The call is out for new ideas for Labour's next manifesto. We asked Labour MPs what they would propose to Ed Miliband.

Chris Bryant

Universal childcare

The toughest of Gordian knots in many of Labour's historic heartland seats is the vicious circle of deprivation, depressed ambition, teenage pregnancy, absent fathers, ill health and lives on Incapacity Benefit. Education is still the escape route from poverty for many, but by the time many children start at school they are already lagging behind in the basic life skills that make learning possible, whilst their mums are learning to accept a life on benefits. We need to do far more to make work, with all its social, economic and health benefits, the norm not the exception for single mums.

It is not good enough to wag a judgmental finger at single parents, however. They do one of the toughest jobs around. Childcare is still expensive, inflexible and hard to come by in the poorest communities. Free, universal, highquality childcare must form the cornerstone of a Labour strategy for tackling child poverty, enabling mums to work and children to grow up in an environment of hope and aspiration.

Dawn Butler

Wiping criminal records

The youth within the criminal justice system is of great concern and I would like to find ways to stop the cycle of repeat offenders. It comes as little surprise that the majority of convicted young offenders come from socially disadvantaged homes, fail in basic reading, writing and numeracy levels and are more likely to fall into criminal activity than their socially advanced peers.

To stop these young offenders from re-offending, these youngsters should be given the option to turn their lives around and should be shown a way to do it. My proposal is to allow first-time young offenders of minor criminal activity to have their criminal conviction wiped clean through a concise and tailored level of study package.

The course will aim to provide the learner with all of the essential skills to live productively in society and to provide him/her with a valid qualification. On completion of this course and entry into employment through government schemes, the young offender will have their conviction removed from their record to enable them to make the transition back into society.

Katy Clark

Narrowing the gap

Our manifesto should be radical and Labour. Let's end the spin and be straightforward. The increasing gap between rich and poor is bad for all and creates huge social problems. We should say clearly we will reduce this gap, continue to increase spending on public services and have real annual increases in the minimum wage. We can increase the numbers of houses to rent by letting councils build new council houses. We must also recognise that trade unions have a role in reducing poverty. Union members earn 17% more than non members. We can encourage union growth with the modest start of introducing the Trade Union Freedom Bill.

We should show we will change our approach to the privatisation of public services by saying we will have a publicly owned railway system. We must also be radical on the constitution - with a fully elected House of Parliament and votes at 16.

It's not just what we say but how we say it. We must use simple language that people understand and make clear commitments

David Clelland

Jack Straw is determined to press ahead with Lords Reform based on the recent votes in the Commons for an 80% or 100% elected second chamber.

This ignores the fact that – certainly so far as the Labour Party is concerned – it is not MPs who make policy and there is nothing in current policy that suggests the abolition of the Lords and its replacement with a second House of Commons.

The blinkered thinking of the great minds on this is in danger of leading to an outcome that will make fundamental and perhaps irreversible changes to the way the UK is governed and of missing an opportunity to create a new second chamber that really will add value to our system of governance.

The 'Commons' gets its power from being directly elected by the people. That is what makes it the supreme legislative chamber and why the 'Lords' must bow to its will in the end. An elected Lords would, for the same reason, have the same power and legitimacy leading to legislative gridlock and bad governance.

The suggestion seems to be that an elected second chamber would be elected in a different way – PR. So far as I can see the proponents of PR would argue that such an elected chamber would in fact have more legitimacy than the FPTP Commons – leading to even more chaos.

The second chamber should be (in the words of Labours current policy) more democratic and more representative. But that need not mean a chamber that merely duplicates what we already have. It should be different from the Commons and represent the 'structure' of society leaving the directly elected Commons to represent the people.

The second chamber should not be a legislative body at all. It should be a deliberative, revising, advising chamber that helps improve and not merely obstruct legislation. To do so it needs to be made up of people who have some of the qualities needed to issue advice and wise council.

That need not mean the continuance of the present appointments system – discredited as it has become. But it could mean ensuring a more representative make up by widening the franchise. Devolved Assemblies, Local government, TUC, CBI, voluntary and religious organisations and political parties could select, or elect, members of the second chamber.

Such a change would be a big improvement on what we have now. It would bring about a second chamber that would win the respect of the people and be more representative. It could ensure gender and ethnic balance, be more geographically spread and be well equipped to scrutinise and advise and to help the legislative process.

Jack Straw hopes to cook up a deal with the Tories and the Lib Dems. That is either doomed to failure and no progress will be made or it will produce a dog's breakfast. Looking at the matter from a different angle however may well have the chance of meaningful and beneficial change. Let's hope that Gordon Brown will be wise enough to grab that chance.

Brian Donohoe

Audit the Scottish Executive

Before we make the case for further powers to the Scottish Parliament, we should set up an audit of what has been achieved to date. This would establish where – if anywhere – responsibilities should be shifted either to or from the Executive in Scotland.

Given that existing powers include the ability to raise or lower tax by 3 pence in the pound I wonder why has no party in Scotland has suggested taking up that option. One has to ask why additional powers are being mooted when full use has not been made of existing powers within the Act. It would be extremely interesting to compare standards north of the border in education, health, law and order and at what improvements there have been south of the border and in Wales A similar document to the National Statistics on the Environment could be produced to show the differences between the countries on the primary functions already devolved. We surely deserve to have a process in place that allows the public to decide on the issue and on how the Parliaments are performing before accepting the need for any change.

Natascha Engel

Sex and relationships

Labour's next General Election manifesto must address issues that affect young people. The greatest of these is sexual health in general, and sex and relationship education at schools in particular.

This is not only about dealing with the fact that we have the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe, that we are seeing a massive and rapid increase in sexually transmitted infections in young people. This is about giving children and young people the information they want and need to make decisions for themselves, take control of sex and enjoy it safely when they (not anyone else) is ready.

The only way that this can be achieved is by introducing sex and relationship education at primary school – before children go to secondary school. It should be taught at every school, no matter what its status or religious affiliation. Sex and relationship education should be taught by a sexual health specialist (from a local GP practice, health centre or hospital who can signpost sexual health services for the future) and not any teacher who happens to be free at the time.

Sex is, by definition, a fact of life. Our manifesto must put sex and relationship education on the primary school curriculum if we are to have a positive on the sexual health of our future generations.

Ian Gibson

A new cancer plan

The health service remains an area where new discoveries and technologies mean politicians having to react much more quickly than they have done in the past. As welcome as the first cancer plan has been, we must now realize that we need to go far further given new discoveries and given a more holistic approach to treatment. We can do more from early diagnosis to palliative care, and for all cancers - breast, prostate, brain, lung, and so forth. We must move more rapidly from cancer discoveries as in the field of genetics to the treatment of patients. We must be serious about prevention

There are many groups who have highlighted the prevention of cancers and here the government must invest more than the current 1 per cent of research funding. Another area which needs more serious consideration is the newly diagnosed illness like ME, autism, Aspergers and mental health illnesses such as motor neurone disease have recently appeared on the scene and must be given serious consideration by the NHS.

Patricia Hewitt

Challenging Europe

I want to see a powerful commitment to Europe as a central part of Labour's international strategy. There are three great challenges that no one country can solve alone. Firstly, the environmental challenge. The European Union led the way in cleaning up Europe's beaches – including Britain's – for all of us to enjoy. The European carbon trading system is a leader in the principle of emissions trading, but we will have to secure much tougher limits on Europe-wide carbon emissions if we are to lead in practice. Second, the challenge of world poverty. Britain led the way in arguing for radical reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Now we need to do even more to end Europe's protectionism and enable developing countries to trade their way out of poverty – while, at the same time, removing barriers to job creation within Europe and transforming welfare systems into active support for employability.

And thirdly, the challenge of peace and security, in the wider European region and globally. Europe is a global leader in 'soft power' - and the prospect of EU membership is the beacon for many countries struggling to modernise and democratise themselves. But Europe also has to make a more effective contribution to 'hard power' where that isthe only way to protect people from oppression and turmoil.

Sharon Hodgson

Tackling child obesity

Children's obesity and unfitness mean higher health costs, reduced educational attainment and lost productivity. Radical action is needed to reverse it. Jamie Oliver exposed the literally 'cheap as chips' nature of some school food with high salt and sugar levels, E numbers and mechanically recovered meat. Consequently, great efforts were made to improve our children's diet for which Mr Oliver and ministers deserve thanks, but we need to go further. Providing free, universal, hot and healthy lunches is how. This would eradicate the stigma attached to free meals for a minority. Pupils would have a decent main meal, preferably with locally sourced food. It wouldn't discriminate between richer and poorer children – just as child benefit is administered universally. The evidence says that children with a healthy diet perform and behave better and should be the only option in schools. This means keeping pupils in school at lunchtimes. After all, what fifteen- year-old would sit in school when their friends all go to the chippy?

Money invested now will be recouped later. If our country's children ate brain food not fast food at school this would deliver savings in health, education and the economy, plus making lunchtimes that little bit quieter on our streets.

Frank Field

England, immigration and the family

Labour could lose the election on any one of three issues. The manifesto must lead the English question. The current settlement is so unfair to the English that it must be changed. English voters will not put up for long with a Prime Minister whose legislative programme applies to my constituents but not equally to his. Labour must again lead the devolution debate – but for England this time. We cannot afford to let the Tories be seen as the party of England.

Likewise we must be in the forefront of defending our borders. In the last three years two million people have come to this country. The country cannot survive with this rate of change. The Tories propose controls to immigration from the rest of the world. But the big increase is from Eastern Europe. We must lead the debate on how to slow down the movement from Eastern into Western Europe.

Labour must also rethink its crime and ASBO strategy. The root cause is the disintegration of families and we must commit ourselves to eliminate from the benefit system the huge unintended discrimination against couple households. The mega rise in young single parents started after Thatcher's destruction of male manufacturing jobs. Young males, in particular, must be given serious training options instead of the all too mundane ones on offer.

Barbara Keeley

A commitment to carers

Carers represent one in ten of the population. In any constituency, around 7,000 people are carers including around 1,400 who care for more than 50 hours a week. Many carers who care for more than 50 hours per week actually care 24/7.

The Manifesto should show clearly that Labour is the party which takes the needs of carers seriously, starting with those who are most heavily-committed. For those carers whose caring is a full-time responsibility, we should make it a contractual agreement that their local GP identifies them as a carer and refers them for an assessment of their needs. We must also make it a duty that health and social care staff undertake a thorough assessment of those carers' needs.

Following assessment, those carers should be offered: regular health checks, GP appointments at times they can fit in with their caring; and good quality respite care which provides for carer breaks to study and/or have social/ leisure time for themselves.

Finally, heavily committed carers may have given up a career or be working part-time or at a low-skilled job. Their caring already qualifies them for credits towards a pension. We should commit to improving the weekly benefits paid to carers - particularly the 2 per cent of the population of heavily-committed carers who are the key partners within our health and social care services.

Sadiq Khan

Keeping education central

The next Labour manifesto must provide a vision of the society we want Britain to become. Young people are the key stakeholders in our society's future and our manifesto needs to inspire them, not just by providing policies that offer a quick fix, but also by creating a coherent narrative to tackle new, as well as longer term, problems. In this respect, promoting greater equality and social justice should be the core values from which the policies should flow. But, only by truly enfranchising every part of the electorate will we motivate a new generation of voters.

Education should, therefore, remain as our highest priority and the means by which we can create a society that reflects our values.

Providing resources to continue the improvement of our nurseries, schools, colleges and universities must take precedence. In addition to supporting academic learning, we must cater for those young people whose strengths are more vocational by providing the practical training and increased apprenticeship schemes that will, as well as enabling people to reach their full potential, create the skills base we need to remain economically competitive. Further to this, it is important that we expand the teaching of citizenship in our schools and strengthen our support of civil society to encourage engagement and, ultimately, a greater sense of community cohesion.

Peter Kilfoyle

A War Powers Act

All other considerations apart, Iraq remains a political problem for Gordon Brown in the run-up to a general election. He would love to face the electorate as the Prime Minister who brought home the troops from this most unpopular of foreign excursions. He has begun the process.

Yet he still faces the problem of the Bush Administration and its need for political cover in Iraq, and possibly in Iran. American anger will increase as the British withdrawal gathers pace.

However, there is the opportunity to demonstrate a national resolve to minimise the chances of any repeat of the Iraq fiasco.

It is also a chance to send a message to future presidents that the United Kingdom will never again provide political cover for American military adventures.

The mechanism? The War Powers Act promised in our election manifesto. Americans could not argue – they already have one. British reactionaries will be hamstrung, given the parliamentary precedent of the vote on the Iraq War. The allegedly "modernised" Tories would be wrong footed, and the Lib Dems could do nothing but support Labour on the issue. It might even rekindle the flame of hope in these millions of former Labour supporters who left us.

David Lammy

Ethnic minorities in parliament

The next election provides us with an opportunity to right an historic wrong: the under-representation of ethnic minorities at the heart of our democracy. Twenty years after three black MPs first entered the House of Commons, progress remains painfully slow. Ethnic minorities now make up nearly eight percent of the population, but represent just a handful of MPs. According to one recent estimate we will have to wait over 70 years until we have a truly representative parliament.

As an MP for one of the most diverse constituencies in Europe, i recognise that it representation is a complex issue. MPs can – and must – serve the needs and interests of constituents from other backgrounds. But as the recent Reach report underlined, young people from ethnic minority backgrounds remain desperately short of role models. If we want young people to look beyond the materialism of street culture, they need to see people who look and sound like they do in our democratic institutions.

For this reason, we should commit ourselves to a Bill handing back greater control to political parties over their own selection procedures, as is the case with shortlists for women. Throughout its history, the Labour Party has led the way in promoting equality and representation in British politics; now that time has come again.

Khalid Mahmood

Yellow school buses

If elected for a fourth term a Labour government should introduce yellow school buses to every local authority in the UK. The buses would take children to and from schools, picking up and dropping off at a large number of sites. These buses would cut congestion in our crowded urban areas, improve pupil safety and reduce harmful carbon emissions.

This scheme will make an important contribution to our environment, to transport and to child safety programmes. A few such schemes have already been set up in some local authorities and have shown positive results in terms of congestion levels in these areas. Initial plans should include a ten area trial followed by a period of consultation before a national roll out of the scheme within two years

Michael Meacher

Establish a pay commission

Inequality is now becoming the number one domestic political issue in Britain. When average pay for FTSE 100 chief executives increases as it did last year - by 37% to £2,875,000 a year, which is £55,288 a week: 98 times their employees' pay, 276 times the national minimum wage, and 658 times the basic state pension - there will never be agreement, as the government intends that the lowestpaid workers in the public sector be palmed off with below-inflation-rate pay increases this year.

The divide between top pay, average and low pay is so vast that it cannot be justified under any rational system of incentives. We need a pay commission established to set down guidelines (with tax sanctions to back them up) for a reasonable pay range that offers incentives which are applied consistently and fairly throughout the range. For the 1-2% super-rich who are getting the telephone-directory City bonuses, stock options etc, over and above basic salary, there should be a super-tax at perhaps 50% on the first £250,000, 60% over £1m, rising to 70% over £5m.

We need enterprise councils established in large and medium-sized companies, where representatives of all grades throughout the organisation, from the boardroom to the cleaners, have to justify the pay claims they are making at the expense of potential pay increases for all other grades.

We need an early parliamentary and public debate on this whole issue, which is stoking house price inflation, generating deep resentment among poorly paid publicsector workers and undermining all sense of social cohesion in Britain.

Nick Palmer

Animal welfare

Labour already has a good track record in animal welfare. Since coming to office, fur farming and hunting with hounds have been banned, a robust stance has been maintained against commercial whaling and a new, potentially far-reaching, Animal Welfare Act introduced.

But, as they used to say, there is still much to do.

New research offers exciting opportunities for significantly reducing the number of painful experiments carried out on animals. Genetics and stem cell research provide serious, scientifically valid alternative procedures appropriate to humans in a way that animal models never can.

Drug companies pour tens of millions of pounds into animal based research. The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research, set up under Labour, already funds £1.4 million to develop alternatives. In the next Parliament, we will increase this to £5m, and we will ask an independent commission with scientific and animal welfare participants to recommend new restrictions on the most painful experiments.

Hunting remains a rallying point for veteran huntsman David Cameron and his friends in the Countryside Alliance. The Hunting Act must be properly enforced and will be made a notifiable crime.

Safe Houses - Sometimes the victims of domestic violence will not seek refuge for fear of leaving the family pet behind. Working with local authorities and animal welfare organizations, the government will develop secure facilities for pets owned by people or families requiring temporary accommodation in safe housing.

Fur labelling - Recent advances in the quality and look of fake fur make it difficult for many consumers to tell it apart from real fur. The Government will introduce, as a measure to protect consumers and animals, a labelling order requiring all real fur on sale to carry a label that clearly states the item is made using real animal fur.

Linda Riordan

Keeping confident

It's difficult not to feel a certain reassurance when we look at recent polls. The 'Brown Bounce' has provided a much-needed fillip for Labour helped along the way by Cameron's wafer thin grasp of both policy and reality. But polls change – and we must change too. We need to be confident, bold and radical. We will win a fourth term, fighting not as New Labour, or old Labour but as real Labour. Prime Minister Brown is building his broad church, big tent – call it what you will – but we need to build trust with those who believed in us in three previous General Elections.

This has to be a Manifesto that is confident, realistic; that delivers and offers leadership and focus. We must include: a Bill of Rights; radical reform of the House of Lords; a commitment to update the transport system and crucially a new 'charter of rights' for our senior citizens. We must also signal a new approach on foreign policy, strengthening our commitment to the UN. Nearer home, we need to develop policies that protect young people from the dangers of alcohol misuse and the too-easy access to weapons of violence.

This has to be a Manifesto of big ideas and local action.

Gisela Stewart

A Europe referendum

Labour is committed to devolving power and decision making. In ten years of government the party has a good record. We must build on this.

In a country like Britain, referendums are complementary not the antithesis of representative democracy.

Labour asked the people of Wales and Scotland how power should be devolved to them. Labour gave Londoners more say in their own affairs. Labour gave people a vote on elected mayors and regional government. Labour committed itself to a referendum on the EU constitution and every MP was elected on this platform. The contents and implications of the EU reform treaty are broadly similar to the earlier proposals as are the so-called opt-outs and red lines. Gordon Brown is committed to restoring faith in politics and involving people in decision-making. There are few decisions with more important implications for the future than Britain's relations with other members of the EU. Maintaining Labour's promise on a referendum is a matter of trust. "Trust the people" has been the watchword for Labour down the ages: it's as relevant today as it ever was.

Emily Thornberry

Housing, climate change, poverty and Thursdays

Housing must continue to be a central pillar of Labour's programme. We should give councils the powers and the incentives to get new and affordable homes built – and not allow them any excuses in areas of acute housing need. We should increase rights for tenants, particularly where it is lacking most: in the housing association and private rented sectors. We should make clear our dividing lines with the Tories and Liberals in tackling climate change by emphasising our collective approach to action and our emphasis on socially just solutions to global warming. We should go further with green financial incentives which are revenue neutral but which can bed down real change in individual behaviour.

As a London MP, I want to see our Government renew its commitment to tackling child poverty – which is particularly high and persistent in inner London. Increased access to affordable housing would help, but we should also introduce London weighting for benefits and tax credits. And in terms of public transport, we should get on with it and just build Crossrail. Finally, does anyone know why we hold elections on a Thursday? Why don't we make it easier for everyone – particularly our vote – by changing the law and holding future elections at the weekend?