Labour manifesto of 'hope' will 'reverse national priorities' - Corbyn
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell tells Sky News the party will ask the richest 5% to pay a bit more to "save public services".
Tuesday 16 May 2017 08:53, UK
Labour will "reverse national priorities" and put "hope over fear", Jeremy Corbyn will say today as he formally launches his manifesto in Bradford.
The Labour leader will say his programme for the next five years if he becomes Prime Minister will be "radical and responsible".
Mr Corbyn, who in a party broadcast last night called the Tories "tight-fisted" and "mean-spirited", will also challenge Theresa May to a live TV leadership debate.
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In a manifesto that was , Mr Corbyn is expected to offer an end to austerity while renationalising the railways, the energy sector and Royal Mail.
But he will also promise to manage the country "within our means" amid criticism from the Conservatives that his promises have not been fully costed.
Speaking ahead of the manifesto release, shadow chancellor John McDonnell told Sky News: "We will see a wide range of policies. We will see investment in our public services, we are investing in our economy, we want to grow our economy by way of really upgrading our overall infrastructure, bringing in the high skills and then high-wage jobs.
"We are going to make sure that's right the way across the country and not just in London and the South East but across all our regions and nations.
"But in addition to that we will see there is a range of policies in which we try to ensure that within our public services people who work so hard are properly rewarded as well."
He added that there would be no tax increases for 95% of people but that the top 5% would be asked to pay a bit more to "save public services".
Mr McDonnell said that "uniquely", every policy would be costed and that he had not seen a pound sign next to any Tory policies.
The Labour leader will say: "This is a programme of hope. The Tory campaign, by contrast, is built on one word: fear.
"The record proves one thing: the Tories are still the nasty party. The party of prejudice, the party of the rich, the party of the tight-fisted and the mean-spirited."
The measures expected are:
:: An excessive-pay charge on firms: 2.5% on earning over £330,000 and 5% on those over £500,000
:: 45p income tax rate for those earning £80,000 plus
:: Extra £6bn for the NHS and £1.6bn for social care
:: Increase in corporation tax from 19% to 26% by 2020
:: Robin Hood tax on financial transactions
:: Renationalising railways, buses, water, energy and Royal Mail
The manifesto is expected to reaffirm Labour's commitment to the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent after Mr Corbyn lost his battle to scrap it.
The launch comes as Labour came under fire for hiring former hardline communist and chairman of the Stop The War Coalition, Andrew Murray, to help with Mr Corbyn's election campaign.
Mr McDonnell defended the appointment and said: "We're winning people over to the Labour Party with the policies we've put forward. We've converted him."
For the Conservatives, Treasury Chief Secretary David Gauke said Mr Corbyn's plans were a "shambles".
He said: "His economic ideas are nonsensical, his views on national security indefensible and he'd make a total mess of the Brexit negotiations.
"It's ordinary working people who will pay for the chaos of Corbyn.
"Jeremy Corbyn has made so many unfunded spending commitments it is clear that Labour would have to raise taxes dramatically because his sums don't add up."