---
election_year: 2015
party_id: welsh-labour
party_name: Welsh Labour
party_leader: Carwyn Jones
political_spectrum: centre-left
victory: false
government_outcome: opposition
sections:
  - economy
  - taxation
  - health
  - education
  - housing
  - immigration
  - defence
  - foreign-policy
  - environment
  - transport
  - law-and-order
  - welfare
  - democracy-and-constitution
  - energy
  - devolution
  - science-and-technology
  - local-government
---

# Welsh Labour Manifesto 2015

Our manifesto begins with the Budget Responsibility Lock we offer the British people. It is the basis for all our plans in this manifesto because it is by securing our national finances that we are able to secure the family finances of the working people of Britain.

The Budget Responsibility Lock guarantees that:

Every policy in this manifesto is paid for. Not one commitment requires additional borrowing. We are the first party to make that pledge and with this manifesto it is delivered. We will legislate to require all major parties to have their manifesto commitments independently audited by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

A Labour government will cut the deficit every year. The first line of Labour’s first Budget will be: “This Budget cuts the deficit every year”. This manifesto sets out that we will only lay a Budget before the House of Commons that cuts the deficit every year, which the OBR will independently verify.

We will get national debt falling and a surplus on the current budget as soon as possible in the next parliament. This manifesto sets out that we will not compromise on this commitment.

## Foreword

We are a great country. With great people.

In the last five years I have heard your stories, your hopes and your dreams. And I have heard too your frustrations about our country.

The countless people working as hard as they possibly can and still struggling to pay the bills. The young people with great ambitions but great anxieties about the future. The dedicated staff of our NHS, who are deeply concerned about its future should the Conservatives be re-elected. And all those who have served our country and are now retired, who ask me where our country is going.

This manifesto is inspired by you.

We are a great country, but we can be even better.

The fundamental truth that runs through this manifesto is that Britain can only succeed when working people succeed. It is an idea at the heart of my beliefs.

And it drives our better plan for a better future. It means a country where hard work is rewarded, with high skill, high wage jobs. An economy built on strong and secure foundations, where we balance the books.

It means a Labour Government in Westminster, working in partnership with a Labour Government in Wales to deliver world-class public services, to build a future for all our young people and to protect our NHS.

It means strong communities, where we respond to people’s concerns about immigration with proper controls.

It means a Britain where everyone plays by the same rules, including those at the very top of our society. And it means an outward looking country, engaged in the world for our national interest.

For me, the privilege of serving as Prime Minister in our country would be for one purpose alone: to work every day to help build a country that works again for working people. This manifesto is our plan to achieve that goal.

Ed Miliband

## Foreword by Carwyn Jones and Owen Smith

Wales is a great nation, a cornerstone of Great Britain, proud of our past and ambitious for our future.

The hard-work, skill and industry of the Welsh people helped build the foundations of Britain, and the Welsh people want to play their part once again in the renewal of Great Britain.

In Labour, we believe that means building a new politics of partnership, and an economy that delivers for working people in Wales, as in every part of our country.

Welsh Devolution was one of the proudest achievements of the last UK Labour Government, a permanent reminder of what we can achieve working in partnership between Labour Governments in Wales and Westminster.

A decade of Labour partnership saw a new confidence, at home and abroad, in Wales’ capacity to thrive in a global economy - bolstered by record investment in our schools and hospitals.

However, the last five years of the Tory-Lib Dem UK Government has failed to build on that legacy of co-operation and investment, preferring instead to cut Welsh budgets and criticise Welsh services.

Throughout this period, the Welsh Labour Government has continued to stand up for our values, providing leadership and investment in job creation and public service reform.

But we could do so much more. And with a Government at Westminster on the side of the Welsh people once again, we will.

A UK Labour Government will work for the Welsh people to reintroduce fairness and equality into our economy.

We will raise the minimum wage, scrap the bedroom tax, ban exploitative zero-hours contracts, freeze crippling energy bills and cut taxes for working people.

We will restore solidarity between our governments in Wales and Westminster, investing resources from across Britain to train 1,000 new doctors and nurses, and double free childcare for working parents in Wales.

We will strengthen devolution once again, guaranteeing fair funding for Wales, as well as powers over policing, energy, transport and elections.

In all this, Labour will unite rather than divide our country.

A people-led Constitutional Convention will consider how power might be better shared across Britain, but our view remains clear, and shared with the Welsh people, Wales will always be better off as part of the United Kingdom.

Wales deserves a government in Westminster that will respect our achievements, learn from our successes and support us in our challenges. That is the government we promise to deliver for the people of Wales.

Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour Owen Smith, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

## Chapter 1: We will build a better future for Wales and Britain

Britain is a great country ready to build a better future. This manifesto sets out Labour’s plan for national renewal.

The British people are known for tolerance, responsibility to others and for our belief in the value of hard work. We look confidently outward to the world.

These are great British traditions – things we all believe in, things our country is good at. We are at our best when we work together. We see this every day in our workplaces, in our families, and in our communities. People want to get on, they want to give their children a better future and they want to help to change Britain for the better.

Here in Wales the Welsh Labour Government has used the powers it holds to make Wales a fairer, more prosperous country. We have focused on the next generation by supporting young people to get jobs, training opportunities and apprenticeships. We are building homes and helping those who rent, but on our own we can’t solve all the problems in our country. We need a Labour Government in Westminster so we can further reshape our economy.

Across Britain working people also know a simple truth: the economy is not working for them. For years now, our economy has not rewarded everyone who put in a good, honest day’s work. However hard people work, many don’t earn enough to make ends meet. Too many have been driven from secure, full-time work into precarious, badly paid jobs, many working on zero hours contracts. Time to enjoy with friends and family is increasingly squeezed as mothers and fathers juggle the demands of work and caring for children and often an older relative.

Despite the progress made here in Wales the Conservative model for our economy and system of government is failing people. Too many people have come to believe that politics ignores the things that matter to them. Too much power is unaccountable, concentrated in the market and the state at the expense of individuals and their communities.

Many of these problems have been mounting for many years. Some, like the rise of inequality, are felt in countries all around the world. So the Conservatives didn’t cause all of them but they have made them far worse. Their view is that economic success depends just on a few at the top. They think that insecurity will make people work harder and that low pay is the only way to be competitive in the global market. They don’t believe we can afford decent public services when times are hard. They have been giving power to large unaccountable firms rather than to people, and now they want to make deeper cuts in the next three years than we have seen in the last five years.

The work of the Welsh Labour Government has brought power closer to the people of Wales, but there are some who believe there is nothing we can do to change things for the better. They feel powerless. They are losing faith that those with power will ever listen to them. We understand these feelings. But we believe that through an effective partnership between a Labour UK and Welsh Labour Government we can deliver the fresh hope that can renew our country and make a better future for working people. We have learned the lessons of the past. We were in government for thirteen years in Westminster and we left the country a far better place to live in. But we did not get everything right. We have learned and we have changed.

Labour is renewing our traditions as a party of work, family and community. We believe in a society of trust and mutual obligation, in which we look after the vulnerable and people can bring up their families with hope in a better future.

And we believe in helping people to help themselves, both to improve their own communities, and to achieve their ambitions.

We are also the Party of equality. We believe that no person should suffer discrimination or a lack of opportunity. The decisions we take in government will always be taken with this in mind. The policies in our manifesto will help remove the barriers that stand in the way of greater equality. We know we achieve more when we work together to challenge inequalities of power and build a common good.

In this UK General Election, the country has a choice. We can continue with a Conservative plan based on the view that success comes only from the privileged few at the top. Or we can change direction, begin to return power to people and build an economy together in which everyone can contribute to a shared and enduring prosperity.

We believe that Britain and Wales succeed when working families succeed.

As the economy at last recovers, people want the opportunity to use their skills and talents to make a better life for themselves and their children. Our country’s greatest asset is the hard work and talent of our people.

Labour’s plan is to build firm economic foundations for creating wealth, rewarding hard work and competing in the world.

We will balance the books by cutting the deficit every year with a surplus on the current budget and national debt falling as soon as possible in the next Parliament. This will need common sense spending reductions, outside of the protected spending areas. We will ask those with incomes over £150,000 a year to contribute a little more through a 50p rate of tax. And we will build the high skill, high wage economy we need to raise tax revenues and control social security spending.

We will improve the security and reward of working life by raising the National Minimum Wage to more than £8 an hour by October 2019, banning exploitative zero hours contracts and promoting the Living Wage. In Wales we have helped young people into sustainable employment through Jobs Growth Wales, kept tuition fees low, and continue to drive improvements in our education system.

In future we will follow Wales’ lead and ensure firms with a major government contract will have to offer apprenticeships.

We will support families by expanding free childcare from 10 to 20 hours for working parents of three and four year-olds, while doubling paid paternity leave for fathers. We will help with household bills by freezing energy prices until 2017 while reforming the broken energy market. And we will make sure new homes get built – by 2016 the Welsh Government will have delivered 20,000 new homes. We have passed legislation in Wales to improve standards for those who rent. The Bedroom Tax is cruel and we will abolish it.

We will protect and invest in our National Health Service so that it has time to care. We will train an extra 1,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, funded by a mansion tax on properties worth over £2m, a levy on tobacco companies and cracking down on those avoiding tax.

Our Welsh NHS is a planned and integrated service delivering care as close to home as possible. The new Social Services and Well-being Act is securing vital integration between health and social services. Many people from Wales use cross border health services so in England we will protect our NHS by voting to repeal the Tories’ Health and Social Care Act, reject their privatisation and ensure that the NHS is always the preferred provider.

The common life we share is about who we are as a country. Not everyone the same, but each of us sharing a sense of belonging, valued equally and able to contribute to the common good. Immigration has made an important contribution to our economic and social life, but it needs to be properly controlled. With a Labour Government, migrants from the EU will not be able to claim benefits until they have lived here for at least two years. We will make it illegal to undercut wages by exploiting migrant workers, and we will work to strengthen integration within our communities.

We will help make communities safer, by protecting and strengthening neighbourhood policing and will devolve to the Welsh Government the powers to shape the priorities and the governance structures for policing in Wales.

We will counter extremism and put in place tough new laws to tackle child sexual exploitation. In Wales we delivered on our promise to appoint 500 more Community Support Officers as we know how vital community safety is to the people of Wales. The Welsh Labour Government has led the way by passing a new law to tackle violence against women and girls.

Labour is the party of devolution. We established the National Assembly for Wales but we know that things shouldn’t stay the same forever. We need our institutions to evolve so that people have more say in the decisions that affect their lives. We in Labour know that Government has to do things differently.

The old command and control politics - doing things to and for people, but never with them - will not work. We need a new approach to government that involves more people in decisions that affect them. So we will devolve more power and control, not only to Wales and Scotland, but to our great English cities and counties too. And we will share power and responsibility with people in their communities to help them help themselves and shape their services in response to their local circumstances.

Our country faces global challenges of climate change, terrorism and the spread of disease. In particular, tackling climate change is an economic necessity and the most important thing we must do for our children, our grandchildren and future generations. A Labour government will face up to these challenges and re-engage with the world. We will build alliances in Europe, promoting our country’s interests and security, and standing up for human rights and social justice. We will work to reform the European Union and we will retain our membership of it.

Labour’s plan for national renewal will bring about real, meaningful change that each person will be able to feel in their daily life. We know that to make Britain a better country opportunity must belong to everyone and not just a few. We will lend a helping hand to all those who need it, but we will also ask more of individuals and communities. We can only rebuild our country if everyone plays their part and feels they have a stake in society.

We believe in living within our means. We will not make promises we cannot keep, and we will not introduce changes unless they are funded. There is not a single policy in this manifesto that is funded by additional borrowing. Not a single one.

Our plan is to build a fair, secure, prosperous and more equal country open to the world in which everyone has the opportunity to get on and to do their best.

We will provide strong and effective government but everyone will need to contribute and play their part. It will be hard but working together we can do it.

## Chapter 2: We will build an economy that works for working people in Wales

We know a simple truth. Britain only succeeds when working families succeed. It is how our country has won through in the past and how it will succeed in the future. But so many people are putting in the hours and not seeing the rewards. That is why there is a cost of living crisis. Our first task in government is to change our economy so that it truly works for all of Wales and Britain’s businesses and working people.

The Conservatives claim that the economy is fixed and that our country is on the right track. But much of this has been based on low paid, exploitative work that does not help working families.

In Wales active intervention by the Welsh Labour Government has seen record levels of foreign direct investment and new flagship projects like the opening of the Pinewood Studios, the success at Airbus and our tourism industry. The Welsh economy needs a fresh partnership with the UK Government, as we know the economy of Wales will improve even further alongside a strong UK economy.

So our partnership will focus on creating the productive, high-skilled and well-paid jobs that we need to raise living standards. The lack of action by the Conservative UK Government has trapped hundreds of thousands of young people across the UK in a cycle of benefits and low paid jobs. And consumers are overcharged in markets they rely on to meet their everyday needs, whether to heat their homes or travel to work.

For most of the 20th century there was a vital link between the success of the country and family finances. As the country got better off, so did working people. But the link between the success of the country and the family budget has been broken. Since 2010 working people are earning on average £1,600 less a year after inflation. We have seen the greatest fall in wages over a parliament since 1874.

Over five million people are in low paid jobs in Britain today, earning less than the Living Wage. There are 1.8 million zero-hours contracts. Another 1.3 million are working part time because they cannot get a full time job. Half of all those in poverty live in working households. 900,000 people used food banks last year – many of them in work.

This cost-of-living crisis is bad for families, bad for business and bad for Britain.

Lower levels of pay have meant lower tax receipts and higher spending on social security.

We will have to work and earn our way toward a more fairly shared and enduring prosperity. We are a great commercial nation that has been at the centre of global trade for centuries. We have a long tradition of innovation and enterprise, and we have been quick to seize the opportunities of the internet.

We have big strengths to build upon: world-leading universities, an outstanding science research base, an open economy with one of the highest rates of foreign direct investment in the world, and many successful global companies.

And Wales is well placed to contribute to that. We already bring in more foreign direct investment per head of population than the rest of the UK, and with key industry sectors like aerospace, green energy and the creative industries we can play our part in generating more jobs and wealth.

An inclusive wealth-creating economy works when there is a shared sense of responsibility so we will be a government that is both pro-business and pro-worker. We value all our businesses as organisations of innovation and wealth production and we will work strategically with them to create wealth. We value trade unions as an essential force for a decent society and as guarantors of skills and fair wages.

#### A Strong Economic Foundation

The next Labour Government will balance the books. We will only lay a Budget before the House of Commons that cuts the deficit every year, which the Office for Budget Responsibility will independently verify. We will get national debt falling and a surplus on the current budget as soon as possible in the next Parliament and these fiscal commitments will not be compromised. We will tackle the root causes of the deficit by building a more productive economy with living standards that rise year-on-year.

The Conservative-led government promised to balance the books in this Parliament. But this promise has been broken. The Conservatives will leave the country borrowing over £75 billion this year.

Labour’s plan to balance the books means making tough, but fairer choices. We will reverse the UK Government’s top rate tax cut so that the highest one per cent of earners, with incomes over £150,000, contribute a little more to help get the deficit down. We will stop paying winter fuel payments to the wealthiest five per cent of pensioners and cap child benefit rises at one per cent for two years. UK Government ministerial pay will be cut and then frozen until we have balanced the books. All proceeds from the sale of our stakes in Lloyds and RBS will be used to repay the national debt.

We will live within our means. We have no proposals for any new spending paid for by additional borrowing. All of our commitments will be paid for by reducing spending elsewhere or by raising additional revenue. For example, we will introduce a tax on properties worth over £2million to help fund new investment in our NHS. This means 1,000 extra doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals will be trained in Wales to ensure that Welsh patients get the care they need.

We will legislate to require all major parties to have their manifesto commitments independently audited by the Office for Budget Responsibility at each general election. We will cap structural social security expenditure in each spending review so that it is properly controlled. We will implement the proposals of Labour’s Zero-Based Review, which has already identified savings we will make through reforming old government bureaucracies, devolving power and services and redesigning public services. We will invest to prevent social problems rather than waste money reacting to them.

#### Fairer taxes

We will create a fairer tax system, helping those on middle and lower incomes by introducing, a lower 10p starting rate of tax, paid for by ending the Conservatives’ Marriage Tax Allowance.

We will not increase the basic or higher rates of income tax or National Insurance. Nor will we raise VAT and renew our pledge not to extend it to food, children’s clothes, books, newspapers or public transport fares.

Our first Finance Bill will close the tax loopholes that cost the Exchequer billions of pounds a year. We will introduce tougher penalties for those abusing the tax system, end unfair tax breaks used by hedge funds and others, and bear down on disguised employment. We will seek international agreement to make country-by-country reporting information publicly available, and we will act at home if agreement is not reached. British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will be required to produce publicly available registries of the real owners of companies based there.

We will carry out an immediate review into the culture and practices of HMRC so that everyone follows the same rules and we increase the rigour of the tax system. And we will abolish non-dom status so that those who make the UK their home pay tax in the same way as the rest of us.

#### Improving productivity and a new industrial strategy

Labour will improve productivity by building a long term investment culture in the private and public sectors and supporting small businesses to grow into the successes of the future. With Labour, Britain will continue to have the most competitive rate of corporation tax in the G7.

Building world-class infrastructure will be crucial to fostering economic growth.

The Welsh Labour Government has prioritised spending on infrastructure to support our economy and public services, as well as providing a firm foundation for future growth. We are exploring innovative financing mechanisms to tap new sources of funding, for example to improve our roads, schools and flood defences.

We will create certainty for investors by taking a long term approach to the major investment decisions facing the UK. We will set up an independent National Infrastructure Commission to assess how best to meet Britain’s infrastructure needs. It will make recommendations to the UK Government, monitor their implementation, and hold government to account. It will work with the Welsh Government to identify priorities for Wales and ensure that they are delivered.

These measures and our long-term approach will help reinforce Britain’s status as one of the world’s greatest centres of science and engineering.

We will continue to support the construction of High Speed Two, but keep costs down, and take action to improve and expand rail links across the North of England to boost its regional economies.

The Welsh Government will support long term investment in Wales’ strategic transport system as identified in the National Transport Plan for Wales and the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan. Projects will include the M4 relief road in Newport, improving the crucial A55 in North Wales, rail electrification, the South Wales Metro and rail links in North Wales.

Following the Davies Review, we will make a swift decision on expanding airport capacity in London and the South East of England, balancing the need for growth and the environmental impact.

Scientific discovery and technological innovation will drive the economic advancement this century. We will introduce a new long term funding policy framework for science and innovation. It will provide the stability and continuity that our companies and research institutes need to succeed.

We will work to make Britain a world leader in low carbon technologies over the next decade, creating a million additional green jobs. Wales has the potential to lead this green revolution. This aim will be supported by ambitious domestic carbon reduction targets, including a legal target to remove the carbon energy from our electricity supply by 2030 and a major drive for energy efficiency.

Our industrial strategy for the green economy will end the current uncertainty for investors with a timetable for the Green Investment Bank to be given additional powers, so that it can invest in green businesses and technology. We will ensure that Wales remains at the forefront of the renewable energy sector by taking forward tidal lagoon projects, starting in Swansea Bay.

We will create an Energy Security Board to plan and deliver the energy mix we need, including renewables, nuclear, green gas and carbon capture and storage and clean coal. We will devolve power over the licensing of onshore unconventional oil and gas to the Welsh Government, supporting the moratorium in Wales.

Labour’s longer-term approach will drive innovation and build on our strengths as a leader in digital technology.

We are just at the start of the internet revolution. Digital technology has transformed start-up costs, making it easier to run your own business. There is a widening in the application of new transformative technologies in the fields of robotics, genetics, 3D printing and Big Data. Our economy is developing a network of connections that will revolutionise innovation.

We will work in partnership with the UK Labour Government to meet our aim of ensuring that all parts of the country benefit from affordable high speed broadband by the end of the Parliament. We will work with the industry and the regulator to maximize private sector investment to deliver the infrastructure needed to extend coverage and reduce ‘not spots’, including in areas of market failure.

Our universities are among the finest in the world. Some are already helping our regional economies by forming strong links with industry and creating high-tech clusters. The collaboration between the University of Swansea, Tata Steel and Rolls Royce is already generating jobs and developing new technologies.

We will support this model of knowledge clusters across the whole country.

Britain’s economy is being held back by the culture of short-termism which is a major obstacle to the development of productive businesses and industries.

We will reform corporate governance in order to protect our leading firms from the pressure to put tomorrow’s share price before long-term growth potential.

Institutional investors will have a duty to act in the best interests of ordinary savers. They will have to prioritise long-term growth over short-term profits for the companies they are investing in. We will change takeover rules to enhance the role of long term investors by restricting voting to those already holding shares when a bid is made. In addition we will strengthen the public interest test.

We will improve the link between executive pay and performance by simplifying pay packages and requiring investment and pension fund managers to disclose how they vote on top pay. And we will make sure employees have a voice when executive pay is set by requiring employee representation on remuneration committees.

In this way we can start to create an economy based on mutual obligations, and encourage employers and employees to build partnerships for improving both business performance and job quality. Outdated practices, like blacklisting, have no place in a modern economy. We are proud that Wales has led the way in banning companies who were involved in blacklisting from winning government contracts and in protecting workers from the use of umbrella companies on major Welsh Government funded capital projects. The Welsh Labour Government is proactively using procurement to support investment and skills in our economy.

Our charities, mutuals, cooperatives and social enterprises are pioneering new models of production that enhance social values and give individuals and communities power and control. In Wales we are taking forward recommendations by the Co-operative and Mutuals Commission set up by the Welsh Labour Government, providing a new momentum for co-operative solutions across our country. We will help co-operative and mutual organisations by improving access to growth finance through the new British Investment Bank and consider how to support employee buy-outs when businesses decide to sell.

We will safeguard the public interest in the Royal Mail, supporting the creation of a staff-led trust for the employee share, and keeping the remaining 30 per cent in public ownership. We will also support its universal service obligation, ensuring competition does not undermine it and introducing protections as necessary.

#### Backing small business

Small businesses are the backbone of the economy. Their creativity and dynamism are vital for raising our productivity and competing in the global economy. Labour will give them a voice in the heart of the UK government - a Small Business Administration will ensure procurement contracts are accessible and regulations are designed with small firms in mind. It will work closely with the Welsh Government and small business support services in Wales.

We will address the rising costs for small businesses and strengthen rules on late payment. Labour will put small businesses first in line for tax cuts. Instead of cutting Corporation Tax again for the largest firms, we will cut and then freeze business rates. In Wales we have extended the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme again this year, helping over three-quarters of firms.

We will develop a banking system that works for businesses in every nation, every region and every sector of Britain. The long-standing problems of our banking system mean that too many small and medium sized businesses cannot get the finance they need to invest and grow.

Labour will establish a British Investment Bank with the mission to help business grow and to create wealth and jobs. It will have the resources to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses. In Wales the new bank will work closely with institutions established by the Welsh Government to ensure that firms have the finance they need.

We will increase competition on the high street. Following the Competition and Market Authorities inquiry we want a market share test and at least two new challenger banks. And we will deal with the scourge of household debt by introducing a new levy on payday lenders, using the funds raised to boost low cost alternatives like credit unions. This will provide a significant boost to the £1.9 million of funding already committed by the Welsh Government, and the £4 million for free advice services to help people manage their finances and get out of debt.

#### Better work and better pay

Britain’s route to prosperity and higher living standards is through more secure and better paid jobs. But Conservative policies are causing whole sectors of the economy to be dragged into a race to the bottom on wages and skills. The Conservative Government has weakened employment rights and promoted a hire-and-fire culture. Labour believes our economy can only succeed in a race to the top: competing in the world with better work with better pay and better skills.

Too many people do a hard day’s work but remain dependent on benefits. We will raise the National Minimum Wage to more than £8 an hour by October 2019 , bringing it closer to average earnings. We will support employers to pay more by using government procurement to promote the Living Wage, alongside wider social impact considerations. We have made sure that anyone employed by the Welsh Government or Welsh NHS is paid a Living Wage, but we will go further. Our Make Work Pay contracts will give tax rebates for businesses who sign up to paying the Living Wage in the first year of a Labour government.

Publicly listed companies will be required to report on whether or not they pay the Living Wage.

It is hard for Britain to succeed when employees feel insecure and employers are undercut by those using exploitative working practices.

Labour will ban exploitative zero-hours contracts. Those who work regular hours for more than twelve weeks, will get a right to a regular contract. We will abolish the loophole that allows firms to undercut permanent staff by using agency workers on lower pay.

The Conservatives have introduced fees of up to £1200 for employment tribunal claimants, creating a significant barrier to workplace justice. We will abolish the Government’s employment tribunal fee system, as part of wider reforms to make sure that workers have proper access to justice, affordability is not a barrier, employers get a quicker resolution, and the costs to the tax payer do not rise.

Labour is the Party of work and we value working life. We will push up standards and boost productivity by implementing the commitments in Labour’s workplace and business manifestos.

#### Supporting the next generation

The Tories are content to write off the prospects of a generation of young people and leave them with no jobs, training or hope. Labour is different, and in Wales we’ve created Jobs Growth Wales which has created over 17,000 job opportunities for young people. In Wales 27,455 apprenticeships were started in 2013/14 and the number of people completing their apprenticeship has risen to over 80 per cent.

In England, the decision by the Tories and Lib Dems to triple university tuition fees leaves young people either starting their working lives burdened by £44,000 worth of debt, or without a clear alternative path to a decent career.

In Wales we kept fees low for Welsh students, and we’ll now follow this lead in England by cutting tuition fees from £9000 to £6000. We will pay for it by restricting tax relief on pension contributions for the highest earners and clamping down on tax avoidance.

We will tackle the growth of unpaid internships because thousands of highly able young people who cannot afford to work for free are locked out of too many of our professions.

We will introduce a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee, paid for by a bank bonus tax.

It will provide a paid starter job for every young person unemployed for over a year, a job which they will have to take or lose benefits. We will make sure it interacts with existing schemes like Jobs Growth Wales so that the system is clear and understandable for young people and employers.

The Welsh Labour Government will continue the work it has begun to develop the apprenticeship model for Wales in line with our new Skills Strategy. We will ensure that apprenticeships support the future growth of the Welsh economy and the delivery of higher level skills at level 3 and above.

We will work toward delivering a greater volume of higher skills, focused on the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sectors. We will also work in partnership with employers to develop our plans for co-investment and ensure skills funding is responsive to the needs of employers in Wales.

Young people who do not have the skills they need, should be in training, not on benefits. We will replace out of work benefits for 18 to 21 year olds with a new youth allowance dependent on recipients being in training and targeted at those who need it most. We will use the power of government procurement to create more opportunities. Every firm getting a major government contract will be required to offer apprenticeships and every large employer hiring skilled workers from outside the EU will be required offer apprenticeships.

#### Mending the markets that people rely on

Labour will stand up for working families and businesses against vested interests. We will reform the broken markets that people rely on most so that families and businesses get a fair deal.

Energy bills have risen by over £300 since 2010. Many businesses say energy is the biggest cost they face. Lack of competition and transparency has allowed the large energy companies to get away with increasing bills when wholesale prices rise but not cutting them when they fall. And the regulator has failed to take decisive action to protect consumers.

Labour will freeze energy bills until 2017, ensuring that bills can fall but not rise and we will give the regulator the power to cut bills this winter. During the freeze, we will reform the energy market so that it delivers fairer prices and a better deal for working families. The generation and supply businesses of the ‘Big Six’ energy companies will be separated. They will be required to open up their books and they will have to sell their electricity through an open exchange.

We will simplify energy tariffs and make it easier for people to compare prices and so get the best deal. Small businesses will be protected by ending unfair contracts and automatic rollovers to more expensive tariffs. A tough new energy watchdog will enforce our reforms with the power to strip energy companies of their licences if they repeatedly harm the interests of consumers, and protect off-grid households as well.

We will bring down energy bills by making homes more energy efficient.

The Welsh Labour Government will help some 13,000 households make improvements to their home’s energy efficiency by 2016, leading to savings of up to £500 in each household’s energy bills. Home insulation makes a huge difference in reducing the energy we use so the bills can be affordable in the long term and in Wales we spend nearly ten times more per household on energy efficiency than the Tories did in England. The Welsh Labour Government is also working with social landlords to ensure that they meet their obligation under the Welsh Housing Quality Standards to make sure that their properties are adequately heated, fuel efficient and well-insulated.

The water industry, too, requires reform. One in five people struggle to pay their water bill. Despite this, only a fraction of customers have benefited from the social tariffs offered by water companies. Under our reforms all water companies will be required to sign up to a new national affordability scheme, helping those who cannot afford to pay their water bills. And we will strengthen the powers of the regulator to change licenses, limit price rises and enforce industry standards.

This builds on the experience in Wales with a water company operating on a not-for-profit basis that has been able to offer social tariffs to 100,000 customers.

Living standards have been hit by fare increases on public transport. Since 2010, rail fares have risen by 20 per cent leaving passengers paying the highest fares in Europe. Similarly, bus fares have on average risen by 27 per cent at the same time as 2,000 routes have been cut. We recognise the pressure on people's incomes and the Welsh Government has taken action to keep down the cost of rail fares on the Wales and Borders franchise.

Labour will reform our transport system in order to provide more public control and put the public interest first. We will review the franchising process as a priority to put in place a new system and avoid a repeat of the Conservatives’ franchising fiasco. A new National Rail body will oversee and plan for the railways and give rail users a greater say in how trains operate. We will legislate so that a public sector operator is allowed to take on lines and challenge the private train operating companies on a level playing field.

The Welsh Labour Government has already established a not-for-dividend wholly-owned subsidiary company to drive forward work in preparation for when the rail franchise passes to its control in 2018. We recognise that travel is too expensive for many people, which is why Welsh Labour has committed to keeping the free bus pass for pensioners and is now developing a concessionary travel scheme for 16 and 17 year olds travelling to work, education or training.

The Welsh Labour Government also acted to save and turn around the fortunes of Cardiff International Airport, in spite of Conservative opposition. This vital anchor to the St Athan and Cardiff Airport Enterprise Zone now has a brighter future thanks to Labour.

We will seek to pass control over the Severn Bridge tolls to the Welsh Government when they pass into public ownership – the Welsh Labour Government has already said it would like to cut tolls in the future.

#### Labour will:

cut the deficit every year and balance the books as soon as possible in the next Parliament reverse the 50p tax cut so that the top one per cent pay a little more to help get the deficit down not increase the basic or higher rates of Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT cut and then freeze business rates and maintain the most competitive corporate tax rates in the G7 abolish non dom status increase the National Minimum Wage to more than £8 an hour by October 2019 ban exploitative zero-hours contracts support apprenticeships and build on the success of Jobs Growth Wales maintain low tuition fees in Wales while reducing fees to £6,000 in England freeze energy bills until 2017 and give the regulator the power to cut bills by this winter introduce a British Investment Bank and improve access to finance for Welsh businesses.

## Chapter 3: We will provide world class health and education services

Our NHS, social care, schools, colleges and other public services make up the essential fabric of our country. People need them to be able to live secure and fulfilling lives. Britain needs them if we are to succeed as a country. But under a UK Conservative Government funding for our public services is under threat. The next UK Labour Government will protect and invest in our public services and that will be good news for Wales. Further extreme cuts from the Tories and privatisation would undermine and destabilise public services in Wales.

The NHS is one of our great national institutions and it is one of Labour’s proudest achievements. It embodies our belief that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone. Protecting and investing in the Welsh NHS is central to ensuring our country works for working people.

We believe that a good education is essential to achieving personal fulfilment and economic prosperity and the Welsh Labour Government is driving up standards across our schools system and investing in 21st century schools. In Wales every classroom has a suitably qualified teacher. At the heart of effective and responsive public services are good relationships and these can only be fostered at a local level with people in control. Good public services also need committed staff, whose ethos of service is respected, who are treated fairly.

They require decisions that prioritise those on lower incomes, and which are evidence based, and respect Pay Review Body recommendations rather than brushing them aside irresponsibly.

Unlike the Tories, the Welsh Labour Government delivered a Living Wage for every member of staff working in the NHS.

All governments tend to spend too much money dealing with the symptoms of problems, instead of investing smaller amounts in dealing with their causes.

Every taxpayer pays the cost of low educational achievement, poor aspirations, drink and drug misuse and criminality. So we will promote early-years intervention, supporting young children and dealing with problems before they get out of hand.

Labour is committed to reducing the future burden on public spending by investing to prevent social problems. This will be at the core of the next UK Labour Government’s approach to public services and is already well underway here under a Welsh Labour Government, forming an integral part of our public services reforms. In addition, through the Invest to Save programme we are improving public service collaboration and innovation, by earmarking short-term investment that will deliver long-term benefits to the public finances.

The Welsh Labour Government has also focused on promoting early years intervention through programmes like Flying Start, supporting young children and their parents. The Tories cut Sure Start Children’s Centres in England while the Welsh Labour Government has expanded the Flying Start programme.

This approach to public services saves money and creates more responsive services, by building co-operation and sharing among public services and organisations.

Labour will use digital technology in the reform and delivery of our public services. Frontline staff and the people who use services will have the means to work together to decide what improvements to make and how best to use their resources.

#### The NHS

The NHS remains the greatest achievement of the Labour Party and is an institution which the Welsh people value above all others – people in Wales continue to be very satisfied with the care they receive from their health service.

That is why under a Welsh Labour Government the NHS has been protected from the privatisation agenda we have seen in England since 2010.

All the health services across the UK face significant challenges from the consequences of an ageing population, advances in medicine and increasing demands and expectations from the public. It will be of great benefit to Wales that we can work in partnership with a UK Labour Government to find solutions to these common challenges.

In Wales we stay true to Aneurin Bevan’s founding principles as we meet the challenge of providing 21st century healthcare. The answer is not to set hospital against hospital as the Tories have done in England, which has led to needless competition and destabilisation in England. Instead, Wales has concentrated on providing more joined-up services, integrated with social care, based around patients’ needs.

Despite a cut of £1.4bn to the Welsh budget by the Conservative-led UK Government, the NHS still accounts for around 45 per cent of the Welsh Government’s spending. We spend £120 more per head on the NHS and social services combined in Wales than in England.

Funded by a Mansion tax on properties worth over two million pounds we promise new investment in our Welsh NHS. Labour will train an extra 1,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to target areas of greatest pressure.

In Wales we are focused on improving cancer care. We have worked with GPs to improve early diagnosis and ensure that people have better access to diagnostic tests and treatment. People have the support of a key worker and written care plan when they are diagnosed and Wales has an international reputation for cancer research.

We have seen improving cancer care in Wales, but the Welsh Labour Government is committed to going further. We are working to minimise people’s risk of cancer by promoting healthy lifestyle choices and we have an ambitious target to cut smoking rates – still the biggest cause of premature death – to just 16 per cent by 2020.

The Welsh Labour Government took the decision to protect social care funding because a failure to look after adults who need care in their homes and communities is not only an affront to dignity, but it ultimately stores up problems for the NHS. As a result of this decision, the number of patients kept in hospital for long periods waiting to be discharged – known as delayed transfers of care – has fallen in Wales.

The Welsh Labour Government is committed to ensuring everyone has access to safe and sustainable services.

Wales has the most transparent healthcare system in the UK, and we expect the very highest standards of care for all people treated by the NHS. We will maintain a rigorous inspection regime of all NHS services and a mandatory case note review of all deaths in hospitals – a system pioneered here in Wales.

Our ongoing 1,000+ Lives campaign continues to break new ground in patient safety.

After the Tories’ reorganisation the NHS in England is a complex, fragmented system, with numerous different organisations responsible for looking after different parts of people’s health. In Wales, our NHS is organised in a much simpler, more integrated way with health boards responsible for planning and providing the care you receive in the community and in hospitals. This allows the NHS to work much more closely with social care, ensuring people – not profits – are at the heart of the health service in Wales.

The Welsh Labour Government believes everyone should have access to health services as close to home as possible and that more care and support should be available in the community, reducing the need for people to travel to or be admitted to hospital. The Welsh Labour Government is investing an extra £40m in primary care services in 2015-16, to increase access to community-based services – helping to keep people independent for longer – and to train staff, including advanced nurse practitioners and clinical pharmacists. New measures have also been put in place to make it easier for GPs to return to work in Wales.

Wales has led the way on mental health – introducing landmark legislation to support people with mental illness and not only ring-fencing but increasing spending on mental health services at a time when the UK Conservative-led Government has presided over cuts in mental health services.

The Welsh Labour Government has acted to make sure every person receiving specialist mental health services is guaranteed the right to a care and treatment plan, which sets out clearly how people will be supported, providing better quality of care for patients to help their recovery. People receiving inpatient treatment have a unique right to an independent advocate, who will help them make their views known and support them to reach decisions about their care and treatment. This is a world-leading approach to improving mental health and vital to our aim of ensuring it is treated with the same priority as physical health.

Labour will also act, in Westminster, as in Wales, on the essential job of promoting better public health. We will take targeted action on high-strength, low-cost alcohol products which fuels problem drinking. And we will tackle the marketing of unhealthy food to children, including setting limits on the amount of sugar, fat and salt in food marketed substantially to children in major product groups-for example cereals, crisps and soft drinks.

Wales has a strong tradition of taking action to protect people’s health – we were the first country in the UK to vote in favour of smoking ban in public places and we led the UK in the campaign to prevent smoking in cars when children are present – a new law will come into force in October 2015.

We were also the first part of the UK to introduce a mandatory “scores on the doors” scheme, which helps people make informed choices about where they want to eat out. Wales will become the first country in the UK to introduce an opt-out system for organ donation on December 1, 2015 – a change in the law which will save lives throughout the UK by increasing the number of donated organs available for transplant.

We will continue to encourage everyone in Wales to make small changes to their lifestyles – to eat healthier and move more – which will help them live longer, healthier lives.

The Welsh Labour Government has scrapped prescription charges for all people in Wales, as we know this not only provides important health benefits, but also helps people tackle the cost of living crisis. Similarly, the introduction of free parking at Welsh hospitals has been a welcome relief for patients, NHS staff and visitors.

We support the principles behind the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Treaty (TTIP). We will hold the European Commission to account on issues of concern, including the impact on public services and the ISDS mechanism, and we will ensure the NHS is protected from the TTIP Treaty.

#### Care in older age

Labour in Wales will continue to support people in their older age. We believe growing old should be a positive and fulfilling experience. No-one should fear old age or be left to struggle alone caring for a loved one. The knowledge and experience of older people is vital to the social and economic wealth of the country. The time and commitment many older people give to their local community makes a huge difference.

We appreciate the huge role families play in caring for loved ones. This is why the Welsh Labour Government has enshrined greater protections for carers in law, including an assessment of the levels of support carers require and a duty to address it. Our Welsh Carers Strategy aims to help ensure carers are able to have a life outside of their caring role.

Labour in Wales supports measures to cap the cost of residential care and in Wales new social services legislation will deliver modern standards of care.

In Wales, charges for non-residential care have been capped. People pay the same amount for non-residential care wherever they live in Wales.

The new Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act requires that each local authority must satisfy itself that any visits to the person’s home are of sufficient length to provide the person with the care and support required to meet the needs in question.

In England the Conservative cuts to local government have seen the number getting care services reduced dramatically. In Wales the integrated approach to health and social services means services have been more protected. Working in partnership with the UK Labour Government will deliver a brighter future for care services.

Labour will improve the working life of people working in the care sector, by stopping the use of exploitative zero hours contracts and ensuring minimum wage laws are enforced.

We are proud that the Welsh Labour Government has acted to ensure that everyone working in the NHS in Wales is paid a Living Wage, recognising the vital role they play in looking after and protecting our nation’s health.

#### A good education for all our children

Labour is committed to ensuring that our children benefit from a world class education. That is why we have invested in expanding the Flying Start programme, improving the quality of early years provision through the new Foundation Phase of education, raised the standard of teaching in the classroom, invested in 21st century schools and delivered the successful Jobs Growth Wales programme.

To build world class schools in Wales Labour is committed to ensuring every school has the funding it needs to thrive. That is why we have protected funding for Welsh schools and ensured that since 2011 over £100m of additional funding has been made available for schools in Wales. Whereas in England they have wasted time, energy and precious resources on a failing Free Schools programme, we have concentrated investment where it really matters – in the classroom.

Labour believes that our children should have the best possible environments in which to learn. That is why the Welsh Labour Government has committed to investing nearly £2bn in the 21st century schools programme by 2023, transforming existing schools and colleges, as well as building brand new ones, right across Wales However, investment on its own is not enough. Labour is committed to ensuring that world class schools and colleges are matched by world class learning and teaching in the classroom, too. That is why the Welsh Labour Government has introduced a rigorous new literacy and numeracy framework, alongside new reading and numeracy tests to help drive up standards right across the board.

We will support this work with new GCSEs in Maths, English and Welsh and a more rigorous Welsh Baccalaureate from 2015. We will also take forward the work of the Donaldson review, Successful Futures, and begin to develop, for the first time, a new Curriculum for Wales.

The Welsh Labour Government will take forward its £20m Creative Learning through the Arts programme in partnership with the Arts Council for Wales to improve attainment through creativity and increase arts opportunities in our schools. As part of this we will develop new Lead Creative Schools bringing creative practitioners including artists, musicians, actors, film makers and designers into schools to work together with pupils and teachers. We will also develop an All-Wales Arts and Education Programme which will increase and improve opportunities for teachers, learners, artists and cultural organizations to work together, through regional networks.

The Welsh Labour Government will take forward the good work started through the new Physical Literacy Programme for Schools to ensure that the health and well-being of our children and young people is right at the heart of the new curriculum and young people can apply knowledge about the impact of diet and exercise on physical and mental health in their daily lives and take part in physical activity.

Although even with a new stretching curriculum, it remains as true as ever that it is world class teachers that drive a world class education system. That’s why in Wales Labour is committed to taking forward the ‘New Deal’ to support the professional development of the workforce through a new Professional Learning Passport. We will also reshape the innovative new Masters in Educational Practice so it is accessible at any point in a teacher’s career and develop new programmes in Continuing Educational Practice and Educational Leadership to support the leaders and professionals of tomorrow.

Unlike in England, every teacher in Wales is a suitably qualified teacher.

We cannot afford to waste the talents of any of our young people. It robs them of a future and our country of their talents. That is why the Welsh Labour Government introduced the Pupil Deprivation Grant to support the educational attainment of our poorest pupils. We will increase its funding to £1,150 by 2016 and extend its reach for the first time to the under 5s.

We are working to stop homophobic bullying in schools, which can blight children’s lives.

No young learner should be left behind, whatever area they happen to grow up in and through our £20m Schools Challenge Cymru programme we will continue to support the performance of our 40 most challenged secondary schools. We will also maintain funding for the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) which is helping pupils right across Wales to stay in education. Students in Wales eligible for the EMA are on average £826 per year better off under a Welsh Labour Government than they would have been under the coalition at Westminster.

Young people in Wales will also benefit from the new concessionary travel scheme to start in September 2015.

In order for children to take advantage of these education opportunities we know they need the opportunity to flourish from the early years. Children develop and learn most successfully when they have emotional wellbeing.

And we need to help our children develop the creativity, character and resilience they need to become well rounded citizens. That is why in Wales we have pioneered the Foundation Phase which encourages children aged 3 to 7 years old to be creative and imaginative, making learning more enjoyable and effective.

The Welsh language is, and must continue to be, a living language, both in our schools and wider communities. All local authorities have been tasked with developing new Welsh Medium Education Plans and we will reaffirm the place of Welsh in the development of the new curriculum.

We want as many of our young people as possible going on to the best universities and through the Seren programme we will set up a system of hubs across Wales to give the most academically gifted learners access to advice, guidance and mentoring to help them get into some of the UK’s most prestigious universities.

In Wales, Labour is committed to building a competitive and sustainable skills system for our economy. Our apprenticeships programme is one of the most successful in Europe with apprenticeship completion rates well over 80 per cent. We are also committed to working in partnership with employers and businesses in Wales and they have been central in developing our new Skills Strategy.

#### Labour will:

train an extra 1,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals strengthen the work in providing integrated health and social services in Wales continue to promote healthy lifestyles including a target to cut smoking rates to 16 per cent by 2020 ensure people have access to safe and sustainable services maintain Wales’ leading role in mental health services strengthen our early years intervention dealing with problems before they get out of hand expand the Flying Start programme to 36,000 places this Assembly term.

not allow Free Schools in Wales and maintain our good record on having suitably qualified teachers in every classroom deliver £2 billion of investment in schools by 2023 through our 21st Century Schools Programme introduce a new Curriculum for Wales and a “New Deal” for the teaching workforce introduce the new concessionary travel scheme in September 2015

## Chapter 4: We will help our families and communities to thrive

As a country we value compassion, tolerance and a sense of decency.

But pressures on family life, growing inequality, anxieties about crime and anti-social behaviour and a widespread loss of trust in our governing institutions are creating insecurity in many communities.

Labour believes a decent society grows out of the life of family and friends, out of the work we do, and the local places to which we belong. The next Labour Government, working in partnership with the Welsh Labour Government, will help to create a more secure and inclusive society by building and strengthening the institutions that help individuals, their families and communities to thrive.

People’s relationships bind society together and family, in all its various shapes and sizes, is its bedrock. But low pay and the pressures of work and caring for children and older relatives have put families under increasing pressure.

We will help working families by doubling early years and childcare provision for working parents of three and four year-old children with an extra 10 hours a week of free childcare. This will be paid for with an increase in the bank levy.

We will keep free breakfasts for all children in primary school.

Labour recognises the vital importance of the power of people’s relationships to build the capacity for love, care and resilience.We will prioritise early years intervention to give children and parents the best start in family life. In Wales we are expanding the Flying Start scheme so that 36,000 children (25 per cent of all those aged under 4) benefit from it.

We will take a whole-family approach to policy making, supporting relationships, and the involvement of fathers, grandparents and relatives involved in the care, education and health of children.

More fathers want to play an active role in their children’s lives and families want to spend more time together with a new baby. So we will double the current two weeks of paternity leave to four and increase the amount of paternity pay from £140 to more than £260 a week.

Many grandparents want to be more involved in caring for their grandchildren, and will support them in doing so.

As a result of the Conservative Government’s failures, the commitment to ending child poverty by 2020 is very unlikely to be met. However we will never forget how important a decent basic income is to children’s prospects and wellbeing. That is why we will keep the child poverty targets and ask the Office for Budget Responsibility to monitor and report on progress on tackling child poverty.

We will promote the care and educational achievement of our most vulnerable children. We will introduce mandatory reporting of child abuse.

#### Building new homes

Britain is in the midst of the biggest housing crisis in a generation, with the lowest levels of house building in peacetime since the 1920s. Young people have been priced out of home ownership.

Everyone should be able to live in a secure home, whether they rent or buy. We will make sure that 200,000 homes a year get built by 2020 – almost double the current level – by implementing the recommendations of the Lyons Review.

It is only by building more homes that people’s aspiration of home ownership will be fulfilled.

The Welsh Labour Government will work in partnership with the UK Labour Government to meet these aims.

In Wales our Welsh Labour Government has a strong record of action on housing. During this Assembly we are investing over £400 million in affordable homes through our Social Housing Grant programme. We have already achieved nearly 70 per cent of our target of 10,000 affordable homes during this Assembly.

There have been over 1,200 completions through our Help to Buy - Wales scheme which supports the construction and sale of properties in urban and rural areas. We have achieved nearly 90 per cent of our target of 5,000 empty homes being brought back into use through our Houses into Homes scheme.

We will unlock a new Future Homes Fund by requiring that the billions of pounds saved in Help To Buy ISAs be invested in increasing housing supply.

We are working with housing providers and builders through the Housing Supply Task Force to find ways of increasing housing supply and maximise the jobs and growth delivered by building homes.

Since 1981, the Right to Buy and Right to Acquire have resulted in the loss of more than 138,000 homes from the social housing sector in Wales. We are proposing to reduce the maximum discount under Right to Buy from £16,000 to £8,000 to slow losses of these homes. Then in the next Assembly term we will develop legislation to end both schemes.

We have passed the Housing (Wales) Act designed to regulate private landlords and letting agents and tackle the causes of homelessness. Our Renting Homes (Wales) Bill will define more clearly the rights and responsibilities for landlords and tenants, end retaliatory evictions and give victims of abuse the right to retain the tenancy.

#### Restoring social security

Britain needs a responsible and fair social security system that provides security when people lose their jobs or fall sick, and a decent income when they retire. The British people have always believed in the principle of contribution – rewarding those who pay in, helping people get back on their feet, and providing support in times of need.

To guarantee a decent social security system for the next generation, we need to keep costs under control. Under this Government the increase in low pay has left working families more reliant on tax credits and housing benefit, pushing up the social security bill.

To get the benefits bill under control, we need to tackle the root causes of rising spending by making work pay and building more homes. We will keep the household benefit cap and ask the Social Security Advisory Committee to examine if it should be lower in some areas. And we will cap structural social security spending as part of each spending review to ensure that it is properly planned and controlled.

Labour believes in rewarding work and in restoring contribution to the heart of our system. So we will not cut tax credits. We want everyone who can to have the chance to contribute through paid work, so we will create a more tailored back-to-work system that helps people secure and keep jobs. We will do more to help unemployed people get the skills they need for work, testing jobseekers’ maths, English and IT skills within six weeks of them claiming benefits. They will be required to take up training where this will improve their chances of getting a job. We support the principle behind Universal Credit, that there should be a smooth transition into work - but it must be affordable and fit for purpose so we will pause and review the programme.

There will be a guaranteed, paid job for all young people who have been out of work for one year, and for all those over twenty five and out of work for two years. It will be a job they have to take, or lose their benefits.

We will devolve the power to commission the replacement for the Work Programme to the Welsh Government so that it can deliver joined up support for the long term unemployed.

We will introduce a higher rate of Job Seekers Allowance for those who have contributed over years. It will be funded by extending the length of time people need to have worked to qualify.

#### Supporting disabled people to live independently

Alongside strong and responsive public services the social security system plays an important role in supporting many disabled people to live independently, and must treat sick and disabled people with dignity.

The bedroom tax has affected a higher proportion of social housing tenants in Wales than any other part of the UK and two thirds of those affected by the bedroom tax are disabled or have a disabled family member. The Welsh Labour Government invested £20 million in one and two bedroom homes to offset the impact of the bedroom tax, but it is only a Labour Government in Westminster that will abolish this hated tax.

We will reform the Work Capability Assessment and focus it on the support disabled people need to get into work. We will give an independent scrutiny group of disabled people a central role in monitoring it. And we will introduce a specialist support programme to ensure that disabled people who can work get more tailored help.

#### Older People

We are committed to older people living a fulfilling life: to be able to continue working if they wish, and to be able to enjoy a secure retirement. Older people have contributed all their lives and built the Britain that the next generation inherit. So it is right that we make sure they are supported with a fair and sustainable pensions system, and integrated health and social services. We will keep the triple-lock so that the state pension increases by inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest. And while increases in state retirement age are necessary to keep our pensions system affordable, we will ensure that people have the time to plan for changes.

We have taken the tough choice to restrict Winter Fuel Payments for the richest five per cent of pensioners, but we will guarantee that there will be no additional changes to the Winter Fuel Payments, free TV licences or bus passes for pensioners.

Alongside a decent state pension we must ensure private pensions are good value for those who have saved. We will reform the pensions market to ensure that pension providers put savers first and protect consumers from retirement rip offs. We support greater flexibility for those drawing down their pension pots, but there must be proper guidance for people to avoid mis-selling.

#### Controlling immigration with fair rules

For our country to stay strong, with the confidence to look outwards rather than inwards, people need to feel secure in the strength of our borders, our communities and in the workplace.

Britain has seen historically high levels of immigration in recent years, including low skilled immigration which has given rise to public anxiety about its effects on wages, on our public services and on our shared way of life.

Despite the Conservatives’ promise to reduce net migration to tens of thousands, it is now higher than it was when David Cameron entered Downing Street. Broken promises erode trust.

Labour will never cut Britain off from the rest of the world. Our economy and our society benefit from the talent and investment of people who come here, including university students coming to study. But the system needs to be controlled and managed so that it is fair. Low skilled migration has been too high and needs to come down. We need much stronger action to stop illegal immigration.

Labour’s plan starts with stronger borders. We will recruit an additional 1,000 borders staff paid for by a small charge on non-visa visitors to the UK. We will introduce stronger controls to prevent those who have committed serious crimes coming to Britain and to deport those who commit crimes while they are here. We will introduce full exit checks, so that we can count people in and out of the country. Short-term student visitor visas have dramatically increased, so we will tighten the system to prevent abuse whilst welcoming overseas students who bring billions into Britain. And we will keep the cap on workers from outside the EU.

We need fair rules at work to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers, which undercuts local wages and increases demand for further low skilled migration. Labour will introduce a new law to stop employers undercutting wages by exploiting workers. Labour will ban recruitment agencies from hiring only from overseas and crack down on rogue agencies by extending the remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority where there is evidence of abuse.

We need to strengthen our social integration and ensure that migrants can play their part in British society. Those who come here will not be able to claim benefits for at least two years. We will stop child benefit being sent to families living abroad.

We will enforce immigration rules humanely and effectively. We will end the indefinite detention of people in the asylum and immigration system, ending detention for pregnant women and those who have been the victims of sexual abuse or trafficking. And we will ensure Britain continues its proud history of providing refuge for those fleeing persecution by upholding our international obligations, including working with the UN to support vulnerable refugees from Syria.

#### Safer communities

Crime creates fear and insecurity. We can only live happy and fulfilled lives if we know that we are safe and that we are not at risk of violation of our person or property. But for too many people in the UK that is not the reality they see in their communities. Neighbourhood policing, the vital building block of British policing, is at risk of being destroyed in England.

Anti-social behaviour is too often tolerated rather than dealt with. Violent crimes have gone up, but fewer violent criminals are being caught. Far too many victims of child sex abuse are being let down by the services that are supposed to keep them safe.

Labour believes British policing is at its best when it is rooted in local communities, proactively preventing crime, rather than simply reacting to emergencies. We will protect neighbourhood policing. By making different choices - to abolish Police and Crime Commissioners, end the subsidy of firearms licenses, and mandate police forces to work closer together - we will be able to safeguard over 10,000 police officers for the next three years. We will devolve powers over policing so that Welsh Ministers can devise an all-Wales policing plan to ensure it reflects Welsh priorities.

In Wales we delivered on our promise to appoint 500 extra Community Support Officers, in contrast to the Conservative Government which has been complacent about crime and justice.

To raise standards within policing all police officers will be required to become ‘Chartered Officers’, holding a registration with the College of Policing, and able to be struck off for serious misconduct, just as doctors and lawyers can be. We will establish a new Police Standards Authority to replace the discredited IPCC.

We will work with the police to improve ethnic minority recruitment so that the police better reflect the communities they serve.

The next part of Labour’s plan is preventing crime occurring in the first place.

We will nip anti-social behaviour in the bud by making offenders put right the wrong they have done, with payback orders replacing low-level cautions. And we will ensure staff who work with the public are given greater protection, with tougher penalties for those who assault them.

The last Labour government’s reforms to youth justice, which required agencies to collaborate in preventing youth offending reduced both youth crime and the number of young people in prison. The next Labour Government will extend this model, piloting a new approach to 18 to 20 year old offenders, incentivising local authorities, police and probation to work together to identify those at risk of drifting into criminal activity and, where possible, divert them into a more constructive way of life. And we will work to embed restorative justice right across the youth justice system.

We will ban the sale and distribution of dangerous psychoactive substances, so called ‘legal highs’.

It is clear that we need a radical change in our approach to dealing with child abuse. We will bring in tough new powers enabling the police to prevent an adult from contacting or communicating with a child if there is evidence of abuse and strengthen the vetting and barring regime. A new child protection unit will be established to work across the UK government driving progress in preventing abuse and exploitation.

We need prisons that both punish and rehabilitate people. Labour will do more to increase the amount of time prisoners spend working and learning. Prisons will be measured by how successful they are in reforming prisoners and reducing their re-offending. We will also raise professional standards amongst prison officers, including through the creation of chartered prison officers, and confront the neglected problem of staff corruption.

We will enact Britain’s first Victims’ Law to give victims of crime a voice and an entitlement to minimum standards of service from criminal justice agencies.

#### Ending violence against girls and women

Two women a week are killed by a current or former male partner. At least 750,000 children a year witness domestic violence. Stopping violence against women and girls is a priority for Labour We will follow the example set by the Welsh Labour Government which led the way with the country’s first ever ‘Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Bill.

This historic Welsh Bill focuses on protecting women by providing guidance on awareness raising and changing attitudes. Most crucially, it focuses on prevention through educating our children and young people, but it also improves protection and support for victims.

The Bill includes a duty to publish a National Strategy for violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence with an annual progress report to support it. It puts in place a National Adviser to lead on tackling these issues, working with national and local bodies to set priorities and holding them to account for their achievement.

A UK Labour Government will widen access to legal aid for victims of domestic violence, and we will strengthen the law in other areas, banning the use of community resolutions as a response to domestic violence. The gun licensing regime will be tightened so that people with a history of domestic or sexual violence will not be given an unrestricted license. And we will make changes to DNA retention, so that rape suspects have their DNA recorded and stored.

#### Tackling the threat from extremism

The threat from Islamist extremism is increasing. Hundreds of British citizens have joined Islamic State – a movement that has engaged in savage violence, and racial and religious hatred.

The British people have faced down terrorist threats before and will do so again, standing united together, not than allowing ourselves to be divided.

With Labour, the security services will have the powers they need to disrupt and tackle terrorism. The Conservative-led Government was wrong to weaken counter terror powers by scrapping Control Orders. With Labour, dangerous suspects will be subject to proper controls.

Every government department will be engaged in the work of preventing extremism and fighting terrorism. We will implement a much more rigorous strategy for dealing with people returning from the Syrian conflict. Alongside appropriate police action and prosecution, it will be mandatory for anyone returning to engage in a de-radicalisation programme designed to confront them with the consequences of their actions.

We will need to update our investigative laws to keep up with changing technology, strengthening both the powers available and the safeguards that protect people’s privacy. This is why Labour argued for an independent review, currently being undertaken by David Anderson. We will strengthen the oversight of our intelligence agencies to make sure the public can continue to have confidence in the vital work that they do to keep us safe.

To defeat the threats of Islamist terrorism we must also engage with the personal, cultural and wider factors that turn young people to extremism. The ‘Prevent’ programme was set up under the last Labour Government to stop young people becoming radicalized but this Conservative Government has cut the funding.

The Welsh Labour Government works closely with local authorities and ‘Prevent’ stakeholder groups to ensure we are in touch with developments on the ground. We have worked with mosques across Newport, Swansea and Cardiff to support city wide ’days of action’ with strong counter narratives against extremism. We have also worked with universities to develop a draft speakers’ protocol to prevent messages of extremism from reaching our students and young people.

We will overhaul the programme to involve communities in countering extremist propaganda, stopping young people being groomed, and building resilient institutions for social integration. We applaud those faith communities who have pioneered inter-faith dialogue for the common good. In Wales we support the work of the Faith Forum which is chaired by the First Minister.

We will take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime, such as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. We will challenge prejudice before it grows, whether in schools, universities or on social media. And we will strengthen the law on homophobic, disability and transphobic hate crime.

#### Sport

Sport is how many of us express our national and local pride and it is where our young people learn the arts of leadership, teamwork, the pursuit of excellence and the virtues of character. Sport is one of the great passions of the Welsh nation, and Labour will make sure that participation and access to sport is more widely shared than ever before Sports clubs are an important part of many people’s identity and sense of belonging. They are more than just businesses. But despite their importance in the lives of their members and supporters too often there are no effective means for fans to have a say in how their clubs are run.

In football, Labour will provide the means for supporters to be a genuine part of their clubs. We will introduce legislation to enable accredited supporters trusts to appoint and remove at least two of the directors of a football club and the option to purchase shares when the club changes hands. In Rugby, and others sports, we will also review the role of fan participation.

We will ensure that the Premier League delivers on its promise to invest 5 per cent of its domestic and international television rights income into funding the grassroots.

Wales is building on its reputation as a host for major sporting events ranging from the Ryder Cup golf tournament, speedway, rallying, sailing and golf, along with iconic venues such as the Millennium Stadium. The natural environment of Wales is also a major resource that supports wide range of physical activity, whether walking the Wales Coastal path, canoeing, zip-wires, orienteering or mountain biking for example.

#### Protecting our environment

People feel passionately about their local landscapes, their open spaces, and wildlife. Land and nature are part of our common home and inheritance, and they contribute to our sense of identity. In a globalised world our local environment provides us with a sense of place and belonging.

As we set out in more detail later, a UK Labour government will play a leading global role in tackling climate change. However, it will not be enough to simply mitigate the threat of climate change. We must adapt to its damaging effects, which are impacting on us today. We will deliver an ambitious adaptation programme, and the new UK Infrastructure Commission will prioritise investment in flood prevention. Unlike the Tories in England the Welsh Labour Government prioritised investment in flood defence works helping communities across Wales adapt to the challenge of climate change.

In Wales we fully recognize the value of our natural resources as being among our most valuable assets. These resources provide essential services - from air, food, water and land to wind, geothermal, tidal and solar energy. The Welsh Labour Government recognizes they are as fundamental to the long-term success of our economy as they are to the quality of our natural environment and the well-being of our communities.

The Future Generations Bill means that, for the first time, many public bodies that provide services to people across Wales must do so in a sustainable way.

The new law will expect them to work together better; involve people reflecting the diversity of communities; look to the long term as well as focusing on now and take action to try and stop problems getting worse - or even stop them happening in the first place. The Tories opposed the Bill.

We will build on our strong record on animal welfare – starting in England with an end to the Tories’ ineffective and cruel badger cull. In Wales an evidence based approach was adopted and a successful Badger vaccination programme is in action.

We will improve the protection of dogs and cats, ban wild animals in circuses, defend the hunting ban and deal with wildlife crime associated with shooting.

We want to create a world-leading food, farm and fisheries sector that creates better paid jobs and apprenticeships across the rural economy. In Wales, with Welsh Labour Government support and enhanced leadership through our new Food and Drink Wales Industry Board, food and drink production supports 48,000 jobs in Wales with a turnover of £5.7bn. Our aim is to grow it by 30 per cent to £7bn by the year 2020.

We will expand the role of the supermarket watchdog to support the growth of the sector and protect food producers from unfair practices by the major supermarkets.

#### Labour will:

double free early years and childcare provision for working parents of three and four year old children double paternity leave from two to four weeks and increase paternity pay by more than £100 a week work with the UK Labour Government to increase the number of new homes built by 2020 introduce a compulsory jobs guarantee, paid for by a bank bonus tax abolish the Bedroom Tax ensure that migrants will not be able to claim benefits until they have lived here for at least two years make it illegal for employers to undercut wages by exploiting workers protect neighbourhood policing by safeguarding over 10,000 frontline police officers over the next three years give football fans a voice in every club boardroom.

## Chapter 5: Further devolution and reforming government to give more power to people

Labour is the party of devolution and we are proud of our record of devolving power from Westminster to Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and London. However, people throughout Britain know that power is still concentrated in too few hands and those who make decisions on behalf of others are too often unaccountable. Our over-centralised system of government can often prevent our nations, cities, counties and towns from being able to take control and change things for themselves. Labour will end a century of centralization and devolve further powers across the UK.

Labour believes meaningful and lasting change for the better is only possible when people are given the power to change things for themselves. Our governing mission is to break out of the traditional top-down, Westminster knows best approach and devolve power and decision making to working people and local places.

From the City of London to Silicon Valley the world’s best industries tend to be clustered geographically. And too often economic challenges can be too, from our coalfields to some of our isolated seaside towns. So a Labour Government will unleash the potential of all parts of the UK to drive economic growth and prosperity.

The Welsh Government has long demonstrated that locally made and locally accountable decision making is both more legitimate and effective, So we will give more powers to the Welsh Government, legislating early in the next Parliament to devolve to Wales powers outlined in the cross party Silk Commission, including on policing and elections, energy and transport. And Labour will ensure fair funding for Wales. We will implement a funding floor and give details of how this work will be taken forward in the first Spending Review.

Below we outline our plans to begin creating a more inclusive style of government and politics that shares power and responsibility.

#### The United Kingdom

Labour believes in the historic union of our nations working together for the common good. But as devolution has continued to gather pace, our Union now needs to evolve. As a priority we will set up a people-led Constitutional Convention to directly address this issue and to drive political reform of Westminster and across the UK.

Labour is committed to replacing the House of Lords with an elected Senate of the Nations and Regions to represent every part of the United Kingdom and to improve the democratic legitimacy of the second chamber. It is also time to consider how English MPs can have a greater role in the scrutiny of legislation that only affects England. This includes the option put forward by Sir William McKay, of a Committee Stage made up of English only MPs. These ideas must now be considered as part of the Constitutional Convention process.

We will take forward devolution across the whole of the UK. People across Scotland voted overwhelmingly for change and Labour will keep its promise.

One of Labour’s proudest achievements is the Good Friday Agreement, which means the people of Northern Ireland can look forward to a stable and prosperous future. A Labour Government will be fully committed to a continuing partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive and implementing the outstanding issues from the Agreement. We will also embark on the biggest dispersal of power to our English Cities and County regions in a hundred years with an English Devolution Act. It will transfer £30 billion of funding to city and county regions along with new powers over economic development, skills, employment, housing, and business support.

#### Future powers for Wales

Welsh Labour is at one with the people of Wales in wanting a strong set of powers that allow our nation to shape its own destiny, but with the social and economic advantages that the Union still provides. With support for independence at a record low, the Welsh people have rejected narrow nationalism in favour of Labour’s patriotic vision of Wales, as a powerful and proud country, an integral part of our United Kingdom. We will continue to stand up for Wales’ interests within the Union, and against those that would seek to break us apart or marginalise Welsh voices in the UK Parliament.

The Welsh Labour Government has shown what can be achieved through devolution, delivering on the priorities of Welsh communities and bringing power closer to people.

Like so many forms of progress, a Wales without devolved government is now unimaginable. It has become a vital and central feature of the United Kingdom’s constitution. The next UK Labour government will recognise this fact by enshrining in legislation the permanence of Welsh devolution, and we will strengthen it.

We will legislate on the recommendations from part two of the Silk Commission, and on which there is cross party agreement, and we will go further on policing and the work programme.

#### Parity with Scotland on the model of devolution

It is right that powers should be assumed as devolved to Wales unless specifically reserved to UK government. That is why the next Labour government will introduce the Reserved Powers model for Wales.

As the National Assembly for Wales has taken on greater powers and responsibility for law making, it is no longer right that Westminster holds total control over the ways in which Welsh elections are conducted. So the next Labour government will again move power closer to people by devolving powers over Welsh Assembly and local government elections, including when these elections are called and the age at which people can vote. Under a future Labour government, it will be for the National Assembly to determine how many members it should have and what its title should be.

Strengthening devolution must also go beyond the devolved institutions themselves. That is why we will devolve powers over a range of areas that should be under the control of the Welsh people.

#### Policing

Labour is committed to bringing policing closer to people and the communities where they live.

That is why the next UK Labour Government will devolve to the Welsh Government the powers to shape the priorities for policing in Wales.

This would give the Welsh people a greater say over how they are policed and improve integration with the other emergency services, which are already devolved to Wales, such as the ambulance and fire service.

Under Labour, Welsh Ministers would have the power to draw up an All Wales Policing Plan, setting the priorities for Welsh policing, including governance structures, in consultation with the Home Secretary. This will ensure alignment between all of the emergency services in Wales, while maintaining vital, cross-border collaboration and co-ordination.

Through investing to deliver 500 extra Community Support Officers, Welsh Labour Government has shown a commitment to community safety, these new powers would allow a future Welsh government greater opportunity to build on that commitment.

#### Work programme

Labour is the party of work and we value the transformative impact a decent job can have, especially for young people. That is why we are proud that the introduction of the Jobs Growth Wales programme by the Welsh Labour Government has been such a policy success.

The programme has helped create over 17,000 job opportunities for young people, providing them with an invaluable opportunity to enter the world of work, in many places providing hope for a better future. However, there has been concern that the overlapping of Jobs Growth Wales and the Work Programme has caused difficulties for individuals and institutions in Wales.

Given the proven success of schemes such as Jobs Growth Wales, we believe that the Welsh Government is best placed to deliver job guarantees and return to work training which will also simplify the system for job seekers and employers.

As a result we will devolve powers related to the work programme to the Welsh Government. Wales already has powers over skills, education and economic development, so this proposal will allow Welsh Government to coordinate job creation activities in Wales. This will be part of wider efforts to ensure that under Labour there is far greater, clearer and better coordinated approach to training and employment policies between the governments in Wales and Westminster.

#### Transport

Central to building a more prosperous Wales is the development of infrastructure, particularly in terms of transport. Under a Welsh Labour Government there has been significant investment in devolved areas of transport, including roads and ambitious plans for rail networks.

However, the Welsh Government is often constrained as it lacks the necessary powers to deliver a full strategic plan for transport in Wales.

Giving the Welsh Government more powers over transport will provide greater opportunities for strategic development and, economic future of Wales.

As a result we will devolve powers over the Wales and Border rail franchise, ports, speed limits, bus regulation and taxi regulation, enabling the Welsh Government to ensure our transport infrastructure and networks best serves the Welsh people and economy.

Labour recognises the importance of Cardiff Wales Airport to the Welsh economy and supports the investments made by the Welsh Labour Government in the airport and also in improving links from North Wales to Liverpool and Manchester airports. Labour also recognises the impact of APD on regional airports, including those in Wales. In considering whether to devolve the power to set APD to the Welsh Assembly we will also consider mechanisms for ensuring that airports outside Wales are not disadvantaged.

#### Energy

Wales is ideally placed to be a World leader in the energy sector and Labour will ensure that we capitalise on this potential.

The next Labour Government, working in partnership with the Welsh Labour Government, will bring greater certainty and long-term planning to infrastructure projects, to help maximise the potential of the power of nuclear, wind, tidal, biomass and solar technology in Wales. We will establish Wales as a leading global centre in these sectors, generating power and jobs for the Welsh economy.

The Welsh Government is also ideally placed to promote Wales’ potential in the renewable sector. That is why we will devolve powers to consent to construction and generation of energy projects with an output of up to 350mw, and a greater say in projects over 350mw.

#### Fracking

There is an overwhelming case for the powers of responsibility over fracking to be devolved to Wales, so we can make the right decisions for Welsh communities. So Labour will devolve powers over the licensing of onshore shale gas extraction underlying Wales and responsibility for mineral access rights for onshore extraction of shale gas. The Welsh Labour Government has also announced a moratorium on fracking in Wales, standing up for the views of Welsh communities.

#### Rebuilding inter-governmental relationships

The first period of devolution in Wales was defined by cooperation between the Welsh and the UK governments, with both sides realising that in order to deliver the best deal for Welsh people it was vital that they worked together. However, since the 2010 general election the UK Tory government has undermined this relationship, instigating a War on Wales, running down a nation, in a bid to attack Labour by proxy.

The next Labour government will rebuild a relationship based on trust and partnership, ensuring that the UK government is focused on delivering for the people we aim to serve, not political point scoring.

#### A secure financial future for Wales

The Labour Party believes in pooling risks and sharing resources across the whole of the UK, and it is this principle which shapes our view that Wales’ future is best secured within the framework of the Union, but that we must receive fair funding within it.

The people of Wales can only exercise true power over devolved public services when they are properly funded. The last Labour Government recognized this, increasing the Welsh budget from £7 billion to £16 billion. However, the Conservative-led coalition has hit Wales hard, cutting £1.4 billion out of the Welsh budget since 2010. This has placed huge financial pressures on the finances of Welsh Government and Welsh public services.

We will act to address this unfairness and ensure that Wales is not unfairly disadvantaged by the Barnett formula in future. The next Labour government will introduce a Barnett funding floor and deliver fair funding for Wales. For Labour, it is a point of principle that all parts of the Union should be fairly funded, not a political bargaining piece, and will act to put this in to practice.

Of course the financial benefits to Wales of being an integral part of the Union are not limited to the funds received through the Barnett formula. Under a Labour government, increases to the National Minimum Wage, the banning of exploitative zero-hours contracts, the freezing of energy bills and the scrapping of the Bedroom Tax will all have a more positive effect on Welsh household finances than on any other part of the UK.

And our plans to introduce fair taxation in Britain, introducing a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2 million, limiting tax relief for pension contributions by the most wealthy, and increasing the levy on our banks will deliver over £300 million in additional revenues for Wales that the Welsh Labour Government will use to invest in childcare, the NHS and other precious public services.

#### A better politics

We will give 16 and 17 year olds the vote by May 2016 and strengthen the curriculum so young people have the knowledge they need to play a full part in our society.

Drawing on the work of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee we will take steps to ensure that the move to individual electoral registration does not leave millions unregistered nor lead to constituencies that fail to take into account the people who live in them. This will include block registration by universities and care homes, extending Northern Ireland’s successful “Schools Initiative”, and exploring the scope for an automatic system of registration.

Labour remains committed to reform of political party funding and taking the big money out of politics by capping individual donations to parties.

We will safeguard our democracy by repealing the Lobbying Act which has gagged charities, and replacing it with a tougher statutory register of lobbyists.

We will ban MPs from holding paid directorships and consultancies. And we will reform the UK legislative process to strengthen the public’s voice and to better hold the Government to account.

#### Rights and Equality

The Labour Party has always led on challenging prejudice and discrimination and we will continue to do so. People’s differences are not excuses to treat them badly or unjustly.

The next Labour Government will go further in reducing discrimination against women requiring large companies to publish their gender pay gap and strengthening the law against maternity discrimination. Where there is evidence more progress is needed, we will enforce the relevant provisions within the Equality Act.

We want our Parliament to look more like Britain. We are proud of our record in strengthening the representation of women and other under represented groups in politics and public life. We remain committed to achieving a better balance in Parliament, including through the use of All Women Shortlists in Labour Party Parliamentary selection contests.

In Wales we are proud to have strengthened the delivery of action on equality, unlike the Tories and Lib Dems in England who ditched Equality Impact Assessments and implemented policies damaging to women and other groups in society.

Successive Welsh Budgets have been supported by Equality Impact Assessments to help ensure Wales builds a fair society free from discrimination, harassment and victimisation with cohesive and inclusive communities.

We will establish a comprehensive race equality strategy to break down the barriers still faced by Black and minority ethnic communities. Our aim is to make our national institutions including our Parliament, the police, judiciary, civil service, and the boardrooms of our companies, more representative of the diversity of our country. We will work in partnership with the Welsh Labour Government on these issues.

We will also build on our history of championing LGBT rights, tackling homophobia with tougher laws at home and greater engagement abroad.

Britain has a long tradition of liberty and the rule of law and Labour has a proud tradition of extending these to our most vulnerable citizens, by promoting equality and opportunity for all.

Thanks to the Human Rights Act some of our most vulnerable citizens, including disabled people and victims of crime, have been given a powerful means of redress. The Conservatives want to leave the European Convention of Human Rights and abolish the Human Rights Act. A Labour government will stand up for citizens’ individual rights, protecting the Human Rights Act and reforming, rather than walking away from, the European Court of Human Rights. And we will make sure that access to legal representation, a cornerstone of our democracy, is not determined by personal wealth, but continues to be available to those that need it.

#### The media

The free flow of information and of different points of view, is crucial for open debate and countering concentrations of unaccountable power. That is why the concentration of media power in too few hands is damaging to our democracy. No one media owner should be able to exert undue influence on public opinion and on policy makers. No media company should have so much power that those who run it feel above the rule of law.

Yet the current system for protecting against these threats is inadequate.

Labour will take steps to protect the principle of media plurality so that no media outlet can get too big, including updating our rules for the 21st Century media environment.

We remain strongly committed to the implementation of the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry and expect the industry to establish a mechanism for independent self-regulation, which delivers proper redress for individuals as set out in the Royal Charter, and agreed by all parties in Parliament. We made a promise to victims of the phone hacking scandal. We stand by that promise and it will be kept.

Our system of public service broadcasting is one of Britain’s great strengths.

The BBC and S4C make a vital contribution to the richness of Wales’s cultural life, and we will ensure they continue to do so while delivering value for money.

We will also commit to keeping Channel 4 in public ownership so it continues to deliver vital public content.

#### Labour will:

set up a people-led Constitutional Convention to determine the future of the UKs governance replace the House of Lords with a Senate of the Nations and Regions meet our promises to devolve further powers to Scotland and Wales deliver fair funding for Wales and a Barnett funding floor devolve more power over policing, ports, elections and energy give 16 and 17 year olds the vote create a statutory register of lobbyists ban MPs from holding paid directorships and consultancies require large companies to publish their gender pay gap implement the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry.

## Chapter 6: We will stand up for Wales and Britain’s interests in Europe and the world

We live in turbulent times. The rise of ISIL, an aggressive Russia threatening its neighbours in Eastern Europe, and continuing economic uncertainty in the Eurozone are each a challenge to national security. Labour is an internationalist party and believes Britain must engage with the global challenges we face, but not try and solve them on our own. We believe the Conservatives are damaging the interests of our country by turning their backs on Europe and isolating us abroad. We will strengthen our national security, stand up for human rights, and work with other countries to tackle terrorism, climate change and work to eliminate extreme poverty globally.

Britain has unique influence in the world. We are the only country that is a member of the UN Security Council, NATO, G20, the EU, the Commonwealth and the G7.

With Labour, Britain’s response to threats to our security will be based on enduring principles. We will protect our national interests and strengthen our long-standing international alliances, in particular our membership of NATO and the European Union. We will advance our international engagement, rather than retreating into isolation. We will maintain the best Armed Forces in the world, capable of responding to changing threats in an unpredictable security landscape. And we will support human rights, always putting individual freedom and democracy at the heart of our foreign policy.

One of our first acts in government will be to conduct a wide-ranging review of Britain’s place in the world and how best we can uphold our values and national interest.

We will take a multilateral approach to global challenges. We will continue to uphold our key alliances. These include the United States, our allies in Africa and Latin America, and our partners from across the Commonwealth. They also include the European Union. The crisis in the Ukraine in the past year has demonstrated the importance of NATO and the EU standing up to external threats in Europe’s eastern, as well as its southern, neighbourhood. Labour will continue to advocate an EU which looks outward to promote stability, peace and prosperity on its borders.

Most immediately we will work with our allies to counter and confront terrorism.

ISIL’s barbarism and inherently expansionist ideology, alongside terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab, represent a particular threat to global security. Following a request from the Iraqi Prime Minister, it was right that the UK joined other nations in air strikes against ISIL targets in Iraq. But military action alone will not defeat ISIL. A long-term multinational political strategy, with regional actors playing a central role, is essential for tackling the rise of extremism across the region.

A Labour Government will always do what is necessary to defend our country.

Beyond self-defence, Labour has been clear about the need to learn the lessons of previous interventions, especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq. We will continue the approach we have taken in this Parliament. A Labour government would not propose the use of military force without judging whether reasonable diplomatic efforts have been exhausted, the action is proportionate and in partnership with allies, whether there is a clear legal basis, and if there is a clear plan, not just for winning the war but also for building a lasting peace.

Peace and security in the Middle East remain one of Labour’s most important foreign policy objectives. We remain committed to a comprehensive two-state solution - a secure Israel alongside a viable and independent state of Palestine.

There can be no military solution to this conflict and all sides must avoid taking action that would make peace harder to achieve. Labour will continue to press for an immediate return to meaningful negotiations towards a diplomatic resolution.

Labour will also continue to honour the UK’s commitment to support Afghanistan as it seeks to secure an inclusive and durable political settlement.

In December 2014, the NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan ended. We can never repay the debt owed to the brave servicemen and women who have sacrificed and risked their lives in Afghanistan to protect our national security.

As power and wealth continues to shift from West to East, our relationship with Asia will be fundamental to our long-term prosperity. Labour will set up an Asia Step-Change Taskforce to ensure a more strategic and effective dialogue with regional partners, including China, both in the commercial realm and in other areas from cultural exchange to human rights.

This commitment to universal human rights will be at the heart of our foreign policy across the world. We will continue to promote women’s rights. We will join with those campaigning to attain gender equality, the eradication of poverty and inclusive economic growth. We will appoint a Global Envoy for Religious Freedom, and establish a multi-faith advisory council on religious freedom within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. And we will appoint an International LGBT Rights Envoy to promote respect for the human rights of LGBT people, and work towards the decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide.

#### Europe

Labour believes that our membership of the European Union is central to our prosperity and security. It is why we will work to change the EU so that it works in the best interests of our country. And it is why we will re-engage with our European allies to protect our national interest after five years of Britain being sidelined in Europe and isolated abroad.

The economic case for our membership of the EU is overwhelming. Over 3 million jobs in the UK are linked to trade with the European Union and almost half of our trade and foreign investment comes from the EU. Competing in the single market with the best companies in the world drives competitiveness and innovation for firms in all parts of our economy. And it helps boost the living standards of people across Britain, encouraging the inflow of capital and investment.

Wales has benefited hugely from our membership of the European Union with 191,000 Welsh jobs and 14 percent of the workforce in Wales directly linked to EU trade. So many of our major Welsh companies are headquartered in Europe, and have expressed concern about the prospect of Britain leaving the EU.

Our reforms will help deliver a Europe focused on jobs and growth not simply more austerity and rising unemployment. Labour will focus on the completion of the single market and tougher budget discipline including on those items where spending at the EU level can save money at the national level. That means driving reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and a Commission led zero-based review of spending on EU agencies to reduce waste and inefficiency. We will not join the Euro.

A Labour Government helped to introduce sensible measures at an EU level to protect the rights of British workers, and we are committed to fighting to protect these measures.

People coming to Britain from the EU to look for work are expected to contribute to our economy, and to our society. So we will secure reforms to immigration and social security rules, as well as pushing for stronger transitional controls, enabling member states to control the flows of workers for longer when new countries join.

We will also continue to open up EU decision-making and implement institutional reforms to help build levels of trust among European citizens.

We will work to strengthen national parliaments’ influence over European legislation by arguing for a ‘red-card mechanism’ for member states, providing greater parliamentary scrutiny.

Labour’s priority in government will be protecting the NHS and tackling the cost of living crisis, not getting Britain out of Europe. However, Labour will legislate for a lock that guarantees that there can be no transfer of powers from Britain to the European Union without the consent of the British public through an in/ out referendum.

#### Defence and our Armed Forces

The primary duty of any government is the defence of the nation and its interests.

That is why Labour is committed to ensuring the UK has responsive, high-tech Armed Forces, with the capability to respond to emerging interconnected threats in an unpredictable security landscape. We will conduct a Strategic Defence and Security Review in the first year of Government with an open and inclusive national debate on the security and defence issues facing the country.

It will be fiscally responsible and strategically driven, focusing on the obstacles that impede our Armed Forces from effective response to threats.

At the heart of our defence policy are the service men and women, both regulars and reservists, who risk their lives for their country. Labour will strengthen the covenant between our country and our Armed Forces, veterans and their families. We will create a Veterans’ Register to make certain our veterans receive proper support on leaving service.

We will continue to roll out Labour’s Veterans’ Interview Programme, in which companies voluntarily guarantee an interview for job-seeking ex-Forces personnel. We will introduce legislation to make discrimination against members of our Armed Forces illegal.

The UK defence and security industry is a key contributor to our economy, with a turnover of £22 billion a year. We will work to secure defence jobs across the UK, protect the supply chain and work with industry to grow Britain’s defence exports. In partnership with industry we will put accountability, value for money, interoperability and sustainability at the centre of defence procurement.

Britain needs to be prepared to counter the threat of cyber-attacks. We have already called on the Government to get every company working with the Ministry of Defence, regardless of its size or the scale of its work, to sign up to a cyber-security charter. This will reduce the risk of hackers using small suppliers to break into the systems of major defence companies or the Department itself.

We will consult on creating a statutory requirement for all private companies to report serious cyber-attacks threatening our national infrastructure.

Labour remains committed to a minimum, credible, independent nuclear capability, delivered through a Continuous At-Sea Deterrent.

We will actively work to increase momentum on global multilateral disarmament efforts and negotiations, and look at further reductions in global stockpiles and the numbers of weapons.

#### Climate change

The next Labour Government will put climate change at the heart of our foreign policy. As the terrible impact of the floods in Britain showed last year, climate change is now an issue of national, as well as global security. From record droughts in California to devastating typhoons in the Philippines, the world is already seeing the effects we once thought only future generations would experience.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made clear that if the world is going to hold warming below 2C (the internationally-agreed goal), global emissions need to peak in around 2020, and then decline rapidly to reach net zero emissions by the second half of this century.

The weaker the action now, the more rapid - and costly - the reductions will need to be later.

The effects of climate change hit the poorest hardest. If we do not tackle climate change, millions of people will fall into poverty. We will expand the role of the Department of International Development to mitigate the risks of a changing climate, ensure green energy and low carbon, sustainable livelihoods for the world's poorest people.

We want an ambitious agreement on climate change at the UNFCCC conference in Paris in December. We will make the case for ambitious emissions targets for all countries, strengthened every five years on the basis of a scientific assessment of the progress towards the 2C goal. And we will push for a goal of net zero global emissions in the second half of this century, for transparent and universal rules for measuring, verifying and reporting emissions, and an equitable deal in which richer countries provide support to poorer nations in their efforts to combat climate change.

#### International development

We are proud that Labour MPs passed the historic law to commit Britain to spend 0.7 per cent of our gross national income on international development.

Labour will use that commitment from the British public to transform the lives of the world’s poorest people, ensuring value for taxpayers’ money in doing so. We will work in fragile and conflict affected states to improve the lives of those affected by violence, especially women and children. We will rebalance the budget to focus funding to the world’s poorest countries.

While progress has been made towards the Millennium Development Goals, it is unacceptable that over a billion people still live on less than $1.25 a day.

We will work with other countries at this year’s Sustainable Development Goals Summit to unite the world to eradicate extreme poverty, tackle growing economic inequality and place human rights at the heart of development. We will establish a Centre for Universal Health Coverage to provide the support, encouragement, and global partnerships needed to help countries provide free healthcare. We will lead work to reshape the UN humanitarian system to better equip it to save lives.

The private sector is essential to long-term development and can be a positive force for change. We will extend the sharing of tax information to developing countries, increase DFID’s help to governments to collect more of their own taxes, tackle corruption and ensure good governance. We will work with companies to ensure they have sustainable supply chains that are free from slavery, treat their workers fairly and pay taxes where they are due.

#### Labour will:

conduct a Strategic Defence and Security Review in the first year of government return Britain to a leadership role in Europe but reform the EU so that it works for Britain guarantee no powers will be transferred to Brussels without an in/out referendum appoint an International LGBT Rights Enyoy, and appoint a Global Envoy for Religious Freedom outlaw discrimination and abuse of members of the Armed Forces push for global targets to tackle inequality and promote human rights establish a Centre for Universal Health Coverage push for an ambitious target in Paris to get to goal of net zero global emissions in the second half of this century.

## Time for change

In this election the country has a choice.

Either we can carry on as we are, with an economy that might work for some in the City of London but shuts out millions of people in the rest of the country.

A country in which Conservative policies have damaged young people's prospects and threatened our NHS.

Or we can change direction, together, with Labour.

We don't promise the earth. All our commitments in this manifesto are fully funded, so they can be delivered without a penny of borrowing.

But our policies will bring hope and make Britain work for working people once again.

Working people want an economy with better jobs and higher skills. Families want to know they are guaranteed decent schools and good healthcare.

Mothers and fathers want a better future for their children. Individuals and communities in every part of our country want to have control over their lives and for those in power to be held to account. Everyone, young and old, wants a sense of belonging and safety in their communities.

We deserve a country where everyone plays by the same rules, including those at the top.

That's what this manifesto offers. It is the kind of country we know we have it in ourselves to be. Let's build it together.