---
election_year: 2017
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
  - agriculture
  - energy
  - devolution
  - science-and-technology
  - local-government
---

# Welsh Labour Manifesto 2017

_Note: This document covers the English-language version of the bilingual manifesto._

## Foreword

Welsh Labour is in power in Wales and we want to establish a real partnership with a UK Labour Government.

With record inward investment, faster ambulance response times and record GCSE results in Wales, Welsh Labour is delivering for people on the things that matter. But, make no mistake, we are doing this with one hand tied behind our backs. The Tories in Westminster have spent seven years cutting our budgets – cuts totalling over a billion pounds. That’s the same as the entire annual health budget for North Wales – we can’t let that carry on. We can’t let the Tories walk all over Wales.

Wales needs a Labour Government in Westminster that shares our ambitions – and your ambitions – for our communities.

Our Welsh Labour manifesto is what we can do together – with your support. It builds on the vital commitments already announced by Jeremy Corbyn and his team. But, for Welsh Labour, devolution means something – the chance to deliver for Wales. And it is important that we can explain what Welsh Labour can do, delivering as a team in Wales – in Westminster, the Assembly and in councils right across the country.

By working together with the UK party, we’ve brought forward proposals that will make Wales a fairer, more prosperous country – with power closer to the people. Working together we will abolish the Severn Bridge tolls, giving business and commuters the support they’re asking for. Working together, we’ll stop the prevarication over the Swansea Tidal Lagoon, and rail electrification in North Wales – we’ll get on and make these things happen. And, working together, we’ll devolve policing to Wales – making our neighbourhoods safer after years of Tory cuts and neglect.

With a Labour Government in Westminster committed to reversing Tory cuts, and investing again in public services, the Welsh Labour Government will commit to a full Spending Review.

This will allow us to invest consequential funding in priority areas for Wales – jobs creation, the NHS and our schools and colleges.

The Tories want to make this election about Brexit, which is deeply ironic given the absolute disaster they’ve made of that so far. Our Welsh Labour Government has produced a comprehensive plan that will make Brexit work for Wales – and work for the whole of the UK. Why? Because we have put jobs and the economy first – we know that people want better jobs, closer to home. That is the Labour focus. For the hard-right Tories, this is about something else – a narrow-minded vision that will sacrifice the interests of a modern economy in the interests of old-school ideology.

It is another reason we need Welsh Labour MPs in Westminster, to make Brexit work for Wales – we know the Tories won’t do that.

But, this is not the Brexit election. That was the referendum last year, and we respect that result.

No, this election must be about the seven years of Tory failure and their broken promises.

The Tories have made this country meaner, poorer, smaller. It is time to fight back and send the Tories a message.

We need a strong Labour Government and a big Welsh Labour team in Westminster fighting for the causes that matter – we’re the only ones that can take them on.

Only we can frustrate the Tories. Only we can take a message of fairness and hope to the floor of the House of Commons. Welsh Labour is united to halt the Tories in their tracks, and put fairness and decency back into Government in Westminster.

With your support, we can fulfil that promise – and we will stand up for Wales.

Carwyn Jones Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister of Wales Christina Rees Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

### Foreword

A big part of being the leader of a political party is that you meet people across the country and hear a wide range of views and ideas about the future. For me, it’s been a reminder that our country is a place of dynamic, generous and creative people with massive potential.

But I’ve also heard something far less positive, something which motivates us in the Labour Party to work for the kind of real change set out in this manifesto. It is a growing sense of anxiety and frustration.

Faced with falling living standards, growing job insecurity and shrinking public services, people are under increasing strain. Young people are held back by debt and the cost of housing. Whole families are being held back from the life they have worked towards.

I’m constantly told of these pressures in the workplace. Faced with constant cuts and interference, our police, nurses, doctors, teachers and council staff are held back from delivering the public services they signed up to.

Workers are held back by falling real pay and job security. Our entrepreneurs and managers are being held back from growing their business. If you are increasingly asked to do more with less, then you are not alone.

Every election is a choice. What makes this election different is that the choice is starker than ever before. You can choose more of the same: the rich getting richer, more children in poverty, our NHS failing and our schools and social care in crisis. Or you can vote for the party that has a plan to change all of this – the Labour Party.

Britain is the fifth richest country in the world. But that means little when many people don’t share in that wealth. Many feel the system is rigged against them. And this manifesto sets out exactly what can be done about it.

Britain needs to negotiate a Brexit deal that puts our economy and living standards first. That won’t be achieved by empty slogans and posturing. We cannot put at risk our links with our largest trading partner. Instead we need a jobs-first Brexit that allows us to upgrade our economy for the 21st century.

Labour will invest in the cutting-edge jobs and industries of the future that can improve everybody’s lives. Which is why this manifesto outlines a fully costed programme to upgrade our economy. From childcare to transport, housing to lifelong learning, Labour understands how a successful economy depends on services that support us all.

So yes, this election is about what sort of country we want to be after Brexit. Is it one where the majority are held back by the sheer struggle of getting by? That isn’t the Britain Labour is determined to create.

So let’s build a fairer Britain where no one is held back. A country where everybody is able to get on in life, to have security at work and at home, to be decently paid for the work they do, and to live their lives with the dignity they deserve.

Let’s build a country where we invest our wealth to give everyone the best chance. That means building the homes we need to rent and buy, keeping our communities safe with more police officers, giving our children’s schools the funding they badly need, and restoring the NHS to its place as the envy of the world.

Don’t let the Conservatives hold Britain back.

Let’s build a Britain that works for the many, not the few.

Jeremy Corbyn Leader of the Labour Party

### Our Pledges for Wales

## Chapter 1: A Fair Deal For Our Economy

### A Fair Deal for Our Economy

Thanks to the work of the Welsh Labour Government over the last few years, our economy is stronger, there are more people in work and thousands of individuals have been given new opportunities to improve their lives and careers with new skills.

Wales has seen record inward investment;

new high-quality jobs coming through major investments such as Aston Martin and General Dynamics and sectors like aerospace and creative industries, which are developing world-class reputations. Almost 150,000 jobs were supported by the Welsh Labour Government in the last Assembly term with flagship programmes such as Jobs Growth Wales helping more than 17,000 young people into good-quality employment.

A UK Labour Government will work with the Welsh Labour Government to build on these solid foundations and make real our shared aim of Better Jobs Closer to Home. An economy which delivers a fairer, more prosperous society for the many, not just the few.

We will measure our economic success not by the number of millionaires, but by the ability of people to make ends meet.

Labour understands that wealth creation is a collective endeavour – between investors, workers, public services and governments. Each contributes and each must share equitably in the rewards.

Welsh Labour has a strong track record in supporting businesses and our economy. A series of rapid and smart interventions such as taking action to save the Welsh steel industry, revitalising Cardiff Airport, and building a new partnership with the Welsh businesses at the heart of our city and growth deal areas has made the Welsh economy stronger.

Our approach is having a positive impact.

Economic inactivity is falling faster than across the UK and business birth rates are the highest on record. Since devolution, the number of people in employment has increased more quickly in Wales than in the UK. Wales is demonstrating the benefits of a smart Labour Government that works in social partnership with businesses and trade unions.

This manifesto is about the next stage of our work and ensuring a UK Labour Government works with colleagues in Wales to rebalance the economy to make it work for everyone. A fair deal for our economy.

As a result of Tory austerity six million people earn less than the real living wage and too many are in insecure and low-paid work.

Working in partnership together, a UK and Welsh Labour Government will turn this around. With a 10-year national investment plan to upgrade Britain’s economy, we will support infrastructure across the country, which can drive economic growth and create thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs.

As every businessperson knows, to succeed and grow it is necessary to invest. The Welsh Labour Government will take forward its ambitious plans for new infrastructure, including the M4 relief road, improving the A55 in North Wales, rail electrification and the South and North East Wales Metros.

We will work with local authorities and businesses through the Ministerial Taskforce for the South Wales Valleys, set up by the Welsh Labour Government, to deliver real, long-term change to the valleys. We will create new jobs, raise skills levels, improve local services, and maximise the benefits from infrastructure developments in South Wales.

The growth created by our UK national investment plan, underpinned by the responsible economic management embodied in our Fiscal Credibility Rule, will create good jobs, drive up living standards and improve public finances.

It is a plan which will deliver Labour’s vision of an economy that works for the many not just the few – a Britain in which no one is being held back either by poverty or lack of opportunity.

### A Fair Taxation System

Taxation underpins our society and our prosperity. All of us, including business, benefit from a healthy, educated and skilled population with access to basic services and secure housing.

We believe in the social obligation to contribute to a fair taxation scheme for the common good. We will take on the social scourge of tax avoidance through our Tax Transparency and Enforcement Programme, and close down tax loopholes.

But we will not ask ordinary households to pay more. A Labour government will guarantee no rises in income tax for those earning below £80,000 a year, and no increases in personal National Insurance contributions or the rate of VAT.

Under Labour’s plans, 95 per cent of taxpayers will be guaranteed no increases in their income tax contributions, and everyone will be protected from any increase in personal National Insurance contributions and VAT. Only the five per cent of highest earners will be asked to contribute more in tax to help fund our public services. We renew our pledge not to extend VAT to food, children’s clothes, books and newspapers, and public transport fares.

Corporation tax in the UK is the lowest in any major developed economy. Our new settlement with business will ask large corporations to pay a little more while still keeping UK corporation tax among the lowest of the major developed economies. In turn, we will meet the business need for a more skilled workforce with extra corporate tax revenues while contributing to education and skills budgets.

We will protect small businesses by reintroducing the lower small profits rate of corporation tax. We will also exclude small businesses from costly plans to introduce quarterly reporting and take action on late payments.

Labour will give HM Revenue & Customs the resources necessary to clamp down hard on those unscrupulous few individuals and companies who seek to avoid the responsibilities that the rest of us meet.

### Balancing the Books

Our manifesto is fully costed, with all current spending paid for out of taxation or redirected revenue streams. Our public services must rest on the foundation of sound finances. Labour will therefore set the target of eliminating the government’s deficit on day-to-day spending within five years.

Welsh Labour takes a responsible approach to finance – we have made tough, but fair spending decisions throughout the last decade of shrinking budgets. As a new Labour Government in Westminster begins to reverse the years of damaging Tory cuts, and once again invests in vital public services, we will undertake a Spending Review with a view to allocating Welsh consequential funding to our key priority areas – creating jobs, investing in the NHS and maintaining the new momentum in education.

Government must have a laser-like focus on how we earn, as well as how we spend. At the same time as eliminating the current deficit, Labour will invest in our future, to ensure faster growth and help us to earn our way as a country again.

To maintain good fiscal health, we will have a firm rule in place to guide all our taxation and spending decisions. Our Fiscal Credibility Rule is based on the simple principle that government should not be borrowing for day-to-day spending, but that future growth depends on investment. It was designed in conjunction with world-leading economists. It also means we are committed to ensuring that the national debt is lower at the end of the next Parliament than it is today.

Compliance with the rule will be overseen by a strengthened and truly independent Office for Budget Responsibility, which we will make accountable to Parliament. We will consult on implementing the recommendations of the Kerslake Review of the Treasury.

### Infrastructure Investment

Investment in infrastructure is vital to improving Welsh productivity and growth, and to creating a sustainable economy in all parts of the country. The Welsh Labour Government will work with a UK Labour Government to put in place tight rules to ensure that investment is shared fairly around every region and nation of the UK.

Labour will take advantage of near-record low interest rates to create a National Transformation Fund that will invest £250 billion across the UK over 10 years to upgrade our economy to ensure that our infrastructure is fit for the 21st century. The fund will work with the Development Bank of Wales to support the conditions for stronger economic growth in every part of Wales.

The National Transformation Fund will also work with the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales to support long-term planning of investment and infrastructure needs that can support economic growth.

The Welsh Labour Government has developed a new public-private partnership model, which will realise £1 billion of extra investment in new schools, hospitals and roads, supporting our ambitious £5 billion public capital infrastructure programme.

We will transform our energy systems, investing in new, state-of-the-art low-carbon gas and renewable energy production.

Few things are more crucial to businesses and our economy than a fast and reliable internet connection. Through the Superfast Cymru project we are bringing access to high-speed broadband to the majority of homes and businesses in Wales that cannot access it through the private sector’s commercial programmes. Some 630,000 premises in Wales now have access as a result of Superfast Cymru and we will continue the good progress we have made to roll out better connectivity.

A UK Labour Government will work with the Welsh Government to improve mobile internet coverage and expand provision of free public wi-fi. We will improve 4G coverage and invest to ensure all urban areas, as well as major roads and railways, have uninterrupted 5G coverage.

On day one we will instruct the National Infrastructure Commission, working with its partner body in Wales, to report on how to roll out ‘ultrafast’ (300Mbps) broadband across the UK within the next decade.

### Support for Industry

Our economy is suffering from the UK Conservative Government’s refusal to invest properly in future growth and the people who make it work. This wasted potential is holding us all back. Inequality has ballooned as the economy has shifted towards low-paid, insecure jobs.

Britain’s manufacturing base has declined and we have relied too heavily on the financial sector, centred on London and the South-East. And while the South East of England struggles with a rising cost of living crisis, many other parts of the UK have watched as their economies and communities are left behind. Britain’s failure to get all its national, regional and local economies working can be seen in the deterioration of the country’s current account, weak productivity growth and underinvestment in infrastructure.

Britain can only be stronger if every nation and region is given the resources and support to succeed. Only a UK Labour Government with a credible industrial strategy can reach this untapped potential and deliver prosperity to every corner of our country, working with devolved administrations.

The Welsh Labour Government will develop a new approach to economic growth that supports the regional economies of Wales and creates better jobs closer to home.

Labour’s joined-up infrastructure investment at a UK and Welsh level will make our communities a better place to trade and invest, and give businesses the confidence to plan for the future. We will work with a future UK Labour Government to encourage private investment by removing new plant and machinery from business rate calculations.

The Welsh Labour Government is currently undertaking a review of government funded research and innovation led by Prof. Graeme Reid.

The Welsh Labour Government will work with a UK Labour Government to ensure Wales gets its fair share of UK R&D funding to support our economy.

### Transforming Our Financial System

A decade after the devastating international financial crisis, our financial system is still holding back too many of our small businesses and local economies. Working together across the UK, Labour will transform how our financial system operates. Following the successful example of Germany and the Nordic countries, we will establish a UK National Investment Bank that will bring in private capital finance to deliver £250 billion of lending power.

This new public institution will work with the Development Bank of Wales to support inclusive growth in every community. The partnership will deliver the finance that our small businesses, co-operatives and innovative projects need across the whole country. Working together we will fill existing gaps in lending by private banks, particularly to small businesses, and provide patient, long-term finance to R&D-intensive investments.

Labour will overhaul the regulation of our financial system, putting in place a firm ring-fence between investment and retail banking that will protect consumers. We will take a new approach to the publicly owned RBS, and launch a consultation on breaking up the bank to create new local public banks that are better matched to their customers’ needs.

We will extend existing Stamp Duty Reserve Tax to cover a wider range of assets, ensuring that the public gets a fairer share of financial system profits.

Labour will change the law so that banks can’t close a branch where there is a clear local need, putting their customers first. Britain has a successful international finance industry, but we also need a strong, safe and socially useful banking system to meet the needs of the Welsh economy and our communities. We will commit to creating a more diverse banking system, backed up by legislation.

### A Fair Deal for Welsh Business

The majority of businesses play by the rules: they pay their workers and their taxes fairly and on time; and they operate with respect for the environment and local communities. That’s why it is vital that government ensures businesses doing the right thing are rewarded rather than undercut or outbid by those unscrupulous few that cut corners, whether on taxes or workers’ conditions.

But our business culture doesn’t always work like this. Scandals such as the failure of BHS show how the long-term growth of a company can be sacrificed for the sake of a quick buck.

When shareholders are looking for quick short-term return, they encourage companies to cut corners. That means they look to cut wages instead of investing for the long term or they spend longer inventing new tax avoidance schemes than they do inventing new products.

By reforming the rules our companies operate under, we can make sure they stay focused on delivering shared wealth. Labour will amend company law so that directors owe a duty directly not only to shareholders, but to employees, customers, the environment and the wider public and we will consult on bringing forward appropriate legislation within this Parliament.

Labour will amend the takeover regime to ensure that businesses identified as being ‘systemically important’ have a clear plan in place to protect workers and pensioners when a company is taken over. Labour will also legislate to reduce pay inequality by introducing an Excessive Pay Levy on companies with staff on very high pay.

Our small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of our economy. Technological changes, like the spread of digital manufacturing and rapid communication, mean smaller, faster businesses will be the future of our economy. Yet this Conservative UK Government has taken small businesses for granted. Labour is the party of small businesses. We understand the challenges our smaller businesses face in Wales.

In order to provide the support many businesses need, a UK and Welsh Labour Government working together will:

* Identify where other lenders fail to meet the needs of

SMEs and prioritise lending to improve the funding gap.

* Reinstate the lower small-business corporation tax

rate.

* The Welsh Labour Government will introduce a new permanent small business rates relief scheme in

2018-19, which responds to Wales’ unique needs. We will continue to review business rates to ensure they provide the right balance between support for public services and support for small businesses to grow.

We will reform the appeals procedure and we have instigated a review of the longer-term business rates system.

* Scrap quarterly reporting for businesses with a turnover of under £85,000.

* Declare war on late payments by:

* Using government procurement to ensure that anyone bidding for a government

contract pays its own suppliers within 30 days.

* Develop a version of the Australian system of binding arbitration and fines

for persistent late-payers for the private and public sectors.

The Welsh Labour Government will work with technology companies to promote Wales as an attractive place for investment and provide support for start-ups to scale up and become world class digital businesses.

We will work with the UK Labour Government to bring forward legislation to create a proper legal definition for co-operative ownership. The UK National Investment Bank and the Development Bank of Wales will support our co-operative sector to put it on a par with those in leading economies like Germany or the US.

### Sustainable Energy

Labour’s energy policy is built on three simple principles:

* To ensure security of energy supply and ‘keep the lights on’.

* To ensure energy costs are affordable for

consumers and businesses.

* To ensure we meet our climate change targets and transition to a low-carbon economy.

The UK energy system is out-dated, expensive and polluting. Privatisation has failed to deliver an energy system that delivers for people, businesses or our environment.

One in ten households are in fuel poverty, yet the Competition Markets Authority found customers are overcharged an enormous £2 billion every year.

Labour understands that many people don’t have time to shop around, they just want reliable and affordable energy. So the next Labour Government will:

* Introduce an immediate emergency price cap

to ensure that the average dual-fuel household energy bill remains below £1,000 per year, while we transition to a fairer system for bill payers.

* Take energy back into public ownership to deliver renewable energy, affordability for consumers,

and democratic control. We will do this in the following stages:

* Regaining control of energy supply

networks through the alteration of the National and Regional Network Operator licence conditions.

* Supporting the creation of publicly owned, locally accountable energy

companies and co-operatives to rival existing private energy suppliers, with at least one in every region.

* Legislating to permit publicly owned local

companies to purchase the regional grid infrastructure, and to ensure that national and regional grid infrastructure is brought into public ownership over time.

Labour will insulate four million homes as an infrastructure priority to help those who suffer in cold homes each winter. This will cut emissions, improve health, save on bills, and reduce fuel poverty and winter deaths.

The Welsh Labour Government is already investing £104 million over the next four years in our flagship Warm Homes scheme.

Homeowners will be offered interest-free loans to improve their property. For renters, Labour will improve on existing landlord energy efficiency regulations and re-establish the landlord energy saving allowance to encourage the uptake of efficiency measures.

Labour will ban fracking because it would lock us into an energy infrastructure based on fossil fuels, long after the point in 2030 when the Committee on Climate Change says gas usage in the UK must sharply decline. This builds on the work of the Welsh Labour Government in imposing a planning moratorium on applications for fracking.

Emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage will help to smooth the transition to cleaner fuels and to protect existing jobs as part of the future energy mix. To safeguard the offshore oil and gas industry, we will provide a strategy focused on protecting vital North Sea assets, and the jobs and skills that depend on them.

We are committed to renewable energy projects, including tidal lagoons, which can help create manufacturing and energy jobs as well as contributing to climate-change commitments. The Welsh Labour Government has repeatedly stated our commitment to tidal lagoons and will work with partners to take advantage of the opportunities opened up by a Swansea pathfinder project. They have the potential to support manufacturing and supply chains in Wales as well as contributing to our climate change commitments.

The Welsh Labour Government is supporting and promoting renewable energy generation as part of our approach to reducing reliance on energy from fossil fuels. Targets on renewables, including community energy will be set this summer.

The UK has the world’s oldest nuclear industry, and nuclear will continue to be part of the UK energy supply. We will support further nuclear projects and protect nuclear workers’ jobs and pensions.

There are considerable opportunities for nuclear power and decommissioning both internationally and domestically.

The UK Labour Government will work with colleagues in Wales to successfully deliver the important Wylfa Newydd project and ensure a sustainable economic legacy for Anglesey and the wider North Wales economy.

Building a clean economy of the future is the most important thing we must do for our children, our grandchildren and future generations. Yet recent years have seen a failure to progress towards our targets. A Labour government will put us back on track to meet the targets in the Climate Change Act and the Paris Agreement.

The low-carbon economy is one of the UK’s fastest-growing sectors, creating jobs and providing investment across each region. It employed an estimated 447,000 employees in the UK in 2015 and saw more than £77 billion in turnover. With backing from a Labour government, these sectors can secure crucial shares of global export markets.

Currently, the UK buys and sells energy tariff free from Europe, an arrangement which saves families and businesses money, and helps balance the power grid. As part of the Brexit negotiations, Labour will prioritise maintaining access to the internal energy market. Labour will also seek to retain access to Euratom, to allow continued trade of fissile material, with access and collaboration over research vital to our nuclear industry.

## Chapter 2: Negotiating Brexit

### Negotiating Brexit

Welsh Labour accepts the referendum result and a Labour Government in Westminster will put the national interest first. We will prioritise jobs and living standards, build a close new relationship with the European Union, protect workers’ rights and environmental standards, provide certainty to EU nationals and give a meaningful role to Parliament and the Welsh Government throughout the negotiations.

We will end Theresa May’s reckless approach to Brexit, and seek to unite the country around a Brexit deal that works for every community in Britain. She talks about the importance of securing a deal which safeguards the UK economy and provides the basis for investment in our public services; but it is her obsession with abstract issues such as the precise role of the European Court of Justice and her politically motivated attacks on our European partners that are putting such an outcome in jeopardy.

We will scrap the Conservatives’ Brexit White Paper and replace it with fresh negotiating priorities that have a strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union – which are essential for maintaining industries, jobs and businesses in Britain. Labour will always put jobs and the economy first.

The Welsh Labour Government has consistently called for the current UK Government to guarantee the rights of all EU citizens living in Wales and to secure the rights of UK citizens living in other member-states. An incoming Labour Government will immediately guarantee existing rights for all EU nationals living in Britain and secure reciprocal rights for UK citizens who have chosen to make their lives in EU countries. EU nationals do not just contribute to our society: they are part of our society. And they should not be used as bargaining chips.

It is shameful that the Prime Minister rejected repeated attempts by Labour to resolve this issue before Article 50 was triggered. As a result three million EU nationals have suffered unnecessary uncertainty, as have the 1.2 million UK citizens living in the EU.

The Welsh Labour Government has provided leadership in setting out a credible and comprehensive plan for the Brexit negotiations in our White Paper Securing Wales’ Future. This is based on six key priorities:

* Most importantly, the need to secure full and

unfettered access to the Single Market to support businesses, and secure jobs and the future prosperity of Wales.

* Responding to concerns about aspects of inward migration through linking future migration

much more clearly to employment and by much tougher enforcement of legislation against the exploitation of workers.

* On finance and investment , the need for the UK Government to make good on promises

made during the referendum campaign that Wales would not lose a penny in funding as a result of the UK leaving the EU and to secure continued participation in a range of programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ which clearly benefit Wales.

* The need for a fundamentally different

constitutional relationship between the devolved governments and the UK Government – based on mutual respect, reaching agreement through consent, and a new, independent dispute resolution mechanism – once the UK leaves the EU.

* The need to maintain the social and that we environmental protections and values prize in Wales, in particular workers’ rights, once these are no longer guaranteed through the UK’s

membership of the EU.

* The importance of considering transitional

arrangements to ensure the UK does not fall off a cliff edge in its economic and wider relationship with the EU if longer-term arrangements have not been agreed at the point of exit.

In contrast, a Conservative Brexit will weaken workers’ rights, deregulate the economy, slash corporate taxes, sideline Parliament and democratic accountability and cut Britain off from our closest allies and most important trading partners.

Welsh Labour recognises that leaving the EU with ‘no deal’ is the worst possible deal for Britain and that it would do damage to our economy and trade. We will reject ‘no deal’ as a viable option and if needs be negotiate transitional arrangements to avoid a cliff-edge situation for the UK economy.

The issues that affect our continent now will continue to do so in the future – and Labour, both in Westminster and in Wales, will continue to work constructively with the EU and other European nations on issues such as climate change, refugee crises and counter-terrorism. We will build a close co-operative future relationship with the EU, not as members but as partners.

A Labour Government will ensure that the UK maintains our leading research role by seeking to stay part of Horizon 2020 and its successor programmes and by welcoming research staff to the UK. We will seek to maintain membership of (or equivalent relationships with) European organisations which offer benefits to the UK such as Euratom and the European Medicines Agency.

We will seek to ensure that Britain remains part of the Erasmus scheme so that British students have the same educational opportunities after we leave the EU.

The EU is the UK’s single largest trading partner in agricultural produce, with the vast majority of British exports being sold to European markets.

A Labour government will end the uncertainty for our farmers and food producers by securing continued EU market access, allowing British farmers and food producers to continue to sell their products on the Continent.

Labour will also protect our farmers and rural economy by ensuring Britain continues to set the highest standards in food quality and welfare. We will not allow Brexit to be used as an excuse to undercut our farmers and flood Britain’s food chain with cheap and inferior produce.

We will drop the Conservatives’ Great Repeal Bill, replacing it with an EU Rights and Protections Bill that will ensure there is no detrimental change to workers’ rights, equality law, consumer rights or environmental protections as a result of Brexit.

Throughout the Brexit process, we will make sure that all EU-derived laws that are of benefit – including workplace laws, consumer rights and environmental protections – are fully protected without qualifications, limitations or sunset clauses. We will work with trade unions, businesses and stakeholders to ensure there is a consensus on this vital issue. A Labour approach to Brexit will ensure there can be no rolling back of key rights and protections and that the UK does not lag behind Europe in workplace protections and environmental standards in future.

The EU has had a huge impact in securing workplace protections and environmental safeguards. But we all know that for many Brexiteers in the Tory Party, this was why they wanted to Leave – to tear up regulations and weaken hard-fought rights and protections.

Labour will never consider these rights a burden or accept the weakening of workers’ rights, consumer rights or environmental protections.

A Labour Government will introduce legislation to ensure there are no gaps in national security and criminal justice arrangements as a result of Brexit.

We recognise the vital role that cross-border agencies such as Eurojust and Europol have played in making Britain safer and that European Arrest Warrants have been invaluable. A Labour Government will seek to retain membership of the agencies and continue European Arrest Warrant arrangements.

Labour will seek a Brexit deal that delivers for all regions and nations of the UK. We will introduce a ‘presumption of devolution’ where powers transferred from the EU will go straight to the relevant region or nation; and we will not make any changes to existing devolution legislation, which restrict the powers of the devolved institutions over devolved policies, such as the environment and agriculture. For many people, and for much of our country, power can feel just as remote and unaccountable in Westminster as it does in Brussels. So a Labour Government in Westminster will seek to put powers as close to communities as possible.

Labour will ensure there is no drop in EU Structural Funding as a result of Brexit until the end of the current EU funding round. As part of Labour’s plans to rebalance and rebuild the economy, we will ensure that no region or nation of the UK is affected by the withdrawal of EU funding for the remainder of this Parliament. This will also apply to the funding of peace and reconciliation projects in Northern Ireland.

We will also improve engagement and dialogue with the devolved administrations and seek to ensure the final Brexit deal addresses specific concerns. In particular Labour will ensure there is no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and that there is no change in the status or sovereignty of Gibraltar. We will also protect Gibraltar’s economy and ensure that its government can continue to create jobs and prosperity in the years to come.

Where Theresa May wants to shut down scrutiny and challenge, Labour will welcome it. We will work with Parliament, not against it. On an issue of this importance the government can’t hide from the public or Parliament.

A Labour approach to Brexit also means legislating to guarantee that Parliament has a truly meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal.

### Immigration

Labour offers fair rules and reasonable management of migration. In trade negotiations our priorities favour growth, jobs and prosperity. We make no apologies for putting these aims before bogus immigration targets.

Freedom of movement as we know it will end when we leave the European Union. Britain’s immigration system will change, but Labour will not scapegoat migrants nor blame them for economic failures.

Labour will develop and implement fair immigration rules. We will not discriminate between people of different races or creeds.

We will end indefinite detentions and distinguish between migrant labour and family attachment and will continue to support the work of the Forced Marriage Unit. We will replace income thresholds with a prohibition on recourse to public funds. New rules will be equally informed by negotiations with the EU and other partners, including the Commonwealth.

Whatever our trade arrangements we will need new migration management systems, transparent and fair to everybody. Working with businesses, trade unions, devolved governments and others to identify specific labour and skill shortages.

Working together we will institute a new system which is based on our economic needs, balancing controls and existing entitlements. This may include employer sponsorship, work permits, visa regulations or a tailored mix of all these which works for the many, not the few.

Labour will protect those already working here, whatever their ethnicity. The Welsh Labour Government is raising the level of skills and training. We will take decisive actions to end the exploitation of migrant labour undercutting workers’ pay and conditions.

Labour will crack down on unscrupulous employers. We will stop overseas-only recruitment practices, strengthen safety-at-work inspections and increase prosecutions of employers evading the minimum wage.

Working with trade unions, we will end workplace exploitation.

Labour values the economic and social contributions of immigrants. Both public and private sector employers depend on immigrants. We will not denigrate those workers. We value their contributions, including their tax contributions.

For areas where immigration has placed a strain on public services we will reinstate the Migrant Impact Fund and boost it with a contributory element from the investments required for High Net Worth Individual Visas. Labour will restore the rights of migrant domestic workers and end this form of modern slavery.

Labour will ease the underlying pressures in any areas struggling to cope with seven years of austerity by our programme of investments. We will not cut public services and pretend the cuts are a consequence of immigration.

Refugees are not migrants. They have been forced from their homes, by war, famine or other disasters. Unlike the Tories, we will uphold the proud British tradition of honouring the spirit of international law and our moral obligations by taking our fair share of refugees. The current arrangements for housing and dispersing refugees are not fit for purpose. They are not fair to refugees or to our communities. We will review these arrangements.

Labour welcomes international students who benefit and strengthen our education sector, generating more than £25 billion for the British economy and significantly boosting regional jobs and local businesses. They are not permanent residents and we will not include them in immigration numbers, but we will crack down on fake colleges.

### International Trade

Welsh Labour is pro-trade and pro-investment.

The UK’s future prosperity depends on minimising tariff and non-tariff barriers that prevent us from exporting and creating the jobs and economic growth we need.

A Labour Government will work with the devolved administrations to bring forward an integrated trade and industrial strategy which boosts exports, investment and decent jobs in Britain.

Labour will set our priorities in an International Trade White Paper to lead a national debate on the future of Britain’s trade policy. We will ensure proper transparency and parliamentary scrutiny of all future trade and investment deals.

The EU accounts for 44 per cent of the UK’s current exports and 67 per cent of exports from Wales.

That is why continued full and unfettered access to the Single Market is so critical for our future even as our trading relationship with the EU changes.

Through our Just Trading initiative, launched in 2016, Labour will work with global trading partners to develop ‘best-in-class’ free trade and investment agreements that remove trade barriers and promote skilled jobs and high standards. We will ensure all future trade deals safeguard the right to regulate in the public interest and to protect public services.

Welsh Labour is committed to the rules-based international trading system of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). We will rejoin the Government Procurement Agreement, while safeguarding the capacity for public bodies to make procurement decisions in keeping with public policy objectives.

Labour will build human rights and social justice into trade policy. We will ensure that trade agreements cannot undermine human rights and labour standards and that UK Export Finance support is not available to companies engaged in bribery or corrupt practices.

We will work with other WTO members to end the dumping of state-subsidised goods on our markets. The Conservatives consistently blocked EU efforts to respond to such dumping with the duties needed to defend the British steel industry, despite pressure from the Welsh Labour Government not to do so. Labour will develop the full range of trade remedies necessary to support key sectors affected by these unfair practices.

The Welsh Labour Government has put in place a range of measures to support SMEs, to export and engage internationally. A Labour Government in Westminster will champion the export interests of SMEs, ensuring all new trade agreements include a commitment to support their market access needs.

A Labour Government will use the full range of export credit, finance, insurance and trade promotion tools to boost British exports and support priority industrial sectors and will work closely with the Welsh Labour Government to promote the export and investment interests of businesses across the UK.

Labour is committed to growing the digital economy and ensuring that trade agreements do not impede cross-border data flows, whilst maintaining strong data protection rules to protect personal privacy.

As part of our commitment to a low carbon future, we will actively support international negotiations towards an Environmental Goods Agreement at the WTO. Labour will use trade negotiations to boost market access for British environmental goods and services, alongside support for investment into new green technologies and innovative low-carbon products.

A Labour Government will develop capital investment schemes and other incentives to encourage investment into the UK, especially into target areas identified as Welsh Government priorities. We will champion the UK as a safe investment environment.

Labour will review our historic investment treaties with other countries, ensuring they are fit for purpose for the 21st century. Labour opposes parallel investor-state dispute systems for multinational corporations and we will open a dialogue with trading partners on alternative options that provide investor protection while guaranteeing equality before the law.

## Chapter 3: A Fair Deal For Education

### A Fair Deal for Education

Under Carwyn Jones’ leadership there is new momentum in Welsh education. The policies introduced by successive Welsh Labour governments have raised standards for all. We are supporting our poorest pupils to thrive and giving thousands the opportunity of gaining new skills for work.

GCSE results are the best ever, the attainment gap is closing and our apprenticeship system is delivering the skills businesses and our economy need.

In Wales, no money is being wasted on free schools and, unlike the Tories, we won’t be bringing back grammar schools for the privileged few. Our ambitious programme of reform is focused on supporting everyone in every part of Wales from cradle to career.

Now is the time to take the next step in building a world-class education system in Wales, founded on parity of esteem between academic and vocational careers, which can develop the potential of all and support the Welsh economy now and in the future.

A fair deal for everyone.

### Early Years

As the party for equality and business, and the party which has always been there for working families, we have listened to the call for more and better childcare to help parents – and particularly mothers – to continue in and return to work.

Our Welsh Labour Government is creating the most generous childcare offer for working parents anywhere in the UK – 30 hours of free childcare a week (including the current minimum 10 hours of free Foundation Phase early years education) for working parents of three and four-year-olds, 48 weeks of the year.

Unlike the Conservatives in England, we are taking the time to consult parents, childcare professionals, childcare providers and a wide range of stakeholders.

Unlike the Tories’ rushed approach in England, we are taking the time to find out what works for children, parents and providers through carefully designed pilots and a gradual, phased roll-out which will allow us to learn from the early implementers and adapt our scheme where necessary.

From September we will be testing the offer in areas of seven local authorities. These pilot projects will cover approximately 10 per cent of eligible families in Wales. The offer will cover the whole of Wales by 2021.

In Flying Start areas, all two and three-year-olds will continue to be eligible for 12-and-a-half hours of free childcare a week and 15 hours of holiday childcare provision.

We will retain our free school breakfast programme, which boosts children’s attendance and attainment and provides added flexibility to working parents.

### Schools

Despite the deep cuts imposed on Wales by the Tories in Westminster, our Welsh Government has taken the decision to prioritise school funding in Wales.

Since 2011, thanks to our protection of school funding nearly £150 million extra has been invested in our schools; we’ve introduced the Pupil Development Grant and protected the Educational Maintenance Allowance.

Welsh Labour believes in giving all children the very best start in life. More than 10 million free breakfasts have been served in primary schools across Wales over the last five years and we will protect funding for the programme.

We want to end the spectre of children going hungry during the school summer holidays – we will fund lunch and fun clubs across Wales over the next three years.

We have strengthened our innovative Foundation Phase, which is helping young people experience learning that is creative and enjoyable. We have also ensured young people have strong foundations in literacy and numeracy through the introduction of the literacy and numeracy framework and national reading and numeracy tests.

Starting in September 2018, paper-based tests will be replaced by innovative online assessments which adapt to pupils’ individual abilities and help teachers shape learning more effectively in the classroom.

Through our pioneer schools, we will work in partnership with professionals to take forward the work of the Donaldson Review and develop a new curriculum for Wales that is ready for teaching in 2021.

We will maintain our commitment to supporting the attainment of young people from the poorest backgrounds through the Pupil Development Grant and its early years’ equivalent.

Great schools have great leaders. Welsh Labour is committed to facilitating strong leadership at all levels of our education system by establishing a new national academy for education leadership and setting new professional teaching and leadership standards. We are also setting new accreditation criteria for initial teacher training to support the next generation of professionals.

The Welsh Labour Government values the contribution of everyone employed in the education system and will continue to work with recognised trade unions to improve the working arrangements and professional development of support staff in Wales.

Nearly a quarter of learners in Wales have some form of additional learning need. We will introduce a new system of support for these learners.

### Skills

Technology is driving demand for different skills, and evolving patterns of work mean people are more likely to pursue several careers over their lifetime; it is crucial that our education system enables people to up-skill and retrain.

As part of our work to develop the Welsh economy, we will support productivity growth by enabling more people to gain the skills they need to progress in the workplace into better-quality jobs.

We will work with a future UK Labour Government to devolve responsibility for skills where this supports our work.

We will maintain our approach to social partnership and to working with employers through the Wales Employment and Skills Board. We will commit to protecting the Wales Union Learning Fund (WULF) and work with our trade union partners to ensure we continue to improve the effectiveness and reach of the programme.

### Further Education

The Welsh Government has a strong partnership with further education institutions to strengthen the Welsh economy. The transformation of our further education network into stronger, more financially sustainable colleges has improved the quality of provision for learners, and ensures the skills being produced are fit for the needs of the Welsh economy.

We are improving the physical infrastructure of Welsh colleges: with world-class learning facilities in Pontypridd, Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil; a new sixth-form centre at Coleg Cambria; and a commitment to build a new specialist engineering facility in Llangefni. We will invest almost £2 billion in our 21st century schools and college programme by 2024.

The boundaries between higher education and further education, which were once clear, are now breaking down. To ensure the system is fit for purpose for learners of all ages, employers and our economy, we will consult on setting up a new single regulatory, oversight and co-ordinating authority for the post-compulsory education sector, which will be responsible for funding provision at all levels. This new strategic authority will ensure quality in the sector and be the lead funder of research.

We will deepen our links with employers through our regional skills partnerships. Detailed assessments of the skills needs of major infrastructure projects will ensure they have the workforce they need but also ensure that skilled jobs are filled locally.

We have worked closely with Colegau Cymru and the Association of Colleges to support a college leadership programme. We will develop the next generation of leaders and professionals by working with employers to ensure they continuously update their skills and experience.

### Apprenticeships

Our apprenticeship programme has been a major success – over the course of this Assembly term we will go further and create 100,000 all-age apprenticeships.

As part of our work to support the Welsh economy of the future, we will ensure the programme is fit for employers and the economy.

We will focus our apprenticeship programme on increasing the number of apprentices aged 16 to 19, addressing skills shortages, developing higher-level skills, and developing skills pathways.

We will not implement the apprenticeship levy as the Conservatives have in England through a voucher system. We see no evidence that a voucher system will improve quality; instead it will introduce bureaucracy for employers and uncertainties about how non-levy employers will be supported.

We will continue to work with Welsh employers to shape our apprenticeship programme around the needs of Welsh learners and businesses.

### Employability

Employability skills are critical to tackling poverty because of the support they give to people to enter, remain and progress in employment. We are developing a new employability plan for Wales, which will encourage a coherent pathway to employment for jobseekers, which responds to their individual needs.

We will develop a new all-age employability programme, which provides tailored support to help people towards and into work. It will begin delivery in 2018.

As part of the employability plan, we propose the development of a more systematic approach to identifying need and referral to employability support through a strengthened and unified employment advice service. This will ensure a clear and impartial focus so people are supported in their journey into and within employment.

### Higher Education

Thanks to Welsh Labour, students in higher education have been protected from the crippling debt experienced by university students elsewhere in the UK. The current level of debt for students from Wales is around £20,000 less than their counterparts in England.

We are taking forward the Diamond Review proposals to re-shape student finance in Wales.

The new system is a fundamental shift for higher education in Wales and will address many of the issues – such as rising maintenance costs – students have identified. The package will ensure students receive the equivalent of the national living wage in maintenance during term time while they study.

The new system will provide financial support for students’ daily living costs – both full-time and part-time – through a mix of grants and loans. We will develop new and innovative ways of funding post-graduate studies and prioritise support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. We will ensure students with an experience of care receive the maximum maintenance grant.

The package will be the most generous of any nation in the UK.

Welsh Labour has always been clear that education should be free and if funding allowed, there should be no tuition fees. We recognise that higher education operates within a UK context. When a Labour Government is elected at Westminster we will undertake a further review of the impact of any changes made in England on universities and students in Wales and follow the Diamond Review model of consulting with students, universities and employers about any changes in Wales.

## Chapter 4: A Fair Deal At Work

### A Fair Deal at Work

Work should provide people with security and fulfilment. But for too many people work is insecure and does not make ends meet.

The Conservatives boast about the recovery of employment, but our labour market is failing. Real-terms pay is still lower than before the crash, and jobs are increasingly low skilled and insecure, with the rising proportion of zero hours contracts and agency work.

A Labour Government will invest in enforcement through a new Ministry of Labour and empower workers and their trade unions, because we are stronger when we stand together.

So we will review the rules on union recognition so that more workers have the security of a union.

At the same time as strengthening workers’ rights, we will make work more fulfilling by using public investment to upgrade our economy and create high-quality jobs. While the Conservatives stand back and allow insecure work to spread, and businesses to struggle, Labour will act to guarantee good jobs and strong businesses.

### Fair Work Commission and Better Jobs Closer to Home

The Welsh Labour Government is committed to making Wales a fair-work nation where everyone can access better jobs closer to home. A country where everyone can develop their careers and where we can all expect decent, life-enhancing work without exploitation or poverty. A fair deal, where we all build prosperity and all share in that prosperity.

The Welsh Labour Government works in social partnership with public service employers and trade unions and we are using these structures to establish a Fair Work Commission to help us build an economy in which more people can have access to good work and a secure income.

The commission will build on the good work we have already done to make work fairer using the full scope of our devolved powers. Through the Workforce Partnership Council we have delivered a two-tier code, issued guidance and principles on the use of non-guaranteed hour contracts, including zero hours contracts, and launched a Code of Practice for Ethical Procurement in Supply Chains to guarantee good employment practices for the millions of employees involved in public sector supply chains.

We have also gained the power to waive the public service exit payment cap in Wales.

The Welsh Labour Government is legislating to repeal the current UK Government’s damaging Trade Union Act for devolved public services in Wales. This includes measures to ban the use of agency workers in devolved public services to provide cover during strike action.

As a Welsh Labour Government we are clear that by using procurement in a more creative and joined-up way we can support our communities to be more resilient in the face of the economic challenges that lie ahead by creating more sustainable local and regional economies across Wales.

This requires a new approach across government to ensure the benefits of major investment are recycled back into Welsh communities to support local supply chains and stimulate investment in deprived communities.

We are creating a Better Jobs Closer to Home programme which will tackle poverty, develop skilled workers, deploy innovative procurement policy, and support businesses to grow. We are establishing a range of commercial projects to stimulate the creation of meaningful employment in communities with high levels of joblessness.

### Rights at Work

Labour has published a 20-point plan for security and equality at work, which it will implement when it forms the next UK Government.

This builds on action that successive Welsh Labour governments have taken to protect workers’ rights, including: legislating to repeal the UK Trade Union Act for devolved public services in Wales;

ending the practice of blacklisting; enforcing ethical employment practices in supply chains; and acting to end the use of exploitative zero hours contracts.

A Labour Government will ensure Britain abides by the global labour standards of the ILO conventions.

All workers should be able to work in a safe environment and return to their families at the end of the day. Labour will enforce regulations that save lives.

As well as legislating against zero hours contracts, we need to protect the many workers on short hours contracts (some only guaranteed a few hours per week), but who regularly work far more.

We will strengthen the law so that those who work regular hours for more than 12 weeks will have a right to a regular contract, reflecting those hours.

We will also scrap the changes brought in by the Conservatives in 2014 to TUPE, which weakened the protections for workers transferring between contractors, and we will abolish the loophole to the agency workers regulations known as the Swedish derogation.

We will consult with employers and trade unions on legislating for statutory bereavement leave, for time off work after the loss of close family members. We will also consult on toughening the law against assaulting workers who have to enforce laws such as age-related sales or ticketing arrangements, and who face regular abuse.

Labour will maintain the ACAS Early Conciliation System to try to resolve workplace issues quickly and amicably.

Labour will also legislate to permit secure online and workplace balloting for industrial action votes and internal union elections.

Workers in Britain are among the easiest and cheapest to make redundant, meaning when multinational companies are taking decisions to downsize that British workers are at a disadvantage. We will consult with trade unions and industry on reviewing redundancy arrangements to bring workers in Britain more into line with their European counterparts.

Stagnating incomes have forced many to take on more debt. Labour will introduce a version of Scotland’s Debt Arrangement Scheme to give breathing space to households struggling with high debts.

### Self-employed Workers

Self-employment can bring many benefits, freedoms and flexibilities to people and is a vital and often entrepreneurial sector of our economy.

But there is also mounting evidence that workers are being forced into self-employment by unscrupulous employers to avoid costs and their duties to workers. Labour will clamp down on bogus self-employment by:

* Shifting the burden of proof, so that the law assumes a worker is an employee unless the

employer can prove otherwise.

* Imposing punitive fines on employers not meeting their responsibilities, helping to deter

others from doing the same.

* Involving trade unions in enforcement, for example, by giving them a seat on the executive

board of the new Ministry of Labour.

* Giving the Ministry of Labour the resources to

enforce workers’ rights.

* Banning payroll companies, sometimes known as umbrella companies, which create a false

structure to limit employers’ tax liabilities and limit workers’ rights.

* Giving employment agencies and end-users joint

responsibility for ensuring the rights of agency workers are enforced.

* Rolling out sectoral collective bargaining

and strengthen trade union rights, because empowering people to claim their own rights in the workplace is the most effective means of enforcement.

We will extend the rights of employees to all workers, including shared parental pay, making a substantial and immediate difference to the quality of life for people in insecure work. But there are real concerns that rapid changes to the world of work are rendering existing employment categories outdated.

Labour recognises that the law often struggles to keep up with ever-changing new forms of employment and work, so we will set up a dedicated commission to modernise the law around employment status. New statutory definitions of employment status would reduce the need for litigation and improve compliance.

The commission will be led by legal and academic experts with representation from industry and trade unions.

## Chapter 5: Social Security

### Social Security

After seven years of rising poverty and inequality, Labour will rebuild and transform our social security system.

Like the NHS, our social security system is there for all of us in our time of need; providing security and dignity in retirement, and the basics in life should we become sick or disabled or fall on hard times.

### Dignity for Pensioners

Labour will always be on the side of pensioners and help ensure security and dignity for older people in retirement.

As the Conservatives abandon their commitments to older people, Labour will guarantee the state pension ‘triple lock’ throughout the next Parliament. It will rise by at least 2.5 per cent a year or be increased to keep pace with inflation or earnings, whichever is higher The winter fuel allowance will also be guaranteed as a universal benefit.

The Welsh Labour Government is committed to protecting free bus passes for older people, people with disabilities and their carers and to retaining the popular free swimming scheme.

We will protect the pensions of UK citizens living overseas in the EU or further afield.

More than 2.5 million women born in the 1950s have had their state pension age changed without fair notification. These women deserve both recognition for the injustice they have suffered and some kind of compensation for their losses.

Alongside our commitment to extend Pension Credit to hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable women, Labour is exploring options for further transitional protections to ensure that all these women have security and dignity in their old age.

This must never happen again. Labour will legislate so that accrued rights to the basic state pension cannot be changed, but future benefits can.

The pension age is due to rise to 66 by the end of 2020. Labour rejects the Conservatives’ proposal to increase the state pension age even further.

We will commission a new review of the pension age, specifically tasked with developing a flexible retirement policy to reflect the contributions made by people; the wide variations in life expectancy and the different nature of working lives.

We will restore confidence in the workplace pension system and put people rather than profit at its centre. Labour will end rip off hidden fees and charges, and enable the development of large efficient pension funds which will mean more cash for scheme members and lower costs for employers.

A Labour Government will commit to an immediate review of the mineworkers’ pension scheme and British Coal superannuation scheme surplus sharing arrangements between government and scheme beneficiaries.

### Dignity for Those Who Cannot Work

Poverty in Britain is rising – due to the Conservatives’ attempts to balance the books on the backs of the poorest. They have slashed social security over the last seven years, leaving more people in poverty, subject to a punitive sanctions regime, and reliant on food banks for support.

Labour will act immediately to end the worst excesses of the Conservative Government’s changes. We will:

* Scrap the punitive sanctions regime.

* Scrap the bedroom tax.

* Reinstate housing benefit for under-21s.

* Scrap bereavement support payment cuts.

The cuts to work allowances in Universal Credit (UC) and the decision to limit tax credit and UC payments to the first two children in a family, are an attack on low-income families and will increase child poverty. Labour will reform and redesign UC, ending six-week delays in payment and the ‘rape clause’.

In Wales we are working to tackle child poverty by building a strong economy, reducing worklessness, increasing skills, reducing inequalities and supporting families to increase their household income. The Tories have completely failed on their promise of making work pay and to tackle the barriers to work faced by disabled people.

Labour supports a social model of disability.

People may have a condition or an impairment but are disabled by society. We need to remove the barriers in society that restrict opportunities and choices for disabled people.

We will build on the previous Labour Government’s commitment to disabled people in 2009 as signatories to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and incorporate it into UK law.

Labour will repeal the following cuts in social security support to disabled people through a new Social Security Bill published in our first year of office to:

* Increase Employment and Support Allowance by

£30 per week for those in the work-related activity group and repeal cuts in the UC limited capacity for work element.

* Increase Carer’s Allowance by £11 to the level of Jobseekers Allowance.

* Implement the court decision on Personal

Independence Payment (PIP) so that there is real parity of esteem between those with physical and mental health conditions.

* Scrap the Work Capability and Personal

Independence Payment assessments and replace them with a personalised, holistic assessment process that provides each individual with a tailored plan, building on their strengths and addressing barriers. Labour will end the privatisation of assessments.

* End the pointless stress of reassessments for

people with severe long-term conditions.

* Commission a report into expanding the Access to Work programme.

We will change the culture of the social security system, from one that demonises people to one that is supportive and enabling.

As well as scrapping the Conservatives’ punitive sanctions regime, we will change how Jobcentre Plus staff are performance managed.

Labour will strengthen access to justice for disabled people by enhancing the 2010 Equality Act enabling discrimination at work to be challenged.

We will ensure that under the Istanbul Convention, disability hate crime and violence against women with disabilities is reported annually, with national action plans to address these.

The Welsh Labour Government cannot remedy all the impacts of the Conservatives’ damaging welfare policies but we are working to mitigate them through a series of targeted programmes and other flagship policies which generate a ‘social wage’ and support living standards: such as our commitment to social housing, access to free school breakfasts, and free prescriptions.

## Chapter 6: Secure Homes For All

### Secure Homes for All

Home is at the heart of all of our lives. It is the foundation on which we raise our families; the bedrock for our dreams and aspirations.

Everyone has the right to a good-quality home and our Welsh Labour Government will continue to work towards this, in partnership with private builders, the private rented sector, councils and housing associations.

In the last Assembly term, Labour in Wales built more than 11,000 affordable homes, brought 7,500 empty houses back into use, and helped 3,300 home buyers – 75 per cent of them first-time buyers – to buy a home through Help to Buy – Wales.

By 2021, we will build a further 20,000 affordable homes in Wales, including 6,000 through Help to Buy – Wales and 1,000 through our new rent-to-own scheme.

We will prioritise brownfield sites, and wherever possible, protect green spaces.

The building of new homes plays a crucial role in our plans to strengthen our economy, generating new jobs and training opportunities.

The Welsh Labour Government will not only build more, we will build better. Our Warm Homes programme, Nest and Arbed and our investment in raising standards in social housing are helping reduce fuel bills, are reducing preventable winter deaths, and helping to meet our climate change targets.

We are investing in the development of innovative approaches to housing construction and this work will include finding new ways of building energy-efficient homes.

Labour will keep the Land Registry in public hands, where it belongs.

Welsh Labour’s Supporting People programme helps 60,000 people a year to live independently – this includes older people, those with learning difficulties, vulnerable young people, those suffering mental ill health and people escaping domestic violence.

The Welsh Labour Government has established an expert group on housing an ageing population to generate innovative ideas to meet the growing needs of older people.

### Home Ownership

Welsh Labour will continue to help home-buyers. Our target of building 20,000 affordable homes by 2021 includes 6,000 through Help to Buy – Wales and 1,000 through our new rent-to-own scheme. These commitments will give long-term certainty to both first-time buyers and the house-building industry.

We will continue our Houses into Homes scheme, which brought more than 7,500 properties back into use during the last Assembly term.

We will explore options for ending land banking.

We will continue to work with both developers and house builders to identify obstacles to building and investigate how we can better use the planning system to build more homes. We believe long-term partnerships can help deliver the accelerated rate of house building we need and the quality environments we require.

We will back those who own their homes, including home-owners who own their home as leaseholders and who are currently unprotected from rises in ground rents from developers or management companies. A Labour Government will give leaseholders security from rip-off ground rents and end the routine use of leasehold houses in new developments.

The Welsh Labour Government will act on any abuse of the Help to Buy – Wales scheme in promoting leasehold sales in new developments.

### Private Renters

The Welsh Labour Government has acted to ensure a fairer deal for landlords and tenants by legislating for a compulsory registration scheme for landlords and agents and simplifying and rationalising previous tenancy legislation.

By December 2016, more than 68,000 landlords had registered with Rent Smart Wales and a further 13,000 had started the process. More than 5,000 landlords and 800 agents have been licensed.

We will challenge the private rented sector to develop consistent and fair deposit schemes.

We will act to ban letting agents’ fees for tenants.

Labour will reverse the cruel decision to abolish housing benefit for 18 to 21-year-olds, which risks putting more vulnerable young people on our streets.

### Council and Social Tenants

Social housing is a crucial part of our Welsh Labour commitment to build 20,000 affordable homes during this Assembly term; we built 11,000 homes in this sector in the last Assembly.

We are enabling councils and housing associations to build with confidence. We are legislating to abolish the right to buy in Wales to protect existing social housing stock and encourage the building of new homes.

In the last Assembly we helped local authorities to exit from their previous arrangements with the UK Treasury that previously meant an annual repayment to the Treasury of £70 million. Welsh Labour councils are building council houses again – the first were completed in Flintshire, where 82 council houses were built or are in the process of being built.

Labour will scrap the punitive bedroom tax – this cruel and unnecessary measure has caused many people to be evicted from their home and their community. Meanwhile the Welsh Labour Government has invested more than £40 million in building almost 800 one and two-bedroom homes for those affected by the bedroom tax.

### Homelessness

Homelessness is not inevitable in a country as decent and well off as ours. Welsh Labour will continue to intervene to end homelessness and to provide safe home environments, especially for our young people.

Our Housing (Wales) Act was designed to ensure people who are homeless or facing homelessness receive help as early as possible. It places a duty on local authorities to work with people who are at risk of losing their home within 56 days to help find a solution to their problems. Homelessness is being averted for at least six months in two-thirds of cases where this duty to intervene early applies.

Our Welsh Labour Government funds a range of services for rough sleepers through the homelessness prevention grant, including night shelters, outreach teams and day centres. Further assistance is available through the Supporting People programme.

The Welsh Labour Government also funds the Streetlink telephone service which allows the public to report rough sleepers so they can be followed up by the local authority. The Housing (Wales) Act has strengthened local authorities’ duties to assist rough sleepers to find temporary and permanent housing.

## Chapter 7: Healthcare For All

### NHS

In 1945, in the aftermath of war and national bankruptcy, it was a Labour Government which found the resources to create a National Health Service – our proudest achievement, providing universal healthcare for all on the basis of need, free at the point of use.

Welsh Labour has defended the Welsh NHS from Conservative attacks and from a disruptive top-down reorganisation, which has wasted billions of pounds and shattered services in England.

In Wales, we have stood firm against privatisation and we will keep the profit motive out of our NHS.

The last time the Tories ran our Welsh NHS it was starved of funding and left in a state of severe underinvestment. Hospitals and healthcare centres were deprived of essential maintenance, social care was ignored and market forces were allowed to increase the costs of health provision.

Welsh Labour has led the way in combating the Tory dogma that profit is more important than the health and welfare of patients. We have increased the number of nurses, doctors, consultants and GPs caring for patients in Wales while steadily reducing the number of managers. The Welsh Labour Government is now spending £160 more per person on health and social services combined than in England.

This additional investment means that waiting times for diagnostic tests in Wales are at their lowest since 2011 and waiting times for treatment are steadily falling. Wales is the only part of the UK where there has been a sustained improvement in the time it takes ambulances to reach the most critical 999 calls.

Delayed transfers to care are falling in Wales too.

This is in sharp contrast to England where, as a result of six years of Conservative cuts to social care funding, they have reached their highest levels ever.

The Welsh Labour Government will continue to focus resources on community-based services so people don’t have to travel for healthcare.

We are investing in new state-of-the-art health and social care centres across Wales, in new diagnostic equipment, and increasing funding for primary care. More GP surgeries are open longer hours and more GPs are coming to work in Wales.

We have protected funding to community pharmacies, preventing the threat of closure and our Public Health Bill includes measures to improve the provision of community pharmacy.

Prescriptions remain free in Wales at a time when fees continue to rise in England – up more than 20 per cent since Welsh Labour abolished them in 2007.

A new £80 million treatment fund will speed up access to new and innovative medicines in Wales and ensure equity of access wherever you live. We will insist on value-for-money agreements with pharmaceutical companies to ensure NHS patients get fast access to new medicines.

In Wales, Labour has introduced a national integrated autism service and a new, single, Wales-wide assessment pathway for children will ensure consistency and make the system much clearer for families.

Care for people with chronic, long-term conditions is improving in Wales thanks to the Welsh Labour Government’s stewardship of the NHS – deaths from heart disease, stroke and cancer are falling.

We have introduced an annual statement of progress for children with diabetes, which will help improve their management of the disease and reduce the risk of longer-term complications.

### Public Health

Wales has a long and proud tradition of taking radical action to improve public health. Wales was the first part of the UK to vote in favour of a ban on smoking in enclosed public places and the Welsh Labour Government was the first to take action on smoking in cars when children are present.

As a result of our action on smoking, we have seen rates fall to 20 per cent – but we will go further and reduce adult smoking rates to 16 per cent by 2020, helping to prevent fewer people suffering, and dying, from smoking-related illnesses.

Our Public Health Bill contains new measures: to protect children from exposure to second-hand smoke, including in some outdoor settings; to prevent tobacco being handed over to children; and to protect people from the risk of infection associated with a piercing or tattooing. We will also ban intimate piercings for people under 18.

Wales was the first part of the UK to make it mandatory for food businesses to publicly display their food hygiene scores – giving people more choice about where they want to eat and shop. The Welsh Labour Government also introduced UK-first legislation to introduce an opt-out system for organ donation, increasing the number of organs available for transplant.

Children’s oral health is improving in Wales, at a time when children in England have more decayed teeth, thanks to our pioneering Designed to Smile programme.

Obesity levels in Wales are stable but remain too high. The Welsh Labour Government will produce a national obesity strategy for Wales and will work with a Labour Government on its childhood obesity strategy, with proposals on advertising and food labelling.

We remain committed to introducing a minimum unit price for alcohol and we invest £50 million every year reducing and tackling the harm associated with substance and alcohol misuse.

Loneliness is an increasing problem for our society, and as Jo Cox said: “Young or old, loneliness doesn’t discriminate”. The Welsh Labour Government will develop a nationwide and cross-government strategy to address loneliness and isolation.

Labour will address historic public health injustices. We will hold a public enquiry into contaminated blood. We will hold a public inquiry into medicines, medical devices and medical products licensing and regulation, including Valproate.

The Welsh Labour Government is funding a three-year trial of PrEP for all eligible people in Wales.

### NHS Staff

To guarantee the best possible services for patients, our Welsh Labour Government will continue to invest in our health and care workforce. We have a long-term workforce plan for our health service, which gives staff the support they need to do the best for their patients.

Labour will scrap the NHS pay cap, put pay decisions back into the hands of the independent pay review body and give our NHS workers the pay they deserve. Wales has already legislated for nurse staffing levels in acute hospital wards and we are proud that NHS Wales continues to be a Real Living Wage employer.

Labour’s long-term ambition is for our health system to have the best-trained staff in the world, ready to deal with whatever they face in the years to come. Unlike England, the Welsh Labour Government has continued to support bursaries and funding for health-related degrees. The Welsh Labour Government has announced a £95 million package to support a range of education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales in 2017-18, enabling more than 3,000 new healthcare students to join those already studying in Wales.

The Welsh Labour Government is rolling out our successful ‘This is Wales: Work Train Live’ campaign to attract more nurses to Wales. The first phase of the campaign, which was launched in 2017, has helped to recruit more doctors, including GPs, to train in Wales.

We will continue to work in partnership with NHS staff and healthcare professionals to create a health service in Wales fit for the future – a Parliamentary review of health and social care in Wales is due to report at the end of this year.

Labour will immediately guarantee the rights of EU staff working in our health and care services. Welsh Labour supports NHS whistle-blowers to make sure health service staff are able to speak up in support of the best possible standards for patients.

### Health and Social Care Funding

The Welsh Labour Government has continued to invest in health and social care in Wales, despite the deep cuts the Conservatives have inflicted to our overall funding. In the first two years of the new Labour Government in Wales (2016-17 and 2017-18) we will have invested more than £500 million extra in the NHS, which is equivalent to £169 per person in extra health spending.

The Treasury’s own figures show that Wales spends more on health and social care combined than England does – £160 more per person.

This year, we have invested an extra £55 million in social care to help meet pressures and increased costs associated with the national living wage.

Our ongoing commitment to invest in social care in Wales is reflected in the trend for delayed transfers of care, which in Wales have fallen progressively over time to their lowest levels but in England have risen to record high levels.

Our approach to social care funding is in sharp contrast to that taken by the Conservatives, who have left a social care system in England that is increasingly fragile and unfit for purpose. The King’s Fund has calculated the social care budgets in England have shrunk by £5 billion over a six-year period.

More people are living independently in Wales as a result of the Welsh Labour Government’s ongoing funding for social care. We have passed landmark legislation to reform the way social services are delivered in Wales, putting people’s needs at the heart of services. Carers have the same rights for an assessment as the people they care for in Wales.

We will take action to end zero hours contracts in social care and we will introduce a new registration system for all social care workers to professionalise the sector and give it the respect it deserves.

We believe everyone should be able to pass on something to their family and loved ones – the Welsh Labour Government will more than double the capital people can keep before they have to start paying residential care fees, raising the limit from £23,000 to £50,000 by 2021.

### Mental Health

Mental ill health is the biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age. Around one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year.

Welsh Labour recognises the importance of support for people with mental health conditions and while England has seen mental health budgets slashed and used to plug holes elsewhere in the system, the Welsh Labour Government has continued to spend more on mental health services than on any other part of the Welsh NHS.

Mental health funding is ring-fenced in Wales – we have increased the budget to more than £600 million and more than £1 in every £10 spent in Welsh NHS is spent on mental health.

The pioneering Mental Health Measure (Wales) came into force in 2012. This unique and ground-breaking piece of legislation is central to the Welsh Government’s 10-year strategy Together for Mental Health.

Only in Wales is every person receiving specialist mental healthcare guaranteed the right to have a care and treatment plan, supporting this vulnerable group of people in a range of areas such as personal care and wellbeing and education and training, as well as medical treatment.

The Welsh Labour Government is committed to taking more action to tackle the stigma of mental illness, to increasing access to talking therapies, and to promoting better emotional health in schools.

## Chapter 8: Safer Communities

### Police and Crime

Last year, there were an estimated 6.1 million incidents of crime experienced by adults in England and Wales alone. Almost every police force in the country recorded an increase in crime over the last year, with worrying rises in some of the most violent offences, including gun and knife crime and homicide.

On Theresa May’s watch, police numbers have reduced by 20,000. Cuts to the police force endanger communities and endanger police officers too. Labour’s approach to policing crime will be different.

We will support the police in the performance of their duties. We will provide officers, police community support officers and civilian staff with the equipment and people they need to provide effective policing services, including from the growing threat of cybercrime. We will work with them to ensure that our communities are safer, for all of us.

We will champion community policing policies and incentivise good policing practice, working with Police and Crime Commissioners throughout the country on strategies to prevent crime. We will also work to eliminate institutional biases against BAME communities, that mean you are still far more likely to be stopped and searched as a black or Asian man.

Labour will recruit 10,000 more police officers to work on community beats, equivalent to at least one more for every neighbourhood in the country.

Wales will have 853 new police officers who will work alongside the 500 Community Support Officers our Welsh Labour Government is already funding to make our communities safer.

Welsh Labour Government policies helped to increase reporting of hate crime by 20 per cent in 2015-16. We have funded a national hate crime reporting centre and we will continue to work to build victim confidence and enhance engagement across our communities.

In 2017-18, Welsh Labour will invest more than £4.4 million in projects aimed at diverting young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour.

We will ensure appropriate support is provided to victims of crime and introduce legislation for minimum standard entitlements to service from criminal justice agencies.

In Wales, we are proud to have passed the UK’s first Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act. Implementation of the Act is well underway, but there is still much more to do in delivering our national strategy.

But the level of violence against women and girls is not acceptable. Labour will emphasise the safety of women and girls by appointing a commissioner to set new standards for tackling domestic and sexual violence. This builds on the appointment and work of the national adviser in Wales.

Labour will establish a National Refuge Fund and ensure stability for rape crisis centres.

Welsh Labour will continue to develop the health and wellbeing area of learning within the new school curriculum to allow young people to build the knowledge, understanding and skills that will enable them to develop positive and appropriate relationships.

We will strengthen the law, banning the use of community resolutions as a response to domestic violence.

Labour will continue to enforce effective measures to prevent all forms of abuse, including female genital mutilation.

### Security and Counter-terrorism

Labour will maintain the cross-border security co-operation agreements with our intelligence partners in Europe and beyond. We will always provide our security agencies with the resources and the powers they need to protect our country and keep us all safe. We will also ensure that such powers do not weaken our individual rights or civil liberties.

When – as they sometimes will – these aims collide, the exercise of investigatory powers must always be both proportionate and necessary. We will reintroduce effective judicial oversight over how and when they are used, when the circumstances demand that our collective security outweighs an individual freedom.

Labour will review the Prevent programme with a view to assessing both its effectiveness and its potential to alienate minority communities. In doing so, we will address the government’s failure to take any effective new measures against a growing problem of extreme or violent radicalisation.

### Border Security

Border security is vital in preventing serious crimes, including child abduction, people trafficking, smuggling of drugs and modern day slavery.

Contrary to the Conservative Government’s rhetoric, they have not taken control of our borders or strengthened our security. Instead, they have suppressed the independent inspector’s reports highlighting weaknesses in our borders and have cut the Border Force by thousands of personnel. They want to turn private sector landlords, teachers, medical staff and other public sector workers into unpaid immigration officers, forcing them to provide information to the authorities.

The Conservatives promised and failed to deliver 100 per cent exit checks at the borders. Labour will recruit 500 more border guards to add to our safeguards and controls.

### Fire and Rescue Services

In Wales, the number of fires has fallen markedly since the devolution of fire and rescue services in 2004-05, with a 56 per cent reduction in fires attended.

We have taken this as a positive opportunity to makes wider use of firefighters’ skills in, for instance, responding to people in need of emergency medical care when they are best placed to do so.

We have created a statutory duty for the fire and rescue services to respond to flooding and water-related emergencies, which present a risk of death, serious injury or serious illness and invested £1.8 million in new equipment.

These changes are made possible by our constructive partnership with the trade unions on a range of issues, including pensions.

### Justice

We all need access to the justice system to protect us from those who would deny us our rights. Labour will set out to make Britain a fair society with liberties for all, governed by the rule of law, in which the law is upheld and enforced equally.

The Conservatives threaten our Human Rights Act and may withdraw us from the European Convention of Human Rights. Labour will retain the Human Rights Act.

Justice is all too often denied. Too many ordinary people know this. There are football fans, trade unionists, environmental activists and people living with disabilities whose personal experiences provide first-hand testimony.

Labour will hold public inquiries into historic injustices. We will open inquiries into Orgreave and blacklisting. We will release all papers relating to the Shrewsbury 24 trials and the 37 Cammell Laird shipyard workers.

Justice today has become the preserve of the rich.

Budget cuts mean that thousands are deprived of fair resolutions. Justice is eroded by the poor decisions of privatised assessments, by the withdrawal of legal aid, by the removal of appeal rights, by the delays arising from overcrowded courts, and by the costs of fees Eligibility for legal aid has been withdrawn across a whole range of areas. This has had disturbing consequences for the delivery of justice.

Democracy is founded upon the rule of law and judicial independence. We will also review the judicial appointments process, to ensure a judiciary that is more representative of our society.

Labour will immediately re-establish early advice entitlements in the Family Courts. The shameful consequences of withdrawal have included a requirement for victims of domestic abuse to pay doctors for certification of their injuries. Labour’s plans will remove that requirement. At the same time, we will legislate to prohibit the cross examination of victims of domestic violence by their abuser in certain circumstances.

We will reintroduce funding for the preparation of judicial review cases. Judicial review is an important way of holding government to account.

There are sufficient safeguards to discourage unmeritorious cases.

We will review the legal aid means tests, including the capital test for those on income-related benefits.

Labour will consider the reinstatement of other legal aid entitlements after receiving the final recommendations of the Access to Justice Commission led by Lord Bach.

The justice system can be bewildering and intimidating. There are many improvements that can be made both to the law and to the court processes.

A Labour Government will introduce a no-fault divorce procedure.

A Labour Government will consult on establishing an environmental tribunal with simplified procedures to hear challenges to unlawful government decisions, like those made on the air quality strategy, without engaging in prohibitively expensive processes.

Labour will not prohibit the courts from raising monies to provide services, but we will introduce a ratio to establish the maximum difference between actual costs and charges levied.

Labour will continue to extend the use of technology in our court service where it enhances access to justice, timely dispute resolution and efficient administration.

### Prisons and Probation Service

Labour is tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, but we won’t make the lives of workers in the criminal justice system tougher.

Prison officers, probation officers and other workers need the resources to do their jobs safely, effectively and successfully.

Prisons are overcrowded. Staffing levels are too low. The situation is dangerous and violence against prison officers is rising. Riots and disturbances in our prisons are increasing. Prison escapes cause distress to people living near prisons.

Labour will recruit 3,000 more prison officers and review the training and professional development available. We will publish prison officer to prisoner ratios for all prisons. Our proposal to lift the public sector pay cap will help to increase the recruitment and retention of both prison officers and probation officers. The Welsh Labour Government has already sought and gained the power to waive the public service exit payment cap in Wales.

Re-offending rates are too high. The Conservatives talked of a rehabilitation revolution, and then just gave up. Their proposal now is to lock up more and more individuals, ignoring the evidence that our prisons are too often dumping grounds for people who need treatment more than they need punishment. Labour will insist on personal rehabilitation plans for all prisoners.

Prison should always be a last resort – the state’s most severe sanction for serious offences. It should never be a substitute for failing mental health services, or the withdrawal of funding from drug treatment centres. We will review the provision of mental health services in prisons.

Under a Labour Government there will be no new private prisons and no public sector prisons will be privatised.

Labour’s innovative models of youth justice successfully turned round the lives of many young people, steering them away from crime and towards more constructive ways. The Welsh Government has provided over £4.4 million to projects aimed at diverting young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour. This is contributing to a reduction in first-time entrants into the Youth Justice System. We will continue to work with local authorities, police forces and probation services to engage effectively with young people at risk of drifting into anti-social or criminal behaviours. We will embed restorative justice practices across all youth offending institutions.

The part-privatisation of probation services has already failed.

Labour will review the role of Community Rehabilitation Companies.

The Conservatives bulldozed changes to the probation service through despite warnings that they had not been tested and were founded on a weak evidence base.

## Chapter 9: Leading Richer Lives

### Local Communities

Councils deliver vital local services to our communities. Despite the deep Tory cuts imposed on Wales at Westminster, our Welsh Labour Government has taken the decision to protect council funding in Wales. Council spending power has been cut by more than 25 per cent in England, compared with only four per cent in Wales.

This doesn’t mean things are easy for Welsh councils. Welsh Labour councillors across the country are faced with difficult decisions every day in the face of reducing budgets and increasing demand for services. A Labour Government in Westminster committed to end austerity would provide a hugely different context for local government funding and services in Wales.

As the party for equality, the Welsh Labour Government has continued to take steps to protect people on low incomes, spending £244 million to maintain full entitlements for the council tax reduction scheme. Council tax in Wales is on average £171 lower than in England, and rising at a slower rate.

Our Welsh Labour Government has protected social care funding, helping Welsh councils to avoid a social care crisis. Delayed transfers of care in Wales have fallen to their lowest levels, whereas in England they have hit a record high as a result of six successive years of Tory cuts to social care funding. This year we will invest an extra £55 million in social care to help Welsh councils meet pressures, including the cost of the national living wage.

In Wales we are reviewing what early intervention and preventative action can be taken to help reduce the numbers of children taken into care and improve outcomes for those already in the care system and care leavers. This work will include reducing and mitigating the incidences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) which we know can be so damaging to a child’s development by focusing on prevention and early intervention and building resilience within the family.

Our ‘When I am Ready’ scheme enables young people in foster care to continue living with their foster carers once they turn 18. It allows them to stay in the family environment up to the age of 21 or 25 if they are completing an agreed programme of education or training. Our new ‘St David’s Day Fund’ will provide £1 million to local authorities across Wales to help young people who have experienced care in the same ways that parents help their children in their late teens and early twenties.

We will continue to fund the National Adoption Service in implementing its strategic and holistic approach to adoption set out in its new Framework for Adoption Support Services in Wales.

Our landmark Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act has strengthened the partnership approach to safeguarding – it is the responsibility of each professional and organisation to do everything they can to ensure that children and adults at risk are protected from abuse.

The Welsh Labour Government incorporates the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into all of its work and will continue to invest in training for professionals in the public sector who work with or for children and young people.

The Welsh Labour Government will cover the cost of child burial fees for bereaved parents across all councils in Wales. We recognise that some councils have already made this humane move. This is a fundamental issue that speaks to who we want to be as a country.

We have protected education funding, resulting in the best ever exam results – and the gap between the richest and poorest children has closed at every key stage.

We are rightly proud of our world-leading record on recycling. As a result of a comprehensive package of Welsh Government policies, investment and targets, Welsh Labour councils have dramatically increased recycling levels to 62 per cent. This is the second highest rate in Europe and the third highest in the world. This compares with declining recycling levels in England – currently below 44 per cent for the first time since 2011. Wales is working towards becoming the best recycling nation in the world.

Labour is the party of devolution and we believe in handing back power to communities. In 2017, the Welsh Labour Government published a White Paper calling for a different and more equal partnership between people and the public services they use. This would see the development of a new set of principles recognising people as the experts in how to manage their own lives and putting in place interventions to resolve issues earlier before they escalate.

While 1,200 Sure Start centres have been lost in England under the Conservatives, Welsh Labour has doubled the number of young children benefitting from Flying Start to more than 36,000. We will continue to provide this crucial service to more than a quarter of the age group.

The Conservative Government’s privatisation of Royal Mail was a historic mistake, selling off another national asset on the cheap. We will reverse the privatisation of Royal Mail at the earliest opportunity.

Labour will end the closure of Crown Post Office branches which play a major role in serving their communities. We will also set up a commission to establish a Post Bank, owned by the Post Office, which provides a full range of banking services in every community.

We will set up a national review of local pubs to examine the causes for the large-scale demise of pubs and establish a joint taskforce to consider their future sustainability.

We will reduce the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals. Problem gambling is a public health issue and Labour will legislate in this area.

### Environment and Rural Affairs

In England, the Conservative Government has taken rural communities for granted, with chronic underinvestment in transport, broadband and public services, including the closure of local schools, post offices, and libraries.

The Welsh Labour Government has invested – and will continue to invest – in our rural communities and its vital infrastructure. Our Superfast Cymru programme is bringing access to high-speed broadband to the majority of homes and businesses in Wales that cannot access it through the private sector’s commercial programmes. This year we will invest an extra £84 million to improve local transport in rural Welsh communities; and we have introduced a funding floor for local authorities to protect them against the worst of the Tory cuts.

Thanks to the work of the Welsh Labour Government, tourism is a big success story for the Welsh economy. International visitors to Wales, day visits and spend per day are all rising. In 2016, businesses in Wales reported more people visiting than in the previous year.

We will continue to market Wales in the UK and internationally through more effective branding and invest in the people and places that make Wales such an attractive place to visit.

In England, the Conservatives have failed to provide a clear, ambitious or sustainable vision for the future of the farming, food and fishing industries.

In Wales, we have a distinctive approach that integrates rural development and environmental management in the context of the EU. Following the Brexit vote, our Welsh Labour Government has worked closely with farmers and the environmental sector to develop a future rural development policy which will support farming, rural development and environmental priorities.

We will expand the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to ensure suppliers and consumers get a fair deal.

We will allow EU workers employed across farming, fishing and food manufacturing to remain in the UK and reinstate the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.

The Conservatives abolished the Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales which set and protected the wages of agricultural workers. The Welsh Labour Government won a case in the Supreme Court to establish the Agricultural Wages Board for Wales, which provides fair pay for agricultural workers across Wales.

Investing in our environment is investing in our future. We will defend and extend existing environmental protections. The Welsh Labour Government passed the landmark Environment (Wales) Act, which will help Wales become a low-carbon, green economy, ready to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

We will champion sustainable farming, food and fishing by investing in and promoting skills, technology, market access and innovation.

We will protect our bees by prohibiting the use of neonicotinoids as soon as our EU relationship allows us to do so.

We will create sustainable forests and woodlands in Wales. Unlike the Conservatives who attempted to privatise them, Labour will keep our forests in public hands.

The Conservatives in England have broken their promise to be the ‘greenest government ever’.

They have allowed fracking in national parks and AONBs like the Gower, evaded their responsibilities on air quality and cut the funding for flood defences. The future of our farming, food and fishing industries hangs in the balance, to be used as negotiating leverage in Brexit negotiations.

The Conservatives’ threatened bonfire of red tape, as part of Brexit, is a threat to our environmental protections and to the quality of our lives. Their record on combating climate change and environmental damage has been one of inaction and broken promises.

The Welsh Labour Government will protect our environment and the air we breathe. We have consulted on our approach to air pollution and are committed to issue guidance to the NHS to encourage them to support local authorities in their air quality work. We will also issue new air quality policy guidance to all local authorities.

We will consult on proposals for a clean air zone framework for Wales. We will update planning policy for Wales, implement recently-agreed improvements to local air quality management, and review our approach to the trunk road network.

The Conservatives were dragged to court and forced to publish their draft nitrogen dioxide plan.

But their commitments are disappointing and lack information about the action needed to address emissions on a UK basis, providing no detail about a diesel scrappage scheme.

Tackling waste is a big success story for Wales, and the Welsh Labour Government has set its course to be the world leader in municipal recycling.

We will consult on our updated strategy Towards Zero Waste in 2018. As part of this, we want to address waste packaging by making sure producers take greater financial responsibility for the collection and management of waste from products and packaging. We will consider the use of polystyrene and other single-use containers and how a deposit-return scheme might impact on existing local authority schemes used to collect and manage the waste we produce in Wales.

The Welsh Labour Government is developing the first Welsh National Marine Plan, which will manage marine activities in a sustainable way, taking into account economic, social and environmental priorities.

### Animal Welfare

Animals in our food chain need protection.

Domestic animals require protection from cruelty. Wild animals need a sustainable ecosystem. Labour’s vision is for the UK to lead the world with high animal welfare standards in the wild, in farming and for domestic animals.

The Welsh Labour Government has presided over 10 years of improvements to animal welfare in Wales, working in partnership with third-sector organisations.

We have legislated to take action on a number of issues, including the use of electric shock collars, the welfare of farmed animals and dog breeding, and we have introduced codes of practice for the welfare of companion animals and livestock. We will introduce a licensing or registration scheme for mobile animal exhibits, including circuses and we are investigating setting up an animal abuse register in Wales.

The Welsh Labour Government will continue to strengthen our approach to bovine TB eradication, focusing on all sources of TB infection, including cattle-to-cattle and wildlife-spread TB.

Our new comprehensive suite of measures will include a new regional approach, stronger cattle controls and changes to compensation. We continue to rule out an English-style badger cull which involves farmers free-shooting badgers.

Labour banned fox hunting, Theresa May opposed it. Only a Labour Government will maintain the ban.

### Transport

Our Welsh Labour Government is committed to creating a modern, integrated and accessible transport system across Wales that is reliable, affordable and can support economic growth in our communities.

Tory deregulation and privatisation in the 1980s and 1990s of key transport services such as bus and rail were a failure. They said we got choice and efficiency but the reality of their transport privatisation agenda was that services fragmented, fares rose and ticketing became too complicated.

Our Welsh Labour Government is committed to a transport system which prioritises public service over private profit.

We are leading the procurement of the new Wales and Borders franchise from 2018 and developing metro services in South Wales and North East Wales, providing us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a world-class transport system, which will support the transformation of our economy and our communities.

The Welsh Labour Government wants to build a not-for-profit system that embodies the same principles of co-operation, fairness and value that underpin our other public services in Wales – like the NHS.

The Welsh Labour Government will develop Transport for Wales to take on a wider range of transport functions similar to Transport for London to drive integration, ensure joined-up ticketing and manage the transport network with a renewed public focus.

We will ensure excess profit is reinvested back into the transport system, incentivising choice and driving down costs for the passenger and we will ensure more services in Wales – ticketing, marketing, station management and car parking – operate in innovative ways under this new approach. A UK Labour Government would honour in full the agreement reached between the Welsh and UK government in 2014 in relation to the transfer of powers for the next Wales and Borders rail franchise.

We will bring our railways back into public ownership, as franchises expire. A UK Labour Government will introduce a Public Ownership of the Railways Bill to repeal the Railways Act 1993 under which the Conservatives privatised our railways.

The UK Labour Government will do the job the Tories have failed to do and complete the electrification of the Great Western main line to Swansea. It will also work with the Welsh Labour Government to set a clear timetable for the electrification of the North Wales main line.

A UK Labour Government will complete the HS2 high speed rail line from London through Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester and into Scotland, ensuring there are effective links into North Wales to benefit the economy of the region.

A Labour Government will invest to regenerate the local and regional economies across the whole country by ensuring historic underinvestment in our transport network is addressed.

To prepare for new global trade arrangements, the UK and Welsh Labour governments will work together on port development and exploit new opportunities to grow our key ports across Wales.

We will invest in long-term infrastructure for Wales, working with the Welsh Labour Government through the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales and its UK counterpart.

We will build on the success of Wales’ innovative Active Travel Act to encourage and enable people to get out of their cars, for better health and a cleaner environment.

We will take forward our recently published Green Paper on improving local bus services in Wales to enable the creation of a stronger, more sustainable and accessible bus network, which is part of an integrated public transport system that better serves our communities and our economy.

The Welsh Labour Government will consult on regulation of the licensed taxi and private carriage hire sectors in the knowledge that new technologies, consumer service and public safety all require the competitive playing field between these sectors to be levelled.

We will ask the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales to examine and recommend developments to the national cycle network.

We will continue to upgrade our highways and improve road works at known bottlenecks and take forward major investments to the A55 and a new relief road for the M4.

A UK Labour Government will work with the Welsh Government to scrap tolls on the Severn Bridges.

We will continue working with our neighbours through the European Union’s Highways of the Seas and by negotiating to retain membership of the Common Aviation Area and Open Skies arrangements.

### Culture for All

Britain’s creative industries are the envy of the world, a source of national pride, a driver of inward investment and tourism and a symbol of the kind of country we are now and aspire to be in the future.

The creative industries are a real success story for the Welsh economy. Thanks to the support of the Welsh Labour Government, the number of people working in the sector in Wales has increased by more than 50 per cent in the past 10 years and the number of enterprises active in the sector has increased by more than 20 per cent.

We have put in place a number of mechanisms, including a dedicated business development team and a creative industries sector panel, to strengthen the sector in Wales.

Pinewood Studio Wales – Wales’ first fully-fledged film studio – opened in 2016 and we now have a range of global ‘big hitters’ coming to Wales. Our indigenous businesses are also thriving, with Wales-based companies, crews and supply chains producing series such as Doctor Who , Sherlock , Da Vinci’s Demons and Stella .

The Welsh Labour Government is committed to setting up a separate body to support the growth of the creative industries in Wales. We will sustain £40 million a year in production expenditure, and create at least 100 new companies in the next five years and 4,000 more jobs in the next decade.

As Britain leaves the EU we will put our world-class creative sector at the heart of our negotiations.

We need to do more to open the arts and creative industries to everyone.

A UK Labour Government will introduce a £1 billion UK cultural capital fund to upgrade existing cultural and creative infrastructure to be ready for the digital age and to invest in creative clusters across the country. The fund will be available over a five-year period and will be among the biggest arts infrastructure funds ever, transforming the country’s cultural landscape.

Labour will maintain free entry to museums and invest in our museums and heritage sector.

The Welsh Labour Government will take forward the work it has started to enable our heritage and cultural institutions to maximise the economic benefits they bring to Welsh people.

We will continue to mark the ongoing centenary of the First World War and the sacrifice of all those who died. Labour remains committed to honouring the role of all who have served our country, including the Sikh, Hindu and Muslim soldiers who fought for Britain.

The Welsh Labour Government will develop the work it has begun through the Creative Learning Through the Arts programme to enable children and young people to have the opportunity to engage in arts and cultural activities.

Being a performer is a great career but too often the culture of low or no pay means it is hard for those without well-off families to support them. We will work with the Welsh Government, trade unions and employers to agree sector specific advice and guidelines on pay and employment standards that will make the sector more accessible to all.

We will improve diversity on and off screen, working with the film industry and public service and commercial broadcasters to find rapid solutions to improve diversity.

We recognise the serious concern about the ‘value gap’ between producers of creative content and the digital services that profit from its use, and will work with all sides to review the way creators and artists are rewarded for their work in the digital age.

We all need to work harder to keep children safe online. Labour will ensure that tech companies are obliged to take measures that further protect children and tackle online abuse. We will ensure that young people understand and are able to easily remove content they shared on the internet before they were 18.

The Welsh Labour Government is working towards one million people speaking Welsh and will continue to invest in encouraging more people to use and speak Welsh in their everyday lives.

### Media

The BBC is a national asset which we should all be proud of. Unlike the Conservatives, Labour will always support it and uphold its independence. We will ensure the BBC and public service broadcasting have a healthy future. Labour is committed to keeping Channel 4 in public ownership and will guarantee the future of Welsh-language broadcaster S4C.

Victims of phone hacking have been let down by a Conservative Government that promised them justice, but failed to follow through. We will implement the recommendations of part one of the Leveson Inquiry and commence part two of the inquiry that will look into the corporate governance failures that allowed the hacking scandal to occur.

Local newspapers and broadcasting in Britain are an important part of our democracy and our culture. We are concerned about closures of local media outlets and the reductions in number of local journalists. Labour will work with the Welsh Government to create a stronger environment for local media to grow.

To protect democracy and media freedom, we will take steps to ensure that Ofcom is better able to safeguard a healthy plurality of media ownership and to put in place clearer rules on who is fit and proper to own or run TV and radio stations.

### Sport

Sport must be run in the interests of those who participate in it and love it, not just for a privileged few. We will give football supporters the opportunity to have a greater say in how their clubs are run. We will legislate for accredited supporters trusts to be able to appoint and remove at least two club directors and to purchase shares when clubs change hands. We will review fan participation in sports governance more widely.

Sporting events must be open and accessible to all. We will push sports authorities to make rapid improvements on access provision for disabled fans.

Labour will ensure the Premier League delivers on its promise to invest five per cent of its television rights income into the grassroots to help the next generation of players and coaches, and improve facilities and pitches. The Premier League has so far failed to do so, despite lucrative new domestic and international TV deals.

Sport is the lifeblood of our cultural life in Wales and we continue to punch well above our weight in attracting major global events to our country.

From the Ryder Cup to the Rugby World Cup, we have shown the best of Wales to the rest of the world. Cardiff is the smallest capital city ever to host the Champions League Final and we’re investing in outdoor attractions like Zip World and Surf Snowdonia, which are driving more adventure tourism spend in our communities.

The broken ticketing market in the UK means tickets sell out instantly and are put up at vastly inflated prices on ticket-tout websites. Labour will enforce anti-bot legislation and implement the recommendations of the Waterson Review to ensure fair opportunities for fans to buy tickets.

## Chapter 10: Extending Democracy

### Extending Democracy

As we change our constitutional relationship with Europe we must also adjust our own arrangements. Just as many felt that power was too centralised and unaccountable in Brussels, so many feel that about Westminster.

A Labour Government will establish a Constitutional Convention to examine and advise on reforming the way Britain works at a fundamental level.

We will consult on its form and terms of reference and invite recommendations on extending democracy.

This is about where power and sovereignty lies – in politics, the economy, the justice system, and in our communities.

The Convention will look at extending democracy locally, regionally and nationally, considering the option of a more federalised country.

Our fundamental belief is that the Second Chamber should be democratically elected. In the interim period, we will seek to end the hereditary principle and reduce the size of the current House of Lords as part of a wider package of constitutional reform to address the growing democratic deficit across Britain.

We will extend the Freedom of Information Act to private companies that run public services.

We will reduce the voting age to 16. At 16 you are eligible to pay tax, get married or join the army.

You deserve a vote.

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

### England and Scotland

We need a relationship of equals with devolved administrations. Labour will create a role for a Minister for England, who will sit under the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and will work with the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We will restore regional offices to increase contact between central and local government on the ground.

Labour will be guided by public opinion when determining whether to include directly elected mayors in future devolution deals.

Labour opposes a second Scottish independence referendum. It is unwanted and unnecessary and we will campaign tirelessly to ensure that Scotland remains part of the UK. Independence would lead to turbo-charged austerity for Scottish families.

The Scottish Parliament will receive a huge funding increase from our policies and massive numbers of Scots will benefit from our plans in areas reserved to Westminster.

We will establish a Scottish Investment Bank with £20 billion of funds available to local projects and Scotland’s small businesses, creating work and stimulating the economy.

We will set up an inquiry into blacklisting and will also urge the Scottish Government to hold an inquiry into the actions of Scottish police during the miners’ strikes.

### Wales and Northern Ireland

We are proud of the achievements of the Welsh Labour Government and its record of delivery. In government, we will work in partnership to stand up for the people of Wales and protect public services.

We need long-term reform of how the UK allocates public expenditure to ensure that it reflects the needs of different parts of our country and that no nation or region of the UK is unfairly disadvantaged.

We will build on the Development Bank of Wales using more than £10 billion from Labour’s new National Investment Bank.

We will bring forward legislation to make the devolution settlement more sustainable as set out by the Welsh Labour Government in its Alternative Wales Bill, including the devolution of policing.

The peace we have today in Northern Ireland is due to the courageous endeavours of those on all who sides who have been brave enough to build it.

The Good Friday Agreement, which Labour helped to negotiate, is one of the greatest achievements of Labour in office.

We will continue to fully support the principles and structures inherent within the Good Friday Agreement and we remain committed to working with all sides to deliver real peace and greater prosperity to Northern Ireland.

## Chapter 11: A More Equal Society

### A More Equal Society

The Labour Party is the party of equality and seeks to build a society and world free from all forms of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Labour has a strong record on progressing women’s rights and freedoms that we can be proud of.

Labour brought in the Equal Pay Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Equality Act, and the Minimum Wage. Every progressive piece of equality legislation has been delivered by Labour.

Under the Conservatives, progress is being rolled back for women, people with disabilities, LGBT people and BAME communities. Cuts to public services and social security are landing disproportionately on women and ethnic minorities, with 86 per cent of the money raised from the Tories’ tax and social security changes coming from women’s pockets.

It was a Labour Government that enshrined the rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, marking the birth of the Human Rights Act.

Devastating cuts to the Equality and Human Rights Commission by the Conservatives reveal their real attitude, beyond the rhetoric, to issues of equality and discrimination. These cuts have been made amid the rise in hate crime recorded by the police in the last year. A Labour Government will enhance the powers and functions of this commission, making it truly independent, to ensure it can support ordinary working people to effectively challenge any discrimination they may face.

Our Welsh Labour Government’s equality objectives are designed to ensure public services and employment are fair, accessible, and responsive to people’s needs, and that communities are inclusive.

We are working to ensure people are not put at a disadvantage: by gender, race, faith or belief; by sexual orientation, age, pregnancy or maternity;

by being married or being in a civil partnership; by being a disabled person or their gender identity.

We were the first government to introduce specific equality duties for public bodies to better perform their public sector equality duty – they are required to consider how they can positively contribute to a fairer society by paying due regard to eliminating unlawful discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations.

### Women

The advances for women in Britain and around the world have been fought and won by determined women working together for real change often in the face of resistance and even abuse.

Labour has a proud record on progressing women’s rights and freedoms. We brought in the Equal Pay Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Equality Act, the minimum wage and introduced Sure Start. Ours will be a government for women, with a Cabinet of at least 50 per cent women, which fights inequality and misogyny in every part of society.

A Labour Government will gender audit all policy and legislation for its impact on women before implementation.

Labour will continue to ensure a woman’s right to choose a safe, legal abortion.

Violence against women and girls continues to be a global epidemic, affecting an estimated one in three women worldwide. In the UK, on average two women are killed by their current or a former partner every week. Under the Conservatives, over a third of all local authority funding to domestic and sexual violence was already cut by 2012.

Labour will appoint a new commissioner to enforce minimum standards in tackling domestic and sexual violence. A Violence Against Women Commissioner would also provide stable central funding for women’s refuges and rape crisis centres and encourage sharing of best practice between local authorities.

This builds on work in Wales, where the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act was passed in 2015 – the first legislation of its kind in the UK and the only law of its kind in Europe to include a specific focus on violence against women. Implementation of the Act is well underway, and a national adviser is in post.

The Welsh Labour Government will publish a delivery plan, which will include details of sustainable funding, guidance on commissioning and a whole education approach to healthy relationships and a survivor engagement framework.

Maternity discrimination under the Conservatives is out of control, almost doubling in the last 10 years. Many mothers are reluctant to raise complaints about discrimination and unfair treatment. Unlawful maternity and pregnancy discrimination is now more common in Britain’s workplaces than ever before, with 54,000 pregnant women and new mothers forced out of their jobs in 2015.

Labour will reverse the unfair employment tribunal fees which literally price people out of justice. Labour will also extend the time period for applying for maternity discrimination to the employment tribunal from three to six months.

Labour will work with the Health and Safety Executive to make mandatory a workplace risk assessment for pregnant women so necessary adaptations can be made, and review support for women who have miscarriages.

### Lgbt Equality

Labour has a proud record of championing the fight for LGBT equality. We abolished Section 28, equalised the age of consent, created civil partnerships, and it was only through Labour votes that equal marriage became law. However, there is still a long way to go. Issues such as education, equal access to public services, levels of LGBT hate crime, and mental and physical wellbeing remain.

A Labour Government will reform the Gender Recognition Act and the Equality Act 2010 to ensure they protects Trans people by changing the protected characteristic of ‘gender assignment’ to ‘gender identity’ and remove other outdated language such as ‘transsexual’.

Labour will bring the law on LGBT hate crimes into line with hate crimes based on race and faith, by making them aggravated offences.

To tackle bullying of LGBT young people, Labour will ensure that all teachers receive initial and ongoing training on the issues students face and how to address them. We will ensure that guidance for healthy relationships education in Wales is LGBT inclusive.

Likewise, we will ensure all frontline health and social care professionals receive ongoing training to understand and meet the needs of LGBT patients and service users.

The Welsh Labour Government has started a three-year trial of PrEP for all eligible people in Wales.

### Diverse Communities

Now more than ever, we need to celebrate the profound and enriching transformation brought by the diversity of people in this country, with all their different experiences, talents and contributions.

Today Black and Asian-owned businesses are an important and growing feature of our economy and society. These businesses are important not just because of their financial contribution; they have also helped transform particular sectors of the economy.

The Labour Party is the party of equality. We seek to build a society free from all forms of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

We should all be deeply troubled by the rise in racially aggravated attacks and race hate crime in the past year. Anti-Semitic incidents are also on the rise once more and we are committed to combatting this trend with adequate resources and firm political will.

Commissioning a report on our own Party was an unprecedented step in British politics, demonstrating a commitment to tackling prejudice wherever it is found. Labour is already acting on the recommendations, including reform of internal disciplinary procedures to make them firmer and fairer, and expansion of training to tackle anti-Semitism. On a matter of such importance, Labour urges all democratic political parties to do the same.

The Welsh Labour Government takes a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism. We have adopted the new International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism. This will remove doubt about definitions and equivocation and ensure there is no hiding place for unacceptable language and behaviour in our society.

We will end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and protect the right to lead a nomadic way of life.

Black and Asian workers still suffer a massive pay gap. By introducing equal pay audit requirements on large employers, Labour will close this pay gap.

By making the minimum wage a real living wage, we will benefit ethnic minority workers who are more likely to be on low pay.

We will implement the Parker Review recommendations to increase ethnic diversity on the boards of Britain’s largest companies.

### People with Disabilities

Over the last seven years people with disabilities have been failed by the Conservative Government.

People with disabilities have been vilified with divisive rhetoric like ‘scroungers’ and ‘shirkers’. In this climate, recorded disability hate crime has increased.

Last year the UN published a report concluding the Conservative Government had committed:

“grave, systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities.” Currently 4.2 million people with disabilities live in poverty in Britain and the disability employment gap remains stubbornly high.

Our Welsh Labour Government operates on the basis of the social model of disability – that it is society which disables people, and it is our job to remove those barriers. The previous Labour Government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The next Labour Government will sign the UNCRPD into UK law.

Labour will act to tackle discrimination, remove barriers and ensure social security delivers dignity and empowerment, not isolation and stigma.

Labour will legislate to make terminal illness a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.

Autism covers a wide range of conditions that reflect neurological differences among people. We will work with employers, trade unions and public services to improve awareness of neuro-diversity in the workplace and in society.

Labour will give British Sign Language full recognition as a recognised language.

## Chapter 12: A Global Britain

### A Global Britain

Labour will take all necessary measures to protect the security of our citizens and country. We will put conflict resolution and human rights at the heart of foreign policy, commit to working through the United Nations, end support for aggressive wars of intervention and back effective action to alleviate the refugee crisis.

Unlike the Conservatives, Labour believes Britain’s foreign policy should be guided by the values of peace, universal rights and international law. Today, these values and institutions are being tested. As we leave the European Union, keeping Britain global is our country’s most urgent task.

We face the most complex, interwoven security and development challenges of our time; ongoing wars across the Middle East, unprecedented numbers of refugees, the threat of nuclear conflict, a devastating food crisis across East Africa and beyond, an erratic US administration and a more combative government in Russia.

The lessons of the past, including those from the Chilcot Inquiry, show us why our response to these challenges must be different. We cannot seek to solve the world’s problems on our own, but instead must exhaust diplomatic solutions alongside international, regional and local partners within the framework of international law.

This will require a modern and inclusive strategy, uniting the interwoven foreign policy instruments of diplomacy, defence and development.

### Diplomacy

Labour recognises that, in leaving the EU, Britain will face both challenges and opportunities. We are deeply ambitious for our country’s future and will draw on our international networks to make Britain a champion of multilateral engagement. We will invest in the UK’s diplomatic services, rebuilding some of the key capabilities lost as a result of Tory cuts.

Since the Second World War, Britain’s most important diplomatic relationship has been with the US. But that special relationship is based on shared values. When the current Trump administration chooses to ignore them, whether by discriminating on the basis of religion or breaking its climate change commitments, we will not be afraid to disagree.

From the Middle East to Africa, in recent years millions of people have been killed, injured or displaced through wars and military intervention. In Syria alone more than 400,000 people have been killed. Labour will work tirelessly to end the conflict and get the diplomatic process back on track, while fully supporting international efforts to investigate, prosecute and convict the perpetrators of war crimes.

Labour is strongly committed to reducing human suffering caused by war. We will publish a strategy for protecting civilians in conflict, setting out detailed plans for work on conflict prevention and resolution, post-conflict peace-building and justice for the victims of war crimes. Labour will create a Minister for Peace and Disarmament to lead this work.

Labour is committed to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East based on a two-state solution – a secure Israel alongside a secure and viable 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. That means an end to the blockade, occupation and settlements and an end to rocket and terror attacks. Labour will continue to press for an immediate return to meaningful negotiations leading to a diplomatic resolution. A Labour Government will immediately recognise the state of Palestine.

We will also urge negotiations towards a political resolution in all other regions currently experiencing conflict, including Kashmir, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, and give our strong support to those countries already working to end decades of division, including Colombia, Cyprus and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In other regions, including the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea, rising tensions threaten global peace. Under a Labour Government, Britain will work to reduce those tensions through an insistence on multilateral political dialogue.

From Afghanistan and Iraq to the streets of European cities, Daesh continues to commit acts of indiscriminate barbarism. We will take all lawful action necessary to counter and confront this evil and we will advocate a long-term multinational political strategy, led by regional actors, to tackle the spread of extremism.

In our discussions with different governments, including China, Egypt, the Gulf States, Myanmar, the Philippines, Russia and Turkey, we will urge respect for human rights and the rule of law. We will review all training and equipment contracts with repressive regimes, to ensure that Britain never colludes in the mistreatment of civilians.

We will always stand up for the rights, interests and self-determination of Britain’s overseas territories and their citizens, whether protecting the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands against anyone who would seek to challenge it, or supporting the right of the Chagos Islanders to return to their homelands.

We will reclaim Britain’s leading role in tackling climate change, working hard to preserve the Paris Agreement and deliver on international commitments to reduce emissions while mitigating the impacts of climate change on developing countries.

While strengthening our commitment to the UN, we also acknowledge its shortcomings, particularly in light of repeated abuses of the veto power by some permanent members of the UN Security Council. We will work with our international partners to build support for UN reform and make its institutions more effective and responsive. We will appoint dedicated global ambassadors or women’s rights, LGBT rights and religious freedom to fight discrimination and promote equality globally.

Exports, trade and investment play a vital role in creating jobs and growth in Britain; and Labour supports the considerable contribution that a responsible, world-leading defence and security industry makes to the UK economy. However, we also believe that strong export controls have a vital role to play in sustaining a legitimate trade in arms, while protecting UK jobs and R&D. Labour will therefore implement the Arms Trade Treaty to a consistently high standard, including ceasing arms exports to countries where there is concern that they will be used to violate international humanitarian law (IHL).

In particular, Labour will demand a comprehensive, independent, UN-led investigation into alleged violations of IHL in Yemen, including air strikes on civilians by the Saudi-led coalition. We will immediately suspend any further arms sales for use in the conflict until that investigation is concluded.

Labour remains committed to an independent inquiry into Britain’s military role in the 1984 raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

### Defence

The primary duty of any government is to protect and defend its citizens. We live in a period of growing international tensions.

A strong, viable and sustainable defence and security policy must be strategic and evidence led.

As previous incoming governments have done, a Labour Government will order a complete strategic defence review when it comes into office, to assess the emerging threats facing Britain, including hybrid and cyber warfare. Cyber security will form an integral part of our defence and security strategy and we will introduce a cyber-security charter for companies working with the Ministry of Defence.

We will ensure that our armed forces are properly equipped and resourced to respond to wide-ranging security challenges. Labour will commit to effective UN peacekeeping, including support for a UN Emergency Peace Service.

As the security threats and challenges we face are not bound by geographic borders, it is vital that as Britain leaves the EU we maintain our close relationship with our European partners. Alongside our commitment to NATO, we will continue to work with the EU on a range of operational missions to promote and support global and regional security.

The last Labour Government consistently spent above the NATO benchmark of two per cent of GDP on defence. Conservative spending cuts have put Britain’s security at risk, shrinking the army to its smallest size since the Napoleonic wars. The scrapping of Nimrod, HMS Ark Royal and the Harrier jump jets, have weakened our defences and cost British taxpayers millions.

Labour’s commitment to spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence will guarantee our armed forces have the necessary capabilities to fulfil the full range of obligations and ensure our conventional forces are versatile and able to deploy rapidly in a range of roles.

Labour supports the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent. As a nuclear armed power, our country has a responsibility to fulfil our obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Labour will lead multilateral efforts with international partners and the UN to create a nuclear-free world.

The UK defence industry is world-leading and Labour will continue to support development and innovation in this sector and ensure that it can continue to rely on a highly skilled workforce.

We are committed to a procurement process that supports our steel industry – the Welsh Labour Government has taken action to secure and sustain a strong future for the Welsh steel industry – and other parts of the defence manufacturing industry, which in turn provide good jobs throughout the supply chain. Labour will publish a Defence Industrial Strategy white paper, including a National Shipbuilding Strategy to secure a long-term future for the industry, workers and UK defence.

We have a duty to properly reward and renumerate our Armed Forces. Under the Conservatives, our Armed Forces have been hit by rent rises, pay restraint and changes to tax and benefits, putting real pressure on service personnel and their families. We will ensure they get the pay and living conditions that their service merits.

Dedicated service personnel are at the heart of our defence policy. Labour will immediately examine recruitment and retention policies in order to stem the exodus seen under the Conservatives. We will publish new strategic equality objectives to ensure to ensure our personnel reflect our diverse society.

We will drive up standards in Service Accommodation, and take action where private companies have failed to deliver. We will consult with service personnel, giving them greater autonomy over their housing choices and review and improve the Forces Help to Buy scheme.

Personnel who are injured whilst serving should have prompt access to support and compensation. We will resist any Conservative proposals to abolish the right to seek legal redress against the MoD where compensation claims cannot be otherwise settled.

We are fully committed to supporting our veterans. We will promote greater awareness of the Armed Forces Covenant, seek greater consistency in its implementation by public authorities, and promote increased participation in the Corporate Covenant.

We will also roll out a Homes Fit for Heroes programme that will insulate the homes of disabled veterans for free.

In Wales there is strong support for serving members of the armed forces, their families and veterans.

Our Welsh Labour Government provides a free-swimming scheme giving free access to local authority pools across Wales for veterans and serving members of the armed forces. A Welcome to Wales document provides service families with information and signposting to all the services and support available when settling in Wales and the Veterans Housing Referral Pathway helps veterans review their options and access the services available.

Wales is the only part of the UK with a nationwide NHS service for veterans – Veterans’ NHS Wales – providing dedicated support for veterans’ health and wellbeing.

The Welsh Labour Government now disregards 100 per cent of military compensation payments when assessing care costs for veterans.

### Development

Labour has a proud record on international development. We will continue to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on official assistance and develop a targeted development agenda based on the principles of redistribution, social justice, women’s rights and poverty reduction.

Labour will take robust action to end the self-regulation of Department for International Development private contractors, establishing and enforcing new rules and enforcing them to ensure aid is used to reduce poverty for the many, not to increase profits for the few.

We fully support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed globally to eradicate poverty and protect the environment. Labour will develop a cross-government strategy for ensuring they are implemented and report annually to Parliament on our performance.

In the wake of Brexit, and in fulfilment of our national obligations under the SDGs, Labour will guarantee the world’s least developed countries continued access to the UK market to protect their vital export revenues.

There are now more refugees and displaced people around the world than any time since the Second World War. This is a failure of diplomacy, conflict resolution and of human rights, which is why they will be at the heart of Labour’s foreign policy.

The Conservatives have completely failed to show any leadership on this issue. In the first 100 days of government we will produce a cross-departmental strategy to meet our international obligations on the refugee crisis.

The current global tax system is deeply unjust. Africa’s economies alone lose more than £46 billion annually through corruption and tax evasion – more than 10 times what they receive in aid. Labour will act decisively to take decisive action on tax havens, introducing strict standards of transparency for crown dependencies and overseas territories, including a public register of owners, directors, major shareholders and beneficial owners for all companies and trusts.

We will work in partnership with communities in the Global South to develop long-term strategies for strengthening economies and societies. We would reinstate the Civil Society Challenge Fund to support trade unions, women’s associations and other civil society organisations which are the most effective forces in winning human rights and workers’ rights.

Jobs in global supply chains can be of enormous importance to working people across the Global South, but human rights abuses and exploitation of lower environmental standards and workers’ rights are too common. Labour is committed to ensuring respect for human rights, workers’ rights and environmental sustainability in the operations of British businesses around the world, and we will work to tighten the rules governing corporate accountability for abuses in global supply chains.

Labour will work with business to ensure the provisions of the Modern Slavery Act are fully respected, including reporting on due diligence in the supply chains of all companies covered by the Act. We will extend the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator beyond direct suppliers to ensure fair treatment for all those producing goods for the UK’s largest supermarkets.

At least a billion people around the world cannot currently obtain the health services they need, and another 100 million are pushed below the poverty line as a result of paying for the services they receive. We will establish a Centre for Universal Health Coverage, providing global partnerships, support and encouragement to countries that want UHC, helping them to generate adequate sources of funding and the systems required for delivery.

We will invest in new public-health driven research and development to find effective and affordable treatments for diseases in the developing world, including fighting TB, malaria, HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases.