General election: What you need to know about the Labour Party and its policies
Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to pull off an election victory that surpasses even that achieved by Sir Tony Blair in 1997. Sky News takes a look at the party he is seeking to propel to power for the first time in 14 years.
Thursday 13 June 2024 13:37, UK
Labour is the principal party of the centre-left in the UK that traces its roots back to the trade union movement.
It has spent most of its history in opposition, with the Conservatives ruling for 65 years in the 20th century.
Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to secure a historic victory on 4 July after 14 years in opposition - and all the polls suggest he is on course to deliver that win.
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If he is successful, he will be the first Labour leader since Sir Tony Blair to return the party to government.
What are the party's policies?
Its manifesto, announced on Thursday 16 June, contained no surprises, but underlined priorities Sir Keir had already set out.
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The six key pledges are to:
• Deliver economic stability - including by raising £7bn in taxes, largely from a crackdown on non-doms and tax avoidance
• Cut NHS waiting lists - by adding 40,000 more weekly appointments, though Sky News analysis suggests this would make little change
• Crack down on anti-social behaviour
• Recruit 6,500 new teachers - paid for by raising taxes on private schools
• Launch a new border security command - to tackle small boat crossings, targeting criminal gangs rather than the migrants, paid for by scrapped Rwanda scheme
• Set up publicly-owned Great British Energy - a state-owned clean power firm, backed by £8.3bn
Among the party's most eye-catching policies is ending the controversial VAT tax break on private schools, in a move it says will raise an estimated £1.7bn that will be reinvested in the state sector.
Another is a plan to reform the Lords by removing the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords, and by adding a mandatory retirement age of 80.
It has also put forward a "new deal for working people" - renamed "Labour's plan to make work pay, to the irritation of some unions - which includes: a "right to switch off" outside of working hours, a proposed ban on zero hours contracts, and stronger employment rights from day one of a new job.
The "right to switch off... so working from home does not become homes turning into 24/7 offices" appears to have been qualified however, with the party saying it will give workers and employers "the opportunity to have constructive conversations and work together on bespoke workplace policies or contractual terms that benefit both parties".
Who are the key figures?
Sir Keir is the current leader of the Labour Party, elected in 2020 in the wake of the 2019 general election defeat under Jeremy Corbyn.
Sir Keir, a former barrister and ex-director of public prosecutions, has made it his mission to move Labour back into the centre, believing it lost its way during the Corbyn years.
He was elected in 2015 for the seat of Holborn and St Pancras and is therefore relatively new to the structures and workings of the Labour Party.
He has picked Angela Rayner, the shadow housing secretary, for the role of deputy prime minister if he wins the election, while Rachel Reeves, the Labour candidate and most recent MP for Leeds West, will be his chancellor.
Previous Labour leaders of the last few decades include Mr Corbyn, Ed Miliband, Gordon Brown, Sir Tony, John Smith, Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot.
Other previous Labour prime ministers have been James Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Clement Atlee and Ramsay MacDonald.
Where did the party come from?
The Labour Party was formed in 1900, when the Trades Union Congress, the representative body for trade unions, joined forces with the Independent Labour Party to establish a committee that went on to form the modern-day Labour Party.
Keir Hardie, the son of a servant and carpenter, emerged as the party's leading figure and as a champion for the working class in the Commons.
Throughout the 20th century, Labour spent much of its time in opposition.
The longest period - dubbed the wilderness years - occurred from 1979, when Mr Callaghan lost the election to Margaret Thatcher, to 1997, when Tony Blair won a 179-seat majority under New Labour.
Since Labour lost power in 2010, much of the struggle in Labour has been between the different factions and their competing visions for what the party should stand for and what it should offer the country.
Mr Kinnock's defining mission was to rid the party of the hard left, in particular the Militant Tendency.
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In the wake of the 2019 general election defeat, Sir Keir has also sought to bring the party back into the centre - disappointing those on the left who have criticised him for abandoning many of the radical pledges that saw him elected to his position.
How have they fared in the polls?
Labour have enjoyed a consistent healthy lead in the polls since at least 2022, following the turbulence in the Conservative Party over partygate and the subsequent short-lived leadership of Liz Truss.
A poll by Sky News and YouGov predicted Labour could be on course to win a historic landslide with a 194-seat majority.
It would be the highest number of seats of any party at any election since Conservative Stanley Baldwin won a majority of 208 in 1924.