The offer to voters

We asked parliamentarians, Fabians, writers and academics for their Labour policy ideas

Although the country is still waiting for the publication of Labour’s manifesto, we already have a good idea of some of the flagship policies it will contain. First, there are the promises which have featured on the campaign trail: 10,000 extra police officers, 100,000 new council homes a year, minimum standards for private landlords and, this week, a pledge to end to university tuition fees. Then we had yesterday’s leak, suggesting the manifesto will also promise to renationalise the railways and Royal Mail, scrap the bedroom tax and Health and Social Care Act and keep Trident.

Will these policies resonate with the public?  Or are there other ideas which should be on the list? The Fabian Review asked readers to come up with their own suggestions for an updated election pledge card (see below) – and there were some common themes as well as some innovative new ideas.

Many of our respondents called for an ambitious approach  – particularly on taxation, the NHS, housing and education. Here is a flavour: ‘Merge tax and national insurance into a single progressive system – 75 per cent top rate on incomes over £250,000’; ‘Take tough action to shut down tax havens around the world and aggressively pursue super-rich tax dodgers who are stealing from Britain’; ‘Appoint a cabinet minister with responsibility for HMRC who will oversee full tax collection from individuals and business, without fear or favour’; ‘50p tax on higher tax payers to fund social care’;  ‘A 2p rise in income tax to fund the NHS and social care properly’; ‘Relinquish the charity status of private schools, scrap their tax breaks and reinvest the money into modernising our state school system‘; ‘Housing, housing, housing – legislate to end land-banking and remove the borrowing cap to allow councils to build.’

On Brexit, there were mixed views. Some called for ‘better’ or a ‘softer’ Brexit. But others were unequivocally against. One set of five pledges simply ran: ‘Stop Brexit. Stop Brexit. Stop Brexit. Stop Brexit. Stop Brexit.’

And how about other ideas to put to the British people? Among the suggestions was a free bus pass for all to reduce traffic and air pollution and a solar panel for every home. There was support for abolishing the House of Lords, giving the vote to 16-year-olds and for decriminalising marijuana, with one pledge card suggesting taxing the drug could bring in £900m a year. And how about a ‘national lottery for knighthoods’ at a pound a ticket?

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• Implement a Diverse Communities manifesto, and only do government business with companies which pay a living wage of £10 and have diversity on their board
•  Cap energy prices, introduce a state option in the energy market and increase investment in renewables and technology transfer
• Abolish Employment Tribunal Fees to ensure that everyone has equal access to justice
• Ensure affordable rents, through local authorities owning and running local homes of various sizes from family to 1-bed properties
• Give British Sign Language full legal status as is afforded to other offi cially recognised languages by introducing a BSL Act

Jonathan Reynolds (Labour, Stalybridge and Hyde)

• Implement an ambitious industrial strategy driven by green jobs and ending fuel poverty
• Ground-breaking early years investment to boost social mobility and educational attainment from birth
• A universal basic income for all, providing security whilst making work pay in all circumstances
• Reform our electoral system, making sure all votes count and allowing votes at 16
• Rebalance our NHS to put prevention and social care at its heart, creating a healthier nation and reducing hospital costs

Bryan Gould (former British diplomat, journalist and Labour politician)

• Make sure that major corporations, including those based abroad, pay their fair share of taxes
• Establish a National Investment Bank so that money created by qualitative easing is used to build houses and invest in new productive capacity
• Establish full employment and the full use of all our human resources as the primary goal of economic policy
• Refocus the NHS on serving the public rather than the private profi t motive
• Make sure that every school leaver has a job, enters training or pursues higher or further education

Roy Kennedy (Labour peer)

• Deliver full integration of NHS and social care provision
• A stable economy, low infl ation, positive engagement with the EU with a fair distribution of the proceeds of economic growth to all communities
• All state schools to be good or outstanding with an implementation plan in place within six months of the election
• Begin building 300,000 homes a year to deliver at least one million homes in this parliament, 50 per cent of which will be council homes on social rents
• A crime plan for all communities addressing local, national and cyber concerns and threats

Nick Donovan (campaign director at an anti-corrupton NGO and Fabian report author)

• Promote work by taxing unearned income effectively and using the revenue to reduce taxes on earned income.
• Reward contribution by using extra stamp duty revenues to improve compensation for injured military veterans, contribution-based jobseekers’ allowance, and carer’s allowance
• Improve public fi nances and reduce the deficit with one-off levy on assets greater than £10m
• Grow the economy by staying in the single market, reforming the bonus culture to increase private sector investment, and investing in the UK’s infrastructure with money raised from a  25 per cent corporation tax rate

Mike Hedges (National Assembly for Wales member)

• Tie the minimum wage to the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation
• Support councils to build council housing and suspend the right to buy in areas with a shortage of social housing
• Reduce class sizes to under 30 for 7 to 11 year-olds
• Provide free prescriptions
• Outlaw zero hour and other exploitative employment contracts

Ellie Groves (chair, Young Fabians)

• Guarantee all existing employment rights will be converted into British law post-Brexit
• Build 300,000 homes each year, ensuring that at least 40% of these are affordable to both buy and rent
• Take international students out of net migration figure to accurately refl ect migration numbers and acknowledge positive contribution
• Enact community sentencing rather than prison for nonviolent short term sentence

James Coldwell (councillor for Newington Ward, Southwark) 

• Partner with private sector to fund 100,000 new apprenticeships by 2025 focused on emerging technologies and spread across UK regions
• £1bn to ensure there are no teacher shortages in our schools by increasing inheritance tax on wealthiest estates
• Introduce minimum social care visits of 30 minutes by removing triple-lock pensions guarantee and means-testing pensioner benefits
• End the first-past-the-post voting system, lower the voting age to 16 and introduce a national holiday for general elections
• Retain membership of the European Union if the Brexit deal is harmful to British jobs and living standards

• Transform our economy so that everyone has a proper stake in society and social mobility is promoted
• Eradicate insecure employment and invest in new technology and research and the high-skilled jobs of the future
• Build on the national minimum wage by setting it at a real living wage level
• Cut child poverty by 50% by 2025 and eradicate it by 2035
• Transfer power and infl uence away from Westminster so that decisions that affect local people are taken locally

Andrew Harrop (general secretary, Fabian Society)

• Solve the housing and earnings crisis by increasing the living wage by £500 a year and creating regional house building funds
• Rescue the NHS, so everyone can see their GP within 2 days, and expand it to include care for older and disabled people
• Invest in Britain’s future with free childcare, a £10 rise in child benefi t and a new adult skills allowance
• Take power over your life with a say over how companies and public services are run and new rights for the self-employed
• Reward responsibility by requiring migrants to contribute to earn permanent residence and raise contribution-based payments for retirement, maternity and sick leave

Charlotte Riley (lecturer in Labour party history, University of Southampton)

• Protect the NHS: support workers at all levels; provide patients with the best possible treatment
• Invest in education: support teaching at nursery, primary, secondary and university level; support research
• Resist racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and ableism in British society, culture and politics
• Build generous and effective aid and development policies overseas, combined with a progressive refugee and asylum policy to help provide safety and security for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable
• Protect the most marginalised in society: because if not, who will?

Seema Malhotra (Labour, Feltham and Heston)

• Build a dynamic economy and shared prosperity through investment in infrastructure and skills
• Set up a Small Business Agency to help fi rms flourish so they can create jobs for local people
• A skills guarantee for young people, including a work experience scheme for all state schools
• Limit class sizes to 30 by employing more teachers paid for by scrapping tax giveaways to rich
• Firm and fair immigration controls with regional work permits based on needs of local economy

Catriona Munro (chair, Scottish Fabians)

• Rejoin the EU
• Replace the House of Lords with an elected second chamber which, with democratic legitimacy, can truly hold the House of Commons to account
• Renew the relationship between the parts of the UK to form a federal partnership
• Make a career and parenthood a real possibility for all with a wrap around care and full time holiday care place available for all who need it at reasonable cost
• Overhaul education to prepare our young people for a future where computers do much of the work we currently do

Ivana Bartoletti (chair, Fabian Women’s Network)

• Invest 3 per cent of GDP on research to make Britain the global hub of innovation and tech and create the jobs that go with them
• Invest in universal childcare to increase tax revenue from additional earnings and reduce spending on social security benefi ts
• Reverse the massive privatisation of the NHS, reduce private contracts and costs of ad locum doctors and put savings into more GPs, nurses and services for the elderly
• Drive a new collaborative foreign policy together with European partners to increase our role in the world help and keep our country safe

John Woodcock (Labour, Barrow and Furness)

• The school place of your choice Place a duty on oversubscribed schools to expand so more parents get their fi rst choice
• Britain open for jobs and growth Make continued membership of the single market the key aim of the UK’s Brexit negotiations
• Community work for the unemployed Change job seekers’ allowance so everyone gives back to the community each week
• Security in old age A binding royal commission on social care to forge cross-party way forward on new frontier for the welfare state
• Britain strong beyond its borders Equip Britain to face new threats by writing 2 per cent of GDP defence spending into law

John Rentoul (political commentator, The Independent)

• Get 250,000 under 25 year-olds off benefi ts and into work by using money from cancelling HS2 and Heathrow expansion
• Spend the extra £350m a week on the NHS that people voted for by raising national insurance on higher earners
• Build beautiful cities of skyscrapers and traditional homes by using the power of government to borrow cheaply
• Reward prisons that keep inmates out of prison after release by using money from capping public-sector salaries
• No rise in income tax, fair and effi cient property taxes by abolishing stamp duty and revaluing council tax

Mari Williams (deputy head in a London secondary school and a Labour parliamentary candidate in 2015)

• Boost small business by cutting taxes for small businesses
• Introduce a new golden oldies bonus for keeping great teachers in teaching
• Build 10 new outdoor pools across Britain paid for with a tax on sugary drinks to improve public health
• Improve the justice and mediation system so that it is fair and free for those who need it most
• Create more space in our towns and cities for cycling

Martin O’Neill (lecturer, University of York)

• Free high-quality childcare for all pre-school children, a better start for the next generation and a better deal for working parents
• A cut in taxes for all ordinary working families, paid for by fairer taxes for the wealthiest in our society
• A national education service, to unleash our potential throughout our lives, and to give us the most productive workforce in the global economy
• A British sovereign wealth fund, working with local development banks, to invest for the long-term future of our society
• A stronger military, with a better deal for Britain’s servicemen and servicewomen

Joe Coyne (Labour activist, senior policy officer)

• A better Brexit. Unlike the Tories we will negotiate a deal that protects jobs and employment rights
• No coalition with the Scottish Nationalists. They want to destroy our union, we want to strengthen it
• A long term economic plan. We will eliminate the deficit by 2020 and invest in skills
• Save our NHS. Recruit 30,000 new doctors and nurses, funded by asking the wealthiest 1% to pay more in inheritance tax
• Strengthen our national security. By renewing Trident and protecting the defence budget

• Publically integrated national health and social care service
• A clear commitment to maintaining close relations with Europe
• Better deal for young people especially education, training and housing
• A comprehensive plan for addressing environmental issues, including renationalising rail services
• A fairer, progressive taxation system

• Increase NHS spending to improve care
• Increase apprenticeship schemes for young people
• Greater funding for elderly care
• Stop any further closures of libraries
• Improve opportunities for people with disabilities

John Edmonds (writer and trade unionist)

• Reduce income inequality by limits on pay ratios in organisations
• Programme to increase gender equality including quotas in companies and in government at all levels
• Establish a lock for funding of NHS based on inflation rate in Health
• Remove restriction on Councils; right to build social housing
• Fund education fully on the basis of comprehensive schooling

Mick Hanratty (Fabian and believer in the future)

• Spend more on education than defence to develop a whole life time learning with learners at the heart of delivery
• Introduce updated Sure Start Centres and implement a 1001 day support service offering complete support to children and families
• Introduce direct democracy with "street reps" replacing Councils and councillors and seek to develop natural progressive alliances to create equity for all
• Appoint a cabinet minister with responsibility for HMRC, who will oversee full tax collection from individuals and businesses, without fear or favour
• We will provide greater support for everyone to take responsibility for their own health and re-designate the NHS as the National Illness Service

Peter Oliver (concerned parent trying to do their best!)

• Keep the NHS from privatisation
• Progressive tax system
• Education: Stop cuts to education, reverse tuition fees for uni students and make sure adult education is accessible to all. Get rid of selective schools
• Protect the environment – Clean air act, look at renewable energies and transition to
• Commitment to trial and implement the Universal Basic Income

Kieron Warren

• Protect the existing rights British citizens benefit from in EU legislation
• Secure fair trade agreements that do not undermine workers
• Develop retraining schemes for those who lose their jobs to automation, outsourcing and redundancy
• Devolve more power to local authorities to ensure that local needs are fulfilled by local solutions
• Invest in education to ensure that every child receives high grade teaching and resources no matter their background or location

Ros Townsend (retired, but active member of the Labour party)

• NHS – fully funded and state provided without services contracted out to private providers
• Education – public education, properly funded and non selective. No new grammar or free schools
• Skills for the future – we need to attract and train women in science and technology in particular and generally we need to fund tertiary education to close the skills gap
• End outsourcing of public services to private companies especially in social care, prison service, probation and asylum services. Protection of services for older people
• Lay down a clear Brexit strategy which would avoid a hard landing and ensure access to Single Market and Customs Union and which would grant unilateral right to stay for EU nationals in UK currently

•  Tax the rich heavily and bar them from evasion
• Invest in manufacturing and digital Industries and infrastructure to ensure full employment
• Improve education in science and engineering
• Overhaul the management of the NHS with extra spending on preventive medicine and care of the elderly
• Tackle the cyber-crime and boost the security of the citizen

Jake Baker (second-year medical student and democratic socialist)

• Creating jobs for all through a proper industrial strategy, backing SMEs with affordable finance and investment in high-quality infrastructure
• Renewing our NHS by integrating it with social care, providing truly patient-centred, community care from cradle to grave
• Backing opportunities with a national skills service and new university technical colleges, making vocational education as good as university education
• Giving families security through enforcing a living wage, building 1 million affordable rent-to-own homes in 10 years and providing free childcare
• Handing control back to the people by giving people powers over how public services, companies and communities are run

Miles Greenwood

• Reform our broken electoral system by adopting a proportional representation system for future parliamentary elections
• Abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected upper chamber
• Relinquish the charity status of private schools, scrap their tax-breaks and reinvest the money into modernising our state-school system
• Scrap trident and invest the money in new defence technologies fit for the dangers we face in the 21st century
• Invest in developing green technologies to protect the environment for future generations to come

Carlo Villa (17 years old)

• Abolish student tuition fees with immediate effect. Re-introduce the (unrepayable) maintenance grant for the most needy and disabled students
• Cap rents. It is the only way to deflate the housing market so that young people will be eventually able to buy a house, or at least rent one for a reasonable amount. Reintroduce the Fair Rent Tribunals so that tenants have a voice
• Make those who own second properties ineligible to access benefits and credits.
• Increase penalties for those who keep second and subsequent residential properties empty for longer than three months
• Make it illegal for landlords to refuse tenants on benefits

Ian Trewin

• Introduce a system of proportional representation for general elections, in consultation with voters, experts and the other political parties
• Tax – in Britain – the profits made in Britain by multi-national companies
• Prevent multi-national companies offloading debt onto British acquisitions to avoid tax
• Eliminate the gender pay gap in the life of a parliament
• Legislate to ensure that income received in Britain by British and foreign nationals from funds held in tax havens is taxed as UK income

Nicholas Deakin

• Devolve power and resources to city regions and local government
• Fix the broken housing market – free up land and invest in construction of affordable housing for sale and new social housing.
• Introduce an industrial strategy that creates new skilled jobs, especially outside London and SE
• Invest in support for teachers, at all levels and restore educational maintenance allowance for 16-18s
• Fully resource and link social and health care

Rob Nicholls

• A 2p rise in income tax to fund the NHS and social care properly
• A modest wealth tax on the richest 1 per cent to raise £5 bn for schools
• A massive programme of investment to build a million decent houses that people can really afford
• Free childcare for working parents
• Take tough action to shut down tax havens around the world, and aggressively pursue super-rich tax dodgers who are stealing from Britain

Keith Giles

• Ensure that the NHS is available to all and receives guaranteed funding based on accurately researched needs with recourse to privatisation
• Stop state funding of private schools in any way whatsoever
• Prevent child poverty by developing honest and vigorous strategies to defeat it
• Insist that teachers are not only graduates in their subjects but are qualified to teach it
• Make sure that fat cats do not wriggle out of their tax and national insurance obligations

Paul Kindred

• Reject brexit – stay in the EU
• End academy / grammar schools
• Fund the NHS properly
• Create a new industrial economy based on digital and creative skills
• Nationalise the railways

Mark Whittaker

• Give you a pay rise, by ending the civil service pay freeze and increasing the minimum wage to £10/hour
• Make the economy work for you, by taxing the wealthiest more
• Investing in British innovation
• Championing small businesses
• Building new houses

Martin Isherwood

• Home ownership for all: create a private sector right to buy, housing benefit payments to be used for mortgage contributions on a shared basis. Build 1 million very low cost student bedroom units on university car parks to free up multi-occupancy homes for families
• Transport for all: scrap HS2 and spend the money on re-opening closed rail lines across all UK regions to give equal access to rail and introduce a UK wide free bus pass for all to reduce congestion and pollution and to make local public transport available to all
• An Economy for all: abolish business rates for all small retail and UK manufacturing businesses and transfer cost to VAT so imports are taxed at the same as UK goods. Retail business rates based on car parking spaces, with exemptions / discounts for UK tax payers. Mutualise and localise all utilities
• Education/training for all: smaller class sizes, end students as customers, training contracts for students for fee free degrees. 2 year national service for non-students in emergency services, NHS/care or armed forces. Zero 18-21 unemployment
• A voice for all: a new constitution, fair voting, regional / national government and re-establish town and village / parish councils (where abolished) to give communities a voice. Votes for 16 year olds

Nicholas Wright

• Make the British state education system the best in Europe in 10 years
• Give local communities real power to decide where and how their council taxes are spent
• Create a British national social care service
• Make every future vote count by introducing a proportional voting system
• Encourage, incentivise and reward hard work and innovation in both public and private sectors

Mike Vessey

• Stop Brexit
• Stop Brexit
• Stop Brexit
• Stop Brexit
• Stop Brexit

Mervyn Phillips

• A new view on Europe- ensure stability, jobs and trade, security and protection by going for the closest possible post referendum links with Europe
• A programme to en austerity Britain- get our infra structure right,, bring public services back to a proper level
• A fairer tax system and economic management to get the economy and standards moving again
• A new share out of wealth, resources and powers within the UK so that all regions can become partners in growth
• A world view based upon co-operation and sharing, helping with aid where needed and a positive commitment to maintaining the peace

Gill Windwood

• Fair taxation for all – tax wealth not pay eg capital gains tax, tax on dividends etc
• Invest in young people – apprenticeships, reduce tuition fees
• Ensure we have a joined up health and social care system that is not for profit
• Rejoin the Eu at the earliest opportunity

Mairi Maclean

• Social connectivity (to rebalance from the "no such thing as society)
• Geographic connectivity (to address infrastructural deficits)
• Education and training (to provide the skills to achieve the above)
• Housing policy for the UK (dispersed to utilise the above connections)
• Mental health spending

Barry Kendler

• Prioritise the regulation of the private rented sector
• Scrap all universal benefits for higher rate taxpayers
• Prioritise the reduction of pollution in our major cities
• If we’re committed to increasing the minimum wage then we must protect care users and councils from the cost increase and to ensure that care providers do not close down
• Review the company taxation regime and give it teeth (as in the USA) so companies pay for the infrastructure they benefit from

Mark Fittock

• Introduce a sound economic growth program- with emphasis on green renewable energy and conservation
• Reform the tax system – to ensure multinationals contribute their proper share to the UK economy closing all British protectorate tax havens
• Reform social care and health services to be provided free at the point of delivery were possible within a community setting using on line services and domicilary visits to improve delivery of services while reducing costs
• As an alternative to the hunger games provide each young person with a individual progress program with firm targets for education, training and employment experience . that can be used as a basis for a CV. Each young persons program to be supported by an adult champion
• Reform the House of Lords to a fully elected upper chamber being accountable to the voters

Helen Watson

• A strong voice negotiating the best possible Brexit deal
• Commit to a fair funding plan for all schools and will ditch the proposal for more grammar schools
• Ensure increased funding and support for the NHS
• Work with rail companies to ensure an improved level of service
• Look again at the benefits system and ensure a fairer level of support for those who need it most, such as the disabled and the elderly

Richard Bland

• Allow local authorities to raise money against existing housing stock to build social housing
• Invest in technical training for 16-18 year old students
• Amalgamate social care and NHS expenditure to create better medical outcomes
• Open up Sure Start centres to help preschool children get a better start in life
• 50p tax on higher tax payers to fund social care

Lynton Moore

• Rent controls
• Decriminalise marijuana and treat other drugs as a health problem to reduce crime and our bloated prison population
• Right to buy in private sector
• Free school meals for ALL children to improve public health
• Shift the tax burden to truly wealthy and large corporations

Graham Parry 

• Ensure your kids can buy a house
• Ensure your kids won’t be in debt when they leave uni
• Ensure your kids won’t ever have to pay for health care
• Ensure your kids get the best possible free education with the guarantee of an apprenticeship at the end if they want it
• Ensure that the UK economy is heralded around the world to make sure it is as strong as it can be

 Josiah Lenton

• End exploitative zero-hours contracts and seek to create real employment, and protect workers’ rights as we leave the EU
• Establish a British sovereign wealth fund, working with local development banks, to invest for the long-term future of our economy
• Properly fund and support real, comprehensive education, giving our children and young people the best start in life, from early years to university
• Guarantee the NHS the the extra £350m a week people voted for, reduce the involvement of the profiteering private sector, and cut A&E waiting times
• Support councils to build council housing by creating regional home-building funds

Elsa Dawson

• We will work hard to protect the interests of workers and vulnerable groups in the UK during the negotiations to leave the European Union, particularly in the areas of the economy and human rights legislation

Christopher Wilkinson

• Rural constituencies: maintain protection of hill farming and environmental agriculture. If Brexit fails, stay in the CAP
• Education and training: Raise school leaving age to 18. Ensure that all young women and men undertake vocational or academic training, including ICT skills.
• Universities: cancel student loans.
• Housing: restore affordable places for rent.
• Regional policy: re-balance jobs, housing and population. Create opportunities for foot-loose activities. Use ICT and the internet to decongest the south-east

Kathy Smith

• Dramatically increased funding for preventative health care especially in areas of sexual health care and awareness among young people
• Equal and fair opportunities in education at whatever level, from basic literacy to PHD
• A right to decent housing, heating, water, food, clothing and a basic minimum income
• Renationalisation of key industries such as the post office, energy and water companies, the railways and public transport
• Dignity in old age or disability, including respect and choice in care and life choices

Heather Bodden

• Wages that allow a decent standard of living
• The sick and the elderly can live without fear that there will be no support.
• All shall have access to good housing
• Schools will put children before ideology
• Jobs for all

Brian Barton

• Invest in the NHS and stop all privatisation
• Stop all benefit sanctions, and end the bedroom tax, and create a welfare state that will protect the vulnerable
• Renationalise the railway network and invest in better stock and infrastructure
• Abolish zero hours contracts
• End all free schools and invest in education to ensure the best for all our children

Richard Hallatt

• 50% tax rate on incomes over £100,000
• All state schools back under democratic Local Authority control
• Scrap Trident renewal
• Increase spending on the NHS and social care
• Build more council houses. Set a target in each area of the country

Oliver Denny-Northover

• Electoral reform – A transition from a first past the post system to a single transferable vote and votes for 16 and 17 year olds
• Federal Kingdom – Completely devolve powers to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Immigration – A reward system for those settling in the United Kingdom with benefits for those who integrate and work
• Cannabis – Legalise cannabis so it can be controlled and taxed
•  Tax – less tax for the people and more on large corporations who use our infrastructure

David Farnham

• Protect the NHS and maintain its sustainability
• Integrate the NHS with the social care system
• Seek a soft Brexit
• Return primary and secondary education into local authority control
• Shift towards a progressive taxation system, which taxes both personal incomes and wealth, and makes the corporate sector pay its fair share of taxation

Susan Lane

• Employment – stop exploitation and excessive profits. Improve wages, reduce differentials, job security, employee benefits e.g. pensions
• Housing – investment in social housing and abolish right to buy. Create incentives for tenants to move on if they can afford a mortgage
• Social care – implement Dilnot and restore LA budgets. Tell baby boomers to expect to fund at least some of the care they will need ( I am one)
• Education – promise a dedicated high status technical stream in all schools emphasising practical skills in engineering and technology. Make apprenticeships better
• Make mental health services better. Start with a focus for children who been abused, neglected and abandoned

Ian Hunter

• A job, or training, for every school leaver
• A roof over everyones head
• Social care provision for the elderly, paid for with increased NI contribution by the over 40s
• A series of new towns, built on disused airfields, largely build to zero carbon standards, custom or self build given priority, with a broad mix of tenures. Local authorities given the freedom to borrow for capital projects including social housing. Subsidies for insulation and solar panels to be increased, priority for this expenditure given to the disabled and those older people with only the state pension
• To stop the cuts to public services, return to the previous tax levels for the wealthy, coupled with a national lottery for knighthoods, at a pound a ticket

Marcella Harris 

• Revisit pension age for WASPI women, particularly those with long term debilitating health conditions
• Consider overall health conditions toward more flexible retirement arrangements for men and women
• Revise PIP rules regarding mental health conditions to recognise detrimental impact of reforms and reassessment on mental health and wellbeing
• Abolish bedroom tax for severely disabled
• Assess and review impact of austerity measures on the most vulnerable social groups

Veronika Binoeder

• A clear policy on immigration
•  A clear policy on employment conditions (no zero hour contracts)

Julie Grinsell 

• Democratic reform with every person’s vote counting towards the final outcome and free from the bias and manipulation of constituency boundaries
• Cross party review of the NHS and education and a new structure of governance for both that will protect them from the worst excesses of political ideology
• Creation of not for profit organisations for key infrastructure areas such as public transport, energy generation, water and sanitation
• Commitment to addressing climate change and maintaining the highest standards of clean air, the environment, biodiversity and animal welfare
• A programme of infrastructure provision to promote a range of affordable housing options particularly in areas with high cost housing and longer travel to work time

Viyaasan Mahalingasivam

• Renationalization of the NHS – put an end to private involvement and the internal market
• A fair and just foreign policy – increase diplomatic efforts to hold oppressive regimes to account, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Myanmar
• Abolish tuition fees – free access to higher education for all
• Investment in infrastructure – create a national investment bank to develop 21st century industry
• Nationalize social care – lets ensure that our elderly are looked after with dignity and class

David Matthews

• All Labour MPs will be genuinely honest with the electorate nationally
• Renationalise the railways , electricity &  gas supply industry to ensure fair costing for customers.
• Ensure that elderly social care is free for those who have worked and lived their lifes under a certain income standard, meaning that those who strived to buy their property on lower incomes are not forced to sell their homes to pay for their care
• Make sure the national health service is fully funded with a law that can not be changed by incoming governments, of whatever inclination

David Ashton

• A fully funded and resourced NHS, fit for the needs of 21st century Britain.
• A fully funded and resourced education system, catering for the needs of children and young people everywhere who aspire to achieve their full potential
• A post-Brexit economy that maintains access to the EU free market and builds upon the advances made for workers and businesses alike
• A housing market that opens the way for more people to rent or own their home, free from pernicious landlords or extortionate deposits
• A more fair and equal society, supporting the many and not the few, enhancing life chances and opportunity relentlessly and consistently

Phillip Mansbridge

• Deliver a Brexit that gives us control of immigration while protecting jobs, the environment and our rights at work
• Cut the deficit each year in the next Parliament and get public spending under control without raising the rate of income tax
• A windfall tax on the big utilities to pay for a youth employment programme to get our young people into work
• An increase in inheritance tax on only the most wealthy to invest in schools and education for all children
• A windfall tax on massive food manufacturers to pay for an increase in spending on the NHS

John Newham

• Proportional representation for all elections. One Person, One Vote, One Value
• A social care service to be coordinated and run in parallel with the NHS
• Devolution of power to the English regions
• A close relationship with existing members of the EU
• More training and opportunities for 16 to 21 year olds not applying for university

Andy Jordan

• Ensure that banks and the investment industries focus on enabling entrepreneurship and creativity by changing the regulatory framework
• Increase social mobility by enabling lifelong free education
• Establish social ownership of natural monopolies, such as the distribution of gas, water, electricity and cabled communications
• Shift power from Whitehall to communities, towns and regions so that the levers of power are close to where decisions take effect
• Invest in social care so that all those in need, such as the elderly, the sick and the abused, are properly looked after

John Connolly

• Tie school funding to the cost of private education, with the minimum spend per pupil in the state funded sector being at least half of the average cost of private education
• An extra education tax on all incomes over 150k. This would allow for a good quality education to be available for all and build in fairness to our society from the start.

James Knowles 

• Close all the current loopholes in PAYE/personal taxation
• Restore Corporation tax to a more appropriate level
• Collect all corporation tax due – no more ‘sweetheart’ deals
• Over a parliament restore funding to the NHS to pre 2010 levels
• Work out how to fund social care

Liz Chellingsworth 

• Incorporate the rights of the ECHR into UK law
• Create a stakeholder entity combining social care and health care with a ringfenced budget
• Boost the number of high value apprenticeships and bursaries
• Set up a non-political education board to define a stable, long-term education policy from early years through to tertiary education
• Tackle the housing shortage by using joined-up services

Robin Sutcliffe 

• A Brexit agreement that maintained a single market and was flexible on immigration that fought to slow and eventually reduce global warming
• A climate change strategy that impacted least on in areas of deprivation and most in areas of sufficiency
• A global policy of improving education, based on fairness and equality, but starting at home

Steven Powell 

• 100,000 new council homes
• Rent controls
• Invest in green collar jobs
• Stop privatisation
• A referendum on the EU exit package

Dafydd Lewis 

• Somewhere to live for all homeless people
• Safeguard the NHS and redesign social care, including improved management
• Redesign and hugely improve mental health care
• Protect the environment with radical new environment bill
• Education: fund schools properly and scrap HE tuition fees

Paul Dundon

• Limit the use of zero-hour contracts to ensure most jobs pay a living take-home wage
• Raise a tax on land which could be used for housing but which is going undeveloped
• Rationalise foreign aid and redirect funds to domestic tax credits
• Restrict movement and residency rights for non-UK citizens with criminal records
• Introduce elected members to the House of Lords

James Prentice 

• Financial transaction tax – A tax on the financial services to fund needed investment in education services
• Closure of all UK tax havens – as no one should be above the law or the tax system in our own country
• Create the NES – A national education free from selection and political interference. Let us have professionals deciding on our children’s education future
• A carbon energy tax to fund the next generation of clean cheaper energy, protecting our environment, funding our future energy needs
• Regional government – greater power over regions to decide their development eg infrastructure spending

Patrick Newman

• Councils told to draw up plans to build council houses with the aim of 50,000 per year for the next three years
• Stop all work on HS2 and allocate the funding to projects nation wide to improve and upgrade rail services;
• As each rail franchise comes up for renewal hand over the service to Network Rail
• Turn RBS into a national bank run on similar lines to the John Lewis Partnership
• Pledge and extra £20bn a year to be shared among the NHS, education and social services, funded by growth and progressive taxes on income and wealth

John Baker 

• A sound economic policy that works for the whole of society
• A fair and equitable approach to employment law
• A sensible and sustainable approach to immigration
• A sensible approach to the benefits system that recognises humanity
• An approach to education that premises learning for life rather learning for measurement

Sarah Bogle

• Focus health care investment in primary and community care, mental health, prevention and early intervention (pay for with higher corporation tax, removal of some universal benefits like winter fuel allowance)
• Commit to EU environmental targets and the plans that will support them (aim to help renewables industry, fuel poverty, clean air, healthy living, flood prevention etc.)
• Affordable childcare to boost productivity and support families
• Support/incentivise investment in areas where EU migration fills skills gaps, eg logistics, social care, healthcare, retail, hospitality
• A Brexit that makes economic prosperity for all the main priority

Mark Rowney

• Eliminate the deficit by 2022
• Spend less on housing benefit and more on new homes for working families
• Create 500,000 new, full time, permanent jobs in the green economy
• Offer a referendum in February 2019 asking: Should the UK withdraw its Article 50 notice to the EU?
• Require all foreign immigrants seeking to live in the UK to take English language tests

Federico Zonno

• Take a straight, unitary direction in regards to the many challenges of Brexit, the remainers and leavers equally need guidance
• Labour needs to seek alliances and work strategically seeking alliances in order to defeat May’s hard Brexit
• End the faceless economic disaster caused by the Conservative party, saying, with loud and clear voice, the consequences on communities and social care
• Study more, hear more. The actual state of the party is the result of its poor capacity to hear the request of its voters

Shelagh Monteith

• Save our precious NHS and work towards joined up health and social care
• Protect our schools from admission by selection
• Protect pensioners by retaining the triple lock, bus passes and winter fuel payments
• Stop youngsters being priced out of education
• Build enough homes and bring back council housing

Rosamund Oudart 

• Soft Brexit with a paper given the Europeans who are already here
• More funding for the NHS
• Tax landlords
• Foncier tax as in France
• Reduce offshore landlords etc

Duncan McVey

• Reflect views of 48% + who are against Brexit
• Change the leadership to be electable
• Work for the interests of the whole population – not just dyed in the wool socialists
• Protect the NHS

Adam Clarke 

• Create a new NHS winter workforce – funded by a windfall tax on the worst pollution creators and by the alcohol and cigarette industries
• Tackle traffic congestion with a united rail & bus system – connecting communities as well as large economic centres
• Complete a three year Royal Commission on Tax and Work – creating universally just modern employment standards & a fair work related tax system
• Over-haul the planning system – to deliver a fabric first, brownfield first housing strategy, creating 300,000 low-bills homes annually
• Initiate ‘Connected Brtain’ – utilising digital technology to integrate adult social care with the NHS & schools with other children’s services

 Oliver Wheeler 

• Create 1 million Green jobs by 2025, to make Britain a world leader in the industries of the future
• Integrate the NHS and social care
• Create a national education service, to ensure everyone, from cradle to grave, has the security in a skilled vocation
• A federal UK, returning powers from the EU to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions
• Build 150,000 council houses a year

 Robert Nichols 

• Establish a housing investment bank backed by help-to-buy ISAs, to fund the construction of affordable homes
• Support working families through an £80 a month increase in working tax credits
• Support workers by abolishing employment tribunal fees, ending zero hours contracts for those over 25 and increasing the NLW to £9.50
• Fully legalise and tax cannabis, which could save £400 m and raise £900 m per year (figures from 2016)
• Regulate the private rented sector. Creating a landlords register and giving private tenants the right-to-buy

Ellie Levenson 

• Confirm commitment to winning elections as a route to changing society
• Save the NHS
• Stop the anti immigrant rhetoric
• Well funded one size fits all non faith non grammar education
• Well funded accessible mental health services for all

Sean Smyth 

• A referendum on PR – to ensure a more representative parliament
• Investing in our NHS, increasing its budget in real terms
• Free school meals for all – by introducing VAT on school fees
• A universal basic income- to reduce the income gap
• A referendum on federalism- to increase power held by local authorities

Steven Jolly

• A guaranteed minimum personal & family income through real living wage & tax credits
• A secure national health & personal care service for all
•  A place to call home for all with massive programme of house building through shared ownership & social housing schemes
• A solar panel on every home renewable energy for all
• A vote that is fair and meaningful through fair voting system at local & national level

Tom Dore

• Increase your wages by requiring companies to pay a minimum wage of £10 per hour by 2020
• Rescue the NHS by bringing it fully back into public hands. Once again providing social care for the elderly which is fully funded
• Freeze energy bills for the next 4 years. Only permit energy companies to raise your bills inline with inflation
• Keep a roof over your head by building 200,000 new homes a year and scrapping the cruel bedroom tax
• Guarantee no increase in your income tax for the 96 per cent of people earning under £100,000 a year

Neil Finegan 

• Remove Jeremy Corbyn from the party – immediate vote winner and would see us reconnect with the country as a whole
• He can take Diane and Mcdonnel with him – bonus points all around
• Len McCluskey to be forced to parade naked outside the houses of Parliament, believing he is wearing the emporers new clothes. He doesn’t do politics
• Introduce the Corbyn ammendment, requiring potential leaders to have 40 per cent PLP support
• Play videos of the removal of JC as party political broadcast, like a Fawlty Towers tribute

Jonathan Downing 

• Eradicate the wage gap – equalise the average hourly wage earned by men and women in the UK by 2022
• Housing, housing, housing – legislate to end land-banking and remove the borrowing cap to allow councils to build
• Supporting British towns – devolve revenue-raising powers to struggling towns to revitalise investment in Britain’s high streets and small businesses
• Connecting our country – rebalance infrastructure spending to connect cities in the North, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales
• Every child matters – subsidised nursery places, a national infant nutrition taskforce and a national literacy strategy to support every child’s first 1000 days

 

The above pledges do not representation the collective views of the Fabian Society but are only the views of the individual authors.