding. For example, the multi-million-pound
expenditure on the Churchill papers caused national outrage. A Labour government will
review the distribution of lottery proceeds to ensure that there is the widest possible
access to the benefits of lottery revenues throughout the UK.

Labour has already proposed a new millennium commission to commence after the closure of
the Millennium Exhibition, to provide direct support for a range of education, environment
and public health projects, including those directed at children's play, a project currently
excluded from lottery benefit.

Because the lottery is a monopoly intended to serve the public interest, it must be
administered efficiently and economically. When the current contract runs out, Labour will
seek an efficient not-for-profit operator to ensure that the maximum sums go to good causes.

## Media and broadcasting

Labour aims for a thriving, diverse media industry, combining commercial success and public
service. We will ensure that the BBC continues to be a flagship for British creativity and
public service broadcasting, but we believe that the combination of public and private
sectors in competition is a key spur to innovation and high standards. The regulatory
framework for media and broadcasting should reflect the realities of a far more open and
competitive economy, and enormous technological advance, for example with digital television.
Labour will balance sensible rules, fair regulation and national and international
competition, so maintaining quality and diversity for the benefit of viewers.

## Citizens' service for a new millennium

An independent and creative voluntary sector, committed to voluntary activity as an
expression of citizenship, is central to our vision of a stakeholder society. We are
committed to developing plans for a national citizens' service programme, to tap the
enthusiasm and commitment of the many young people who want to make voluntary
contributions in service of their communities. The millennium should harness the imagination
of all those people who have so much to offer for the benefit of the community. We do not
believe programmes should be imposed from the top down, but on the contrary wish to
encourage a broad range of voluntary initiatives devised and developed by people within
their own communities.

## We will clean up politics

- End the hereditary principle in the House of Lords

- Reform of party funding to end sleaze

- Devolved power in Scotland and Wales

- Elected mayors for London and other cities

- More independent but accountable local government

- Freedom of information and guaranteed human rights

The Conservatives seem opposed to the very idea of democracy. They support hereditary
peers, unaccountable quangos and secretive government. They have debased democracy
through their MPs who have taken cash for asking questions in the House of Commons.
They are opposed to the development of decentralised government. The party which once
opposed universal suffrage and votes for women now says our constitution is so perfect
that it cannot be improved.

Our system of government is centralised, inefficient and bureaucratic. Our citizens cannot
assert their basic rights in our own courts. The Conservatives are afflicted by sleaze and
prosper from secret funds from foreign supporters. There is unquestionably a national
crisis of confidence in our political system, to which Labour will respond in a measured
and sensible way.

## A modern House of Lords

The House of Lords must be reformed. As an initial, self-contained reform, not dependent
on further reform in the future, the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the
House of Lords will be ended by statute. This will be the first stage in a process of
reform to make the House of Lords more democratic and representative. The legislative
powers of the House of Lords will remain unaltered.

The system of appointment of life peers to the House of Lords will be reviewed. Our
objective will be to ensure that over time party appointees as life peers more accurately
reflect the proportion of votes cast at the previous general election. We are committed to
maintaining an independent cross-bench presence of life peers. No one political party should
seek a majority in the House of Lords.

A committee of both Houses of Parliament will be appointed to undertake a wide-ranging
review of possible further change and then to bring forward proposals for reform.

We have no plans to replace the monarchy.

## An effective House of Commons

We believe the House of Commons is in need of modernisation and we will ask the House to
establish a special Select Committee to review its procedures. Prime Minister's Questions
will be made more effective. Ministerial accountability will be reviewed so as to remove
recent abuses. The process for scrutinising European legislation will be overhauled.

The Nolan recommendations will be fully implemented and extended to all public bodies. We
 will oblige parties to declare the source of all donations above a minimum figure: Labour
does this voluntarily and all parties should do so. Foreign funding will be banned. We
will ask the Nolan Committee to consider how the funding of political parties should be
regulated and reformed.

We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons. An
independent commission on voting systems will be appointed early to recommend a
proportional alternative to the first-past-the-post system.

At this election, Labour is proud to be making major strides to rectify the
under-representation of women in public life.

## Open government

Unnecessary secrecy in government leads to arrogance in government and defective policy
decisions. The Scott Report on arms to Iraq revealed Conservative abuses of power. We are
pledged to a Freedom of Information Act, leading to more open government, and an
independent National Statistical Service.

## Devolution: strengthening the Union

The United Kingdom is a partnership enriched by distinct national identities and
traditions. Scotland has its own systems of education, law and local government. Wales
has its language and cultural traditions. We will meet the demand for decentralisation
of power to Scotland and Wales, once established in referendums.

Subsidiarity is as sound a principle in Britain as it is in Europe. Our proposal is for
devolution not federation. A sovereign Westminster Parliament will devolve power to
Scotland and Wales. The Union will be strengthened and the threat of separatism removed.

As soon as possible after the election, we will enact legislation to allow the people of
Scotland and Wales to vote in separate referendums on our proposals, which will be set out
in white papers. These referendums will take place not later than the autumn of 1997. A
simple majority of those voting in each referendum will be the majority required. Popular
endorsement will strengthen the legitimacy of our proposals and speed their passage
through Parliament.

For Scotland we propose the creation of a parliament with law-making powers, firmly based
on the agreement reached in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, including defined and
limited financial powers to vary revenue and elected by an additional member system. In
the Scottish referendum we will seek separate endorsement of the proposal to create a
parliament, and of the proposal to give it defined and limited financial powers to vary
revenue. The Scottish parliament will extend democratic control over the responsibilities
currently exercised administratively by the Scottish Office. The responsibilities of the
UK Parliament will remain unchanged over UK policy, for example economic, defence and
foreign policy.

The Welsh assembly will provide democratic control of the existing Welsh Office functions.
It will have secondary legislative powers and will be specifically empowered to reform
and democratise the quango state. It will be elected by an additional member system.

Following majorities in the referendums, we will introduce in the first year of the
Parliament legislation on the substantive devolution proposals outlined in our white
papers.

## Good local government

Local decision-making should be less constrained by central government, and also more
accountable to local people. We will place on councils a new duty to promote the
economic, social and environmental well-being of their area. They should work in
partnership with local people, local business and local voluntary organisations. They will
have the powers necessary to develop these partnerships. To ensure greater accountability,
a proportion of councillors in each locality will be elected annually. We will encourage
democratic innovations in local government, including pilots of the idea of elected
mayors with executive powers in cities.

Although crude and universal council tax capping should go, we will retain reserve powers
to control excessive council tax rises.

Local business concerns are critical to good local government. There are sound democratic
reasons why, in principle, the business rate should be set locally, not nationally. But we
will make no change to the present system for determining the business rate without full
consultation with business.

The funnelling of government grant to Conservative-controlled Westminster speaks volumes
about the unfairness of the current grant system. Labour is committed to a fair
distribution of government grant. The basic framework, not every detail, of local service
provision must be for central government. Councils should not be forced to put their
services out to tender, but will be required to obtain best value. We reject the dogmatic
view that services must be privatised to be of high quality, but equally we see no reason
why a service should be delivered directly if other more efficient means are available.
Cost counts but so does quality.

Every council will be required to publish a local performance plan with targets for
service improvement, and be expected to achieve them. The Audit Commission will be
given additional powers to monitor performance and promote efficiency. On its advice,
government will where necessary send in a management team with full powers to remedy
failure.

Labour councils have been at the forefront of environmental initiatives under Local Agenda
21, the international framework for local action arising from the 1992 Earth Summit. A
Labour government will encourage all local authorities to adopt plans to protect and
enhance their local environment.

Local government is at the sharp end of the fight against deprivation. Ten years after the
Conservatives promised to improve the inner cities, poverty and social division afflict
towns and outer estates alike. A Labour government will join with local government in a
concerted attack against the multiple causes of social and economic decline - unemployment,
bad housing, crime, poor health and a degraded environment.

## London

London is the only Western capital without an elected city government. Following a
referendum to confirm popular demand, there will be a new deal for London, with a
strategic authority and a mayor, each directly elected. Both will speak up for the
needs of the city and plan its future. They will not duplicate the work of the boroughs,
but take responsibility for London-wide issues - economic regeneration, planning,
policing, transport and environmental protection. London-wide responsibility for its
own government is urgently required. We will make it happen.

## The regions of England

The Conservatives have created a tier of regional government in England through quangos
and government regional offices. Meanwhile local authorities have come together to
create a more co-ordinated regional voice. Labour will build on these developments
through the establishment of regional chambers to co-ordinate transport, planning,
economic development, bids for European funding and land use planning.

Demand for directly elected regional government so varies across England that it would
be wrong to impose a uniform system. In time we will introduce legislation to allow the
people, region by region, to decide in a referendum whether they want directly elected
regional government. Only where clear popular consent is established will arrangements
be made for elected regional assemblies. This would require a predominantly unitary
system of local government, as presently exists in Scotland and Wales, and confirmation
by independent auditors that no additional public expenditure overall would be involved.
Our plans will not mean adding a new tier of government to the existing English system.

## Real rights for citizens

Citizens should have statutory rights to enforce their human rights in the UK courts. We
will by statute incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law to bring
these rights home and allow our people access to them in their national courts. The
incorporation of the European Convention will establish a floor, not a ceiling, for
human rights. Parliament will remain free to enhance these rights, for example by a
Freedom of Information Act.

We will seek to end unjustifiable discrimination wherever it exists. For example, we support
comprehensive, enforceable civil rights for disabled people against discrimination in society
or at work, developed in partnership with all interested parties.

Labour will undertake a wide-ranging review both of the reform of the civil justice system
and Legal Aid. We will achieve value for money for the taxpayer and the consumer. A
community legal service will develop local, regional and national plans for the development
of Legal Aid according to the needs and priorities of regions and areas. The key to success
will be to promote a partnership between the voluntary sector, the legal profession and the
Legal Aid Board.

Every country must have firm control over immigration and Britain is no exception. All
applications, however, should be dealt with speedily and fairly. There are, rightly,
criteria for those who want to enter this country to join husband or wife. We will ensure
that these are properly enforced. We will, however, reform the system in current use to
remove the arbitrary and unfair results that can follow from the existing 'primary purpose'
rule. There will be a streamlined system of appeals for visitors denied a visa.

The system for dealing with asylum seekers is expensive and slow - there are many undecided
cases dating back beyond 1993. We will ensure swift and fair decisions on whether someone
can stay or go, control unscrupulous immigration advisors and crack down on the fraudulent
use of birth certificates.

## Northern Ireland

Labour's approach to the peace process has been bipartisan. We have supported the recent
agreements between the two governments - the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Downing Street
Declaration and the Framework Document. The government has tabled proposals which include
a new devolved legislative body, as well as cross-border co-operation and continued
dialogue between the two governments.

There will be as great a priority attached to seeing that process through with Labour as
under the Conservatives, in co-operation with the Irish government and the Northern Ireland
parties. We will expect the same bipartisan approach from a Conservative opposition.

We will take effective measures to combat the terrorist threat.

There is now general acceptance that the future of Northern Ireland must be determined by
the consent of the people as set out in the Downing Street Declaration. Labour recognises
that the option of a united Ireland does not command the consent of the Unionist
tradition, nor does the existing status of Northern Ireland command the consent of the
Nationalist tradition. We are therefore committed to reconciliation between the two
traditions and to a new political settlement which can command the support of both. Labour
will help build trust and confidence among both Nationalist and Unionist traditions in
Northern Ireland by acting to guarantee human rights, strengthen confidence in policing,
combat discrimination at work and reduce tensions over parades. Labour will also foster
economic progress and competitiveness in Northern Ireland, so as to reduce unemployment.

## We will give Britain leadership in Europe

- Referendum on single currency

- Lead reform of the EU

- Retain Trident: strong defence through NATO

- A reformed United Nations

- Helping to tackle global poverty

Britain, though an island nation with limited natural resources, has for centuries been a
leader of nations. But under the Conservatives Britain's influence has waned.

With a new Labour government, Britain will be strong in defence; resolute in standing up
for its own interests; an advocate of human rights and democracy the world over; a
reliable and powerful ally in the international institutions of which we are a member;
and will be a leader in Europe.

Our vision of Europe is of an alliance of independent nations choosing to co-operate to
achieve the goals they cannot achieve alone. We oppose a European federal superstate.

There are only three options for Britain in Europe. The first is to come out. The second
is to stay in, but on the sidelines. The third is to stay in, but in a leading role.

An increasing number of Conservatives, overtly or covertly, favour the first. But
withdrawal would be disastrous for Britain. It would put millions of jobs at risk. It
would dry up inward investment. It would destroy our clout in international trade
negotiations. It would relegate Britain from the premier division of nations.

The second is exactly where we are today under the Conservatives. The BSE fiasco symbolises
their failures in Europe.

The third is the path a new Labour government will take. A fresh start in Europe, with the
credibility to achieve reform. We have set out a detailed agenda for reform, leading from
the front during the UK presidency in the first half of 1998:

- **Rapid completion of the single market:** a top priority for the British
 presidency. We will open up markets to competition; pursue tough action
 against unfair state aids; and ensure proper enforcement of single market
 rules. This will strengthen Europe's competitiveness and open up new
 opportunities for British firms.

- **High priority for enlargement ** of the European Union to include the
 countries of central and eastern Europe and Cyprus, and the institutional
 reforms necessary to make an enlarged Europe work more efficiently.

- **Urgent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.** It is costly,
 vulnerable to fraud and not geared to environmental protection.
 Enlargement and the World Trade talks in 1999 will make reform even more
 essential. We will seek a thorough overhaul of the Common Fisheries
 Policy to conserve our fish stocks in the long-term interests of the UK
 fishing industry.

- **Greater openness and democracy in EU institutions** with open voting in
 the Council of Ministers and more effective scrutiny of the Commission by
 the European Parliament. We have long supported a proportional voting
 system for election to the European Parliament.

- **Retention of the national veto over key matters** of national interest,
 such as taxation, defence and security, immigration, decisions over the
 budget and treaty changes, while considering the extension of Qualified
 Majority Voting in limited areas where that is in Britain's interests.

- **Britain to sign the Social Chapter.** An 'empty chair' at the negotiating
 table is disastrous for Britain. The Social Chapter is a framework under
 which legislative measures can be agreed. Only two measures have been
 agreed - consultation for employees of large Europe-wide companies and
 entitlement to unpaid parental leave. Successful companies already work
 closely with their workforces. The Social Chapter cannot be used to
 force the harmonisation of social security or tax legislation and it
 does not cost jobs. We will use our participation to promote
 employability and flexibility, not high social costs.

## The single currency

Any decision about Britain joining the single currency must be determined by a hard-headed
assessment of Britain's economic interests. Only Labour can be trusted to do this: the
Tories are riven by faction. But there are formidable obstacles in the way of Britain
being in the first wave of membership, if EMU takes place on 1 January 1999. What is
essential for the success of EMU is genuine convergence among the economies that take
part, without any fudging of the rules. However, to exclude British membership of EMU
forever would be to destroy any influence we have over a process which will affect us
whether we are in or out. We must therefore play a full part in the debate to influence
it in Britain's interests.

In any event, there are three pre-conditions which would
have to be satisfied before Britain could join during the next Parliament: first, the
Cabinet would have to agree; then Parliament; and finally the people would have to say
'Yes' in a referendum.

## Strong defence through NATO

The post-Cold War world faces a range of new security challenges - proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction, the growth of ethnic nationalism and extremism, international
terrorism, and crime and drug trafficking. A new Labour government will build a strong
defence against these threats. Our security will continue to be based on NATO.

Our armed forces are among the most effective in the world. The country takes pride in their
professionalism and courage. We will ensure that they remain strong to defend Britain. But
the security of Britain is best served in a secure world, so we should be willing to
contribute to wider international peace and security both through the alliances to which
we belong, in particular NATO and the Western European Union, and through other
international organisations such as the UN and the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe.

Labour will conduct a strategic defence and security review to reassess our essential
security interests and defence needs. It will consider how the roles, missions and
capabilities of our armed forces should be adjusted to meet the new strategic realities.
The review we propose will be foreign policy led, first assessing our likely overseas
commitments and interests and then establishing how our forces should be deployed to
meet them.

## Arms control

A new Labour government will retain Trident. We will press for multilateral negotiations
towards mutual, balanced and verifiable reductions in nuclear weapons. When satisfied with
verified progress towards our goal of the global elimination of nuclear weapons, we will
ensure that British nuclear weapons are included in multilateral negotiations.

Labour will work for the effective implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and
for a strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention. Labour will ban the import,
export, transfer and manufacture of all forms of anti-personnel landmines. We will
introduce an immediate moratorium on their use. Labour will not permit the sale of arms
to regimes that might use them for internal repression or international aggression. We
will increase the transparency and accountability of decisions on export licences for
arms. And we will support an EU code of conduct governing arms sales.

We support a strong UK defence industry, which is a strategic part of our industrial base
as well as our defence effort. We believe that part of its expertise can be extended to
civilian use through a defence diversification agency.

## Leadership in the international community

A new Labour government will use Britain's permanent seat on the Security Council to
press for substantial reform of the United Nations, including an early resolution of its
funding crisis, and a more effective role in peacekeeping, conflict prevention, the
protection of human rights and safeguarding the global environment.

The Commonwealth provides Britain with a unique network of contacts linked by history,
language and legal systems. Labour is committed to giving renewed priority to the
Commonwealth in our foreign relations. We will seize the opportunity to increase trade
and economic co-operation and will also build alliances with our Commonwealth partners
to promote reform at the UN and common action on the global environment. Britain has a
real opportunity to provide leadership to the Commonwealth when we host the heads of
government meeting in Britain at the end of 1997.

## Promoting economic and social development

Labour will also attach much higher priority to combating global poverty and
underdevelopment. According to the World Bank, there are 1. 3 billion people in the world
who live in absolute poverty, subsisting on less than US$1 a day, while 35,000 children
die each day from readily preventable diseases.

Labour believes that we have a clear moral responsibility to help combat global poverty.
In government we will strengthen and restructure the British aid programme and bring
development issues back into the mainstream of government decision-making. A Cabinet
minister will lead a new department of international development.

We will shift aid resources towards programmes that help the poorest people in the poorest
countries. We reaffirm the UK's commitment to the 0.7 per cent UN aid target and in
government Labour will start to reverse the decline in UK aid spending.

We will work for greater consistency between the aid, trade, agriculture and economic
reform policies of the EU. We will use our leadership position in the EU to maintain
and enhance the position of the poorest countries during the renegotiation of the Lomo
Convention.

We will support further measures to reduce the debt burden borne by the world's poorest
countries and to ensure that developing countries are given a fair deal in international
trade. It is our aim to rejoin UNESCO. We will consider how this can be done most
effectively and will ensure that the cost is met from savings elsewhere.

## Human rights

Labour wants Britain to be respected in the world for the integrity with which it conducts
its foreign relations. We will make the protection and promotion of human rights a central
part of our foreign policy. We will work for the creation of a permanent international
criminal court to investigate genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

## A new environmental internationalism

Labour believes that the threats to the global climate should push environmental concerns
higher up the international agenda. A Labour government will strengthen co-operation in the
European Union on environmental issues, including climate change and ozone depletion. We
will lead the fight against global warming, through our target of a 20 per cent reduction
in carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2010.

Labour believes the international environment should be safeguarded in negotiations over
international trade. We will also work for the successful negotiation of a new protocol
on climate change to be completed in Japan in 1997.

## Leadership, not isolation

There is a sharp division between those who believe the way to cope with global change is
for nations to retreat into isolationism and protectionism, and those who believe in
internationalism and engagement. Labour has traditionally been the party of
internationalism. Britain cannot be strong at home if it is weak abroad. The tragedy of
the Conservative years has been the squandering of Britain's assets and the loss of
Britain's influence.

A new Labour government will use those assets to the full to restore Britain's pride and
influence as a leading force for good in the world. With effective leadership and clear
vision, Britain could once again be at the centre of international decision-making instead
of at its margins.

**This manifesto contains the detail of our plans. We have promised only what we know
we can deliver. Britain deserves better and the following five election pledges will be the
first steps towards a better Britain. If you would like to help us build that better Britain,
join us by calling 0990 300 900.**

- cut class sizes to 30 or under for 5, 6 and 7 year-olds by using money from
 the assisted places scheme

- fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders by halving the time from
 arrest to sentencing

- cut NHS waiting lists by treating an extra 100,000 patients as a first step
 by releasing £100 million saved from NHS red tape

- get 250,000 under-25 year-olds off benefit and into work by using money from
 a windfall levy on the privatised utilities

- no rise in income tax rates, cut VAT on heating to 5 per cent and inflation
 and interest rates as low as possible

###