Labour’s new era of prosperity

Ed Miliband has promised a new era of inclusive prosperity with an economic plan to change the lives of working people. The Labour leader set out a stark choice between a Tory Party benefitting the wealthy few and a Labour party which aims to share wealth.

It was a straightforward choice, he said, between, “A failing plan under which we would carry on as we are with a government claiming the economy is a success when it only works for a handful of people at the top. Or a new plan, a better plan, that says this economy must succeed for working families if Britain as a whole is going to succeed.”

Launching Labour’s A Better Plan for Britain’s Prosperity at the Jaguar Land Rover i54 plant near Wolverhampton, Mr Miliband said, “Here is our better plan: a modern industrial strategy for Britain’s businesses and Britain’s working families to succeed together.

“A plan for every sector, every firm, everybody to raise productivity, make bigger profits and create the inclusive prosperity for a new era, a route map for turning the fortunes of working people and of our country around.”

The speech homed in on Labour’s key “cost of living” message. Mr Miliband said, “The vital link that used to connect the wealth of the country as a whole and family finances has broken”, he said.

“Playing by the rules and putting in the hard work often means you are left out of the recovery in Britain today. All of this isn’t just bad for working families now, it is bad for Britain’s future too because when working people are held back, the country doesn’t prosper as it should.

“When families don’t have money to spend, it holds back our economy. When there is so much insecurity in the economy, businesses can’t plan for the long term. When people don’t have the chance to develop their skills and pursue a promotion, our companies become less productive and less competitive in the world.”

The 79-page Labour economic plan would create 80,000 new apprenticeships and cut taxes for small businesses. There would be more competition in the energy sector to drive down household and business bills.

The plan is strategically wide-ranging. A National Investment Bank would be created to boost industry.

A National Infrastructure Commission would also be created. £30bn of  transport, housing, and employment funding will be handed from Whitehall to local authorities.

And Labour will support continuing membership of the European Union in direct contrast to the UKIP inspired Tory policy of an in/out referendum.

Tackling the scandal where company bosses give themselves huge pay rises, workers will sit on the “remuneration committees” which set top pay, often behind closed doors. For the lowest paid the minimum wage will rise to £8 by 2020.

Living wage payers’ tax breaks

Companies which pay the living wage will get tax breaks. Business rates will be cut, paid for scrapping Tory plans to cut corporation tax.

And Miliband kept up the tax dodging attack on the Tories, showing he will not back down on the issue.  He said, “Nothing more symbolises their failing plan than seeing the tax gap, between what should be paid and the revenue received, widening while the number of apprenticeships available for young people is falling.

“We need a better plan to replace an economy where tens of billions are lost in tax avoidance with an economy where tens of thousands more of our young people are doing apprenticeships and we help more businesses grow, succeed and create wealth.”

Unite welcomed the Labour welcomed the industrial strategy and warned that the Tory-led government was creating a low waged, low skilled economy as its ‘march of the makers’ fails to materialise.

Unite assistant general secretary, Tony Burke said, “Family finances have been consigned to a path to poverty because of insecure work and plummeting wage levels.”

He warned the Tory-led “race to the bottom” will not develop the UK’s manufacturing base or create the skills and innovation our economy needs to rise to the global challenges of this century.

“The Tories have us on the road to a low skilled, low waged economy” he added, “where the proceeds of growth are shared among the few at the top.

“The success of the UK’s automotive industry and companies like Jaguar Land Rover is because they have looked to the long-term, invested in skills and worked with Unite to boost productivity and create secure well paid jobs.

“That is why Ed Miliband is right to commit to an industrial strategy that invests in apprenticeships and skills, which looks to the long-term to generate the high skilled secure jobs our nation needs and ensures that we have an economy that works for the many not the few.”