Announcing that he will attend the televised debate in Cambridge,
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:  

“I will be taking part in tonight’s debate because I believe
we must give people the chance to hear and engage with the leaders of the main
parties before they vote.

“I have never been afraid of a debate in my life. Labour’s
campaign has been about taking our polices to people across the country and
listening to the concerns of voters.

“The Tories have been conducting a stage-managed arms-length
campaign and have treated the public with contempt. Refusing to join me in
Cambridge tonight would be another sign
of Theresa May’s weakness, not strength.”

At a media
launch in London today, Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, Jonathan
Ashworth, Shadow Health Secretary and Angela Rayner, Shadow Education
Secretary, turned the spotlight on public services, arguing that this election
is vital for the future of the NHS and our schools.

Labour has
published research highlighting the threat to our schools and hospitals posed
by five more years of the Conservatives and have committed the party to
reversing years of Tory neglect.

New
analysis of the Tory threat has revealed that if the current rate of
deterioration under the Tories continues, by 2022 our health and education
services could be facing huge problems. It could mean:

In a Tory
NHS and social care system:

• 5.5 million people on waiting
  lists in England, 1.8 million more than at present.
•  Almost 1.5 million older and
  vulnerable people with unmet social care needs.

In a Tory
education system:

• 650,000 pupils crammed into
  primary classes of over 30.
• Families left almost £450 worse
  off per child as a result of the Tories’ plan to scrap free school meals for
  1.7 million children.

The choice
at the election is stark. The Tories have no plan to properly fund our public
services, pushing them further into crisis. Labour will take a different.
approach, we will rebuild our public services for the many by modest tax rises
for companies and the richest 5 per cent.

Labour will
build an NHS and social care system for the many:

• Labour will invest £37 billion
  in our NHS and take one million people off the waiting list by the end of the
  next Parliament.
• Labour will invest £8 billion
  in social care over the course of the next Parliament and lay the foundations
  of a National Care Service to integrate health and social care.

Labour will
build an education system for the many:

• Labour will cap class sizes at
  30 for 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds.
• Labour will provide free school
  meals to all primary school children by removing VAT exemption on private
  school fees.

Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The
futures of our NHS and schools are at stake in this election.

“Over the
last seven years the Tories have starved the public services we rely on of
resources, running them down and pushing them into disrepair.

“Patients
are suffering ever longer waits and overcrowded wards; those who need care have
been left without it. Children are crammed into overcrowded and crumbling
classrooms. It has to change.

“Labour
will invest in our people, schools and hospitals. We will cut class sizes, take
a million people off the NHS waiting list and ensure people get the care they
deserve.

“By
contrast another five years of the Tories would be disastrous for our public
services. At the rate we’re going we could see 5.5 million people on the
English waiting list and 1.5 million older people with unmet care needs. And
young people and their families face the prospect of more overcrowding in
schools and having to pick up the bill for the Tories’ unfair plan to scrap
free school meals for hundreds of thousands of children.

“On June 8^th there’s only one party that will improve
our public services for the many not the few, that’s the Labour Party.”

Notes to editors:

• Please find link to Labour’s full analysis on threat to our schools and hospitals posed by five more years of the Conservatives: http://www.labour.org.uk/atrisk 

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will say today that ‘Labour is the
party of equality.’ The Labour Party is launching its Race and Faith manifesto
at an event in Watford, outlining its commitment to racial equality and
detailing how the Party’s manifesto benefits BAME communities.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“Labour is the Party of equality. We were built on the values of
social justice, internationalism and human rights. Our values are rooted in the
fundamental truth that whatever your background, wherever you are from, you
should have the means and opportunity to fulfil your potential.

“People continue to be treated unfairly due to their ethnicity or
faith. The recent rise in hate crimes, including Anti-Semitic
and Islamophobic attacks, underscores how far we still have to go. Labour
will repair the damage done by the Conservative Government, which has sown
the seeds of division in our communities.

“Only Labour can be trusted to unlock the talent of Black, Asian
and Minority Ethnic people, who have been held back by the Conservatives. We
will guarantee equality is at the heart of our programme for government.

“Labour will implement a comprehensive strategy for racial
equality, one that effectively challenges the disadvantage many Black, Asian
and Minority Ethnic communities suffer. We will work every day for a fairer
society, where every person is enabled to get on in life, regardless of race,
faith or ethnicity, to build a Britain that works for the many, not the few.”

More than a million children and their families will benefit from Labour plans for universal provision of 30 hours of free childcare a week for all two to four-year-olds.

Labour will extend 30-hour childcare to more children by eliminating means testing for two-year-olds and no longer restricting provision for three and four-year-olds to children whose parents are working.  This will benefit an additional 1.3 million children.

At the moment, only 40% of two-year-olds qualify for childcare and many working parents with three and four-year-old children are not getting the childcare they were promised by the Conservatives at the last election because of the complexity of the rules. Meanwhile, Tory cuts have also led to the loss of 1,240 Sure Start centres.

Labour’s universal childcare policy will help ensure all children have a good start in life and remove barriers to parents, especially women, participating in the labour market.

Labour’s National Education Service will create a high-quality, universal childcare system that will bridge the gap between maternity leave and full-time schooling in the long run.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The Labour party believes every child, no matter what their background, deserves a good start in life, and that childcare costs shouldn’t be a barrier for parents who want to go back to work. The current patchy support for childcare is holding back too many families.

“High quality childcare can transform a child’s life chances and make it much easier for parents to work. Labour will roll out 30 hours of free childcare a week to all 2-4 year olds to give all our children the best possible start in life, as part of our plan to build a country for the many, not the few.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said:

“The Conservatives’ 2015 promise to provide parents 30 free hours of childcare a week has unravelled, as they have failed to give the policy the funding it needs. Too many parents have been let down, unable to go back to work due to the cost of childcare.

“Unlike the Conservatives, Labour will properly fund childcare to help parents get back into work and ensure all children, no matter what their background, have access to the high quality childcare they deserve. The Conservatives are failing to deliver on early years education, there are now over 1,240 fewer designated Sure Start children’s centres than when the Conservatives entered government. It is clear Theresa May and the Conservatives can’t be trusted with our children’s futures.”

Childcare costs represent a significant proportion of family expenditure, with many families made up of two or more children saying it does not make financial sense for both parents to work. 

Research by the Family and Childcare Trust revealed that on average British parents are spending almost twice as much on part-time childcare as they do on food per year. 

In a survey conducted by the Resolution Foundation and Mumsnet, 67% of mothers in work and 64% of those not working said the high cost of childcare is a barrier to taking on more employment. 

A
Jeremy Corbyn spokesperson, responding to Theresa May’s appearance on the Sky
and Channel 4 #BattleForNumber10 debate, said:

“Theresa May floundered on her record on police cuts, on funding for our
NHS and schools and on her manifesto policy on social care that didn’t last
more than a few days before it was amended with an unspecified cap. It’s no
surprise she had no answers because the Tories plan to continue the tax
giveaways to the wealthy and big business while offering no new funding for
public services.

"There is a clear choice in this election about the kind of country we
want Britain to be – between Labour’s plan to transform Britain for the many
not the few, and a Conservative Party that has held people back and put its
wealthy backers first.”

Ends