Name: Is Jeremy Corbyn's radical Labour election manifesto eye-catching or eye-watering? | FT
Uploaded: 2020-03-07T16:34:13.000Z
Duration: 4 min 27 s
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Labour's manifesto is a manifesto for hope.

To cheers from loyal supporters, Jeremy Corbyn has unveiled

Labour's manifesto, hoping to win over enough of the less

committed members of the British electorate to deprive his

Conservative rival Boris Johnson of a parliamentary majority

The centrepiece is billed as a transformation,

promising a Green New Deal, more social housing,

and major new funding for the public services.

We will make those at the top pay their fair share of tax

to help fund the world class public services for you.

The proposals for higher taxes at nearly £83bn are much larger

than the £48.6bn of extra annual tax and spending

in the party's 2017 general election manifesto.

Is this package eye-catching or eye-watering?

Well, it depends which side you fall of Labour's chosen

dividing line between what Mr Corbyn called the wealthy

and the powerful, who he said should be ignored,

and the rest of a volatile and discontented electorate.

Surveys show an extraordinarily high level of the public

is still undecided on which party to back at this election.

And Labour is betting that many may be hankering for change

after nearly a decade of underfunding in the public

services and a standard of living that has failed

has branded the plans colossal and, crucially, not credible.

Paul Johnson, of the IFS, called the package 'the biggest set

of spending increases, and the biggest set of tax increases,

and the biggest set of borrowing increases we've seen

at a hike in corporation tax alongside increases

in income and wealth taxes, plus a list of nationalisations,

plus a fudge on protecting freedom of movement

We will secure a sensible deal that protects manufacturing

put it to a public vote alongside the option

On this, the greatest decision facing the country for decades

- Brexit - Labour maintains its commitment to holding

a referendum on its own negotiated exit deal,

without making its position clear if that happens.

But the pollsters say, helpfully for Labour,

that the NHS has now overtaken Brexit as the most pressing

It has already offered a way for Mr Corbyn

to turn the conversation onto future trade

deals between a Tory government and the bogeyman Donald Trump.

'Not for sale', for sale cheered his audience.

Attacks on privilege in the form of private schools

were, as anticipated, slightly toned down.

And again, Labour promised free university tuition for all,

plus free broadband, and a lot of other free stuff that could

prove tempting unless - and here's that word again -

Rather than, as Mr Corbyn would prefer, as radical.

I am so proud to be launching our manifesto tonight.

A day before, the Lib Dems had launched their manifesto.

And although their moment in the election spotlight was

overshadowed by royal scandals, the party were keen

to emphasise that remaining in the EU will deliver a £50bn

boost to the government's spending powers.

These figures were plausible, said the Institute

for Fiscal Studies, but only if the Brexit issue was completely

And that is a promise that no party in this election