Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party,
commenting on the death of Rhodri Morgan, the former First Minister for Wales,
said:

“Tonight
we’ve lost a good friend, a great man and, above all, a giant of the Welsh
Labour movement.

“I saw
Rhodri just last month, campaigning in Cardiff North with Carwyn Jones. 

“Rhodri
was an incredibly effective First Minister for Wales. He stood up for Wales, its
people’s future and its public services. So much was achieved in his nearly ten
years in the post, making a real success of devolution and laying the
foundations for what the Welsh Government is accomplishing today.

“I first
met Rhodri in 1987 on his election to Parliament and we became good friends.
Our thoughts are with his wife Julie and the rest of the family. They can be
truly proud of Rhodri’s enormous achievements.”

Carwyn
Jones Labour’s First Minister of Wales, said:

“Wales
hasn’t just lost a great politician, we’ve lost a real father figure. In very
many ways Rhodri wasn’t like other politicians, and that is why people warmed
to him, trusted him and felt like they knew him so well. He was funny, clever,
engaging on almost any topic and absolutely passionate about all things Welsh.

“I owe him a great deal, just as we all do in Welsh Labour. He did so much to
fight for, and then establish devolution in the hearts and minds of the public
in our country. His bright confidence was infectious, and we can see so much of
Rhodri’s can-do attitude in our modern Wales. That first decade of
self-governance, and making distinct choices for Wales will forever be
associated with his leadership.

“He will be hugely missed, and my thoughts are with Julie and all the family at
this sad time.”

Tom
Watson, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“Rhodri
was one of the greats and I’m very sad to learn of his death. 

“I was
with Rhodri and Julie on Thursday at a dinner in Cardiff for Labour MPs and he
was as irrepressible as ever, laughing and joking with friends and
guests. 

“He will
be remembered for his fierce intellect and his passion for the Welsh people,
whom he served with distinction. 

“He was a
gifted First Minister of Wales, a respected Labour leader and a fine man. 

“The
Labour movement will miss him. My thoughts and prayers are with Julie and the
family.”

The
Shadow Chancellor today has challenged the Chancellor to a live TV debate on
the economy before 8th June. In a video released online after Labour published
their manifesto and full costings, John McDonnell, said:  

“The
Labour Party published its manifesto and we published the detailed costings of
all our policy proposals and where the funding would come from to pay for those
policies.

“We
set the framework  for the management of our economy for the future,
managing the economy for the many not the few. 

“Now
we want to have a democratic debate in this election. Theresa May is hiding
from a debate with Jeremy Corbyn on television, but you know in France they had
that debate between the two main contenders for the presidency and it’s part of
our democratic system.

“So
come on Mr Hammond, come and have a debate with me because I believe once
we’ve had that debate people will realise just what your government is all
about.

“More
austerity stifling our economy, failing to ensure that people in work are
properly paid and undermining those people who can’t work as a result of your
benefit cuts.

“I’m
challenging Philip Hammond to a debate on Tory cuts and on the economic
strategy that Labour has set out for strong economy that benefits the many and
not few.

This
morning the Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, further proved that he and the
Conservatives have no grip on the public finances. After seven years of Tory
economic failure, which has seen £700 billion added to the national debt despite
massive spending cuts, every household in Britain should fear more years of
Tory failure and incompetence.

In
the course of only five minutes of a car-crash interview, Philip Hammond showed
that he:

·        
Doesn’t
know the cost of his government’s biggest single investment, the HS2 high-speed
line, getting the cost wrong by more than a staggering £20 billion;

·        
Doesn’t
know how his own fiscal rule for spending works as he confused day-to-day
spending and investment spending;

·        
Doesn’t
have any clear plan in place to balance the public finances, including filling
the £2 billion black hole that his National Insurance u-turn created.

Just
a day after Labour published its comprehensive and fully-costed plans for the
economy, the Tories’ plans are in total disarray. The Chancellor couldn’t even
rule out further tax hikes for low and middle earners, unlike Labour who have
guaranteed no rises in employee National Insurance, no rises in VAT, and no
rises in income tax for 95 per cent of taxpayers. 

And
Phillip Hammond confirmed that relations between him and Number 10 are so bad
that they are reduced to expletive-laden phone calls.

Even
Theresa May doesn’t trust Philip Hammond any more, refusing to confirm today
that he will stay on as Chancellor after the election. If the Prime Minister
can’t trust her own Chancellor, why should the British people?

Labour’s
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Peter Dowd, said

“This
morning Philip Hammond has shown the Conservatives have no grip of the public
finances. It is worrying that the Chancellor clearly doesn’t know how much a
massive infrastructure project currently underway will cost, or the difference
between revenue and capital spending. The fact he doesn’t know how much money
he needs to put aside for major capital infrastructure projects and has no
plan to balance the public finances beggars belief.

“We
should not forget that there is already a £2 billion black hole in his first
Budget following his u-turn on increasing National Insurance. Nor should we
forget he has been part of a Tory government that has added £700 billion to the
national debt – more than all Labour governments in history.”

“Labour
is the only party with a fully costed plan to revive Britain’s economy and
close the Conservatives’ never ending budget deficit, while protecting
everyone from tax increases on VAT and NICs, as well as guaranteeing 95 per
cent of income taxpayers won’t face income tax rises.”

John
McDonnell, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on today’s ONS labour market
statistics, said: 

“These figures bring home the Tories’
total failure to improve the living standards of working families.

“Real wages are lower than they were in 2010 and, after seven years of the
Tories, they are now falling again. 

“The choice at this election couldn’t be
clearer: either a Tory party presiding over a crisis in living standards or a
Labour government that will build a Britain for the many, not the few.”

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at the
launch of The Labour Party Manifesto 2017 in Bradford, said:

***CHECK AGAINST
DELIVERY*** 

It’s a pleasure to be in Bradford today
to launch Labour’s manifesto, “For the many not the few”.

I’m pleased to be here in Bradford
University where that great Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson was the first
Chancellor. Harold Wilson had a vision for Britain and created the institutions
to match, like the Open University.

Today we set out vision to transform
Britain for the 21^st century.

This manifesto is the first draft of a
better future for the people of our country. A blueprint of what Britain could
be and a pledge of the difference a Labour government can make.

Like thousands of other Labour party
members, I’ve been making that case to people across the country over the last
few weeks.  As this campaign has continued, for an election called by a
Prime Minister with scant regard for her own solemn pledges, opinion has
started to move towards Labour.

There is no great secret as to the
reason.

People want a country run for the many
not the few.

That is because for the last seven years
our people have lived through the opposite; a Britain run for the rich, the
elite and the vested interest

They have benefitted from tax cuts and
bumper salaries while millions have struggled.

Whatever your age or situation, people
are under pressure, struggling to make ends meet.

Our manifesto is for you.

Parents worrying about the prospects for
their children and anxious about the growing needs of their own elderly
parents.

Young people struggling to find a secure
job and despairing of ever getting a home of their own.

Children growing up in poverty.

Students leaving college burdened with
debt.

Workers who have gone years without a
real pay rise coping with stretched family budgets.

Labour’s mission, over the next five
years, is to change all that.

Our manifesto spells out how. With a
programme that is radical and responsible.

A programme that will reverse our
national priorities to put the interests of the many first.

Will change our country while managing
within our means.

And will lead us through Brexit while
putting the preservation of jobs first.

Let me highlight just a few of our key
pledges, and believe it or not, you haven’t read them all already.

We are ruling out rises on VAT and
National Insurance and on income tax for all but the richest 5% of high
earners.

Labour will boost the wages of 5.7
million people earning less than the living wage to £10 an hour by 2020.

Labour will end the cuts in the National
Health Service to deliver safe staffing levels and reduce waiting lists.

Labour will scrap tuition fees, lifting
the debt cloud from hundreds of thousands of young people.

Labour will move towards universal
childcare expanding free provision for 2, 3 and 4 year olds in the next
Parliament.

Labour is guaranteeing the triple lock to
protect pensioners’ incomes.

And we will build over a million new
homes, at least half for social rent.

Labour makes no apology for offering new
protections to people at work, including ending the scandal of zero-hour
contracts.

Or for finding the resources to hire
10,000 new police officers and 3,000 new firefighters.

And we will do the smaller things that
still make a real difference – like ending hospital car parking charges or
introducing four extra bank holidays a year.

But we in Labour
recognise that solving these problems requires a thriving economy.  One
that gets our economy working again, and rises to the challenges of Brexit for
jobs and investment.

For seven years
the Conservatives have been holding Britain back.

Low investment,
low wages, low growth.

Labour will move
Britain forward with ambitious plans to unlock the country’s potential.

Labour will set
up a National Investment Bank and regional development banks to finance growth
and good jobs in all parts of the UK through major capital projects.

Labour will
invest in our young people through a National Education Service focussed on
childcare, schools and skills, giving them the capacity to make a productive
contribution to tomorrow’s economy.

Labour will take
our railways back into public ownership, to put the passenger first.

We will take back
control of our country’s water by bringing it into regional public ownership.

And we will take
a public stake in the energy sector to help keep fuel prices down and ensure a
balanced and green energy policy for the future.

The Tories now want to scare us into
accepting more of the same.

Only Labour has a plan ambitious enough
to unleash the country’s potential. 

And only Labour has a plan to make Brexit
work for ordinary people.  We are clear:  The choice is now a Labour
Brexit that puts jobs first, or a Tory Brexit that will be geared to the
interests of the City, and will risk making Britain a low-wage tax haven.

As we leave the European Union, because
that is what the people have voted for, only Labour will negotiate a deal that
preserves jobs and access to the single market, preserves rights and does not
plunge our country into a race to the bottom.

All this is costed, as the documents
accompanying our manifesto make clear.  Our revenue-raising plans ensure
we can embark on this ambitious programme without jeopardising our national
finances.

We are asking the better-off and the big
corporations to pay a little bit more – and, of course, to stop dodging their
tax obligations in the first place.

And in the longer term we look to a
faster rate of growth, driven by increased private and public investment, to
keep our accounts in shape.

This is a programme of hope.

The Tory campaign, by contrast, is built
on one word: Fear

What would another 5 years of
Conservative government mean for Britain?

Just look back at the last seven:

More children in poverty.

Fewer young couples able to buy their
first home.

More people queuing at food banks.

Fewer police on the beat … fewer
firefighters too.

More people are in work but they’re not
getting the pay or the hours to make ends meet.

More young people are in debt.

Will the Tories change their spots? 
Don’t bank on it.

Their record says they wont.

Theresa May will disagree of course.

So I say to her today:  Prime
Minister, come out of hiding and let’s have that debate on television so
millions can make up their minds.

What are you afraid of?  It’s not
too late

Let’s debate our two manifestos

Have the argument

I am confident that once the British
people get the chance to study the issues

Look at the promises

They will decide that Britain has been
held back by the Tories.

That the few have prevailed over the many
for too long.

And that they will decide it is now time
for Labour.

Our country will only work for the many
not the few if opportunity is in the hands of the many. So our manifesto is a
plan for everyone to have a fair chance to get on in life, because our country
will only succeed when everyone succeeds.

Thank you.

View the Labour Party manifesto here>

Download Funding Britain’s Future here>