“This is a manifesto for wealth creation - that is our number one priority”: Keir Starmer to launch Labour’s manifesto with pledge to kickstart economic growth by reforming Britain’s economy

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, will today [THURSDAY] launch the Labour Party's manifesto to change Britain. Powered by ambitious plans to get Britain building again, the Labour Leader will say: "The mandate we seek from Britain at this election is for economic growth.”

Speaking in Manchester, Keir Starmer will say: “Growth is our core business - the end and the means of national renewal.” He will argue “sustained economic growth is the only route to improving the prosperity of our country and the living standards of working people. That is why it is Labour's first mission for government. It means being pro-business and pro-worker. We are the party of wealth creation.”

Labour's plan to kickstart growth will:

• Restore economic stability with tough new spending rules, allow businesses to plan, with a cap on corporation tax at 25%, and a new industrial strategy to give business long-term certainty for investment decisions

• Unleash investment with a new National Wealth Fund to invest in the industries for the future, and Great British Energy to accelerate the transition to Clean Power. Our plan will create 650,000 jobs in the industries of the future

• Reform our planning rules to build the railways, roads, labs and 1.5 million homes we need and develop a new 10-year infrastructure strategy

• Reform decision-making to shift power away from Westminster to turbo-charge the efforts of mayors across the country, with new powers over transport, skills, housing and planning, and employment support, along with new growth plans for towns across the country

• Reform our jobs market by getting people back into work with careers and job centre reform, a New Deal for Working people to make work pay, a new childcare offer to get people into work, and tackle health and mental health challenges to get people back to work

• Reform the immigration and skills system to ensure Britain is developing home-grown skills with workforce plans to meet the needs of industries and the economy

• Introduce a modern industrial strategy, working in partnership with businesses and workers to grasp the opportunities of new technologies, with an AI sector plan, a new national data library to support cutting-edge research, 10-year budgets for key world innovation institutions and planning reform to build the datacentres and infrastructure we need

Labour's manifesto is built around five national missions to end sticking plaster politics, end the chaos, turn the page and meet the long-term challenges the country faces. 

Labour's first steps for change show how we will begin to achieve those missions, with plans to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times, launch a new Border Security Command, set up Great British Energy, crack down on antisocial behaviour and recruit 6,500 new teachers.

In contrast to the desperate, unfunded wishlist of the Tory manifesto, Labour has a serious, fully costed, fully funded plan for change. Labour's manifesto will contain a tax lock for working people – a pledge not to raise rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. GDP figures released yesterday showed the economy has stalled.

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“Some people say that how you grow the economy is not a central question - that it's not about how you create wealth, but how you tax it, how you spend it, how you slice the cake, that's all that matters.

“So let me be crystal clear - this manifesto is a total rejection of that argument, because if you transform the nature of the jobs market, change the infrastructure that supports investment into our economy, reform the planning regime, start to unlock the potential of billions upon billions in projects that are ready to go, held up by the blockers of aspiration, then that does so much more to our long-term growth prospects.

“The same is true of our public services. If we could grow the economy at anything like the level the last Labour Government did, that's an extra £70bn worth of investment for our public services.

“Wealth creation is our number one priority. Growth is our core business - the end and the means of national renewal. The mandate we seek from Britain at this election is for economic growth.

“This changed Labour Party has a plan for growth. We are pro-business and pro-worker. The party of wealth creation.

“We have a plan in this manifesto that represents a total change in direction, that is laser-focused on our cause. A Government back in the service of you and your family.”