After last night’s Live Q&A, Ed Miliband launched the Labour campaign this morning, at the Olympic Park.
Speaking in front of activists, the party leader revealed five main pledges he and the Labour party intend to initiate, creating their vision for Britain.
The first pledge announced is a stronger economic foundation for the country.
As part of a promise to cut the deficit every year, the party aim to:
- Reduce spending and cut budgets to balance the books fast.
- Fair tax changes for the working people
- A clamp down on tax evasion
- Undo Cameron’s millionaire tax
However, Mr Miliband promised that with this, key sectors like education and the NHS would be protected, stating that he would never adopt “Tory plans” that he believes are ruining the country’s public services.
The second pledge announced is a promise to higher living standards for all. Labour plan to:
- Rise minimum wage to £8 an hour to eradicate many having to earn below the cost of living
- Introduce an energy price freeze
- Ban zero hour contracts which have been a struggle for many employees
The main focus of the speech however seemed to centralise around the Party’s third pledge: the protection of the NHS.
The Labour party intend to:
- Make sure the privatisation of our National Health Service is put to an end, with an introduction of a mansion tax on all properties worth over 2 million to help fund 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more doctors, 5,000 more health carers and 3,000 more midwives.
- Repeal the Tory’s Health and Social Care act in order to protect the future of the NHS
- Stop competition within the service
- Place a 5% cap on private companies being able to profit from the service
Mr Miliband believes the health service should be about patient care and not profit, stating it is “time to rescue the NHS from David Cameron”.
Immigration is also at the forefront of this election. During his fourth pledge, Ed Miliband stated that Labour intend to:
- Never “cut ourselves off from the rest of the world”, hinting that they do not support an exit from the EU
- Vow to protect the working people of Britain by making sure immigrants can’t claim benefits until after living in the country for 2 years
- Make sure gang masters can’t exploit immigrant workers
- Eradicate agencies that only advertise jobs abroad
Mr Miliband’s last pledge saw a direct address to the young people of today, saying he intends to improve opportunities for the next generation, making sure they do better than the previous.
This will be achieved by:
- Decreasing class sizes for 5-7yr olds so the youngest receive more attention and opportunities to learn
- Creating apprenticeships for any young person who achieves the necessary grades
- Reducing tuition fees to £6,000 a year
The main core of the speech centralised around the spirit of a hard working Britain, his pledges supposedly intending to improve the lives of all working families.
He said: “Britain only succeeds when working people succeed.”
After his success to sway many undecided voters last night, it’s clear that even though Parliament is yet to dissolve, the race has already begun for the next general election with Labour’s launch today.
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