Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at the party’s campaign launch in
Manchester, will say:

***Check
against delivery***

It’s great to be launching our campaign
in Greater Manchester where you showed the way for the rest of the country by
electing a Labour mayor, Andy Burnham.

Andy will be a great mayor – but just
think how much more he will be able to achieve if he is working with a Labour
Government committed to the many not the few.

We have four weeks. Four weeks to take
our message to voters to convince them Britain can be better. It can be
transformed. It doesn’t have to be like this.

We can transform Britain into a country
that – instead of being run for the rich – is a one where everyone can lead
richer lives.

And I mean richer in every sense.

Richer because all of us have potential
to fulfil, family to support, interests to pursue, richer when that potential
is not held back.

Because there is no doubt; Britain is being
held back.

If your children aren’t getting the
education they deserve because class sizes are too high.

Then your children are being held back.

If you’re a young couple, or anyone
trying to get a home and can’t make a home because rent and house prices are
too high.

Then you’re being held back.

And if you’ve worked hard all your life,
but can’t pursue your dreams in retirement because you’re supporting your
family well into adulthood.

Then you too are being held back.

But Britain is a rich country – the sixth
richest in the world.

We caught a glimpse of that wealth only
two days ago when Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times published its Rich List.

In the last year, Britain’s 1,000 richest
people have seen their wealth rise by 14 per cent to £658 billion – that’s
nearly six times the budget of our NHS.

Imagine the outcry if public sector
workers put in for a 14 per cent pay rise.

But it’s no surprise that the richest
have got even richer after the tens of billions the Tories have handed them in
tax cuts.

That’s what we mean when we say the
system is rigged for the rich.

So thanks for making that clear, Mr
Murdoch – though I imagine it’s the only help you will give us in this
campaign.

In fact, we expect hostility. Our
challenge to a rigged system is bound to meet hostility.

Change always involves taking on vested
interests.

And there is a real danger that the
Tories’ fearmongering and spin machine will make some people settle for less
than they should. Resign themselves to things the way they are –
underestimating just how many more burdens the Tories could impose if their
mission to rig the system for the rich isn’t halted.

The stakes are high. We know from last
week’s local elections how big the challenge is.

We have to convince the sceptical and
undecided. They are not sure which way to turn.

And who can blame them?

People are alienated from politics and politicians.

Our Westminster system is broken and our economy is rigged. Both are run
in the interests of the few.

Labour is under attack because we are standing up to the elites who are
determined to hijack Brexit to pay even less tax and take even more of the
wealth we all create.

Labour is under attack because we are standing
up to the corporate interests plundering our NHS. How much more will be
privatised if the Tories get another five years?

We’re drawing a line. Three decades of
privatisation – from energy and rail to health and social care – has made some
people very rich but it has not delivered richer lives for the majority.

In the coming days, we will be setting out our
plan to transform Britain – with an upgraded economy run for the many not the
few.

Theresa May thinks she can dodge the Tory record by claiming she wants
to build a fairer Britain, that she cares about working people.

But does she think people will forget how the Tories have actually
treated working people?  

It was this Tory leader who sat alongside David Cameron in government
for six years.

She was with him when they introduced the bedroom tax.

What’s remotely fair about the bedroom tax? What was fair about racking
up tuition fees? Or about taking benefits away from people with disabilities?

Or about closing Sure Start Centres. Or starving schools of cash. Or
opening up the NHS to be feasted on by profiteers.

In case their talk of fairness doesn’t wash, they have another card to
play. That this election is all about Brexit and who can play at being toughest
with Brussels.

Labour will not allow the Tories to put their party interests ahead of
the real national interest; the interests of the British people.

This election isn’t about Brexit itself. That issue has been settled.
The question now is what sort of Brexit do we want – and what sort of country
do we want Britain to be after Brexit?

Labour wants a jobs-first Brexit. A Brexit that safeguards the future of
Britain’s vital industries, a Brexit that paves the way to a genuinely fairer
society, protecting human rights, and an upgraded economy.

Labour’s plan to transform Britain will mean:

A big deal to upgrade the economy: new infrastructure to support the
industries of the future. And an investment in training and skills to equip our
workforce to compete globally.

It means rebuilding our NHS and social care services with the funding
they need.

It means building a million homes to rent and buy.

And it means tackling the scandal of air pollution which contributes to
40,000 deaths per year.

We won’t be paying lip-service to working people.

We will introduce a comprehensive programme to strengthen rights at
work, make sure new jobs are good jobs, and end the race to the bottom in pay,
conditions and job security.

Low pay and insecurity have spread like an epidemic under the Tories.

Labour will invest in skills and jobs, and take action to enforce a
floor under employment standards across the board – so that all jobs are decent
jobs, so that all workers – the true wealth creators – can play their part in
transforming Britain and benefit fully from it.

That’s why we are fighting to win this election.

So we can transform Britain for the many
not the few.

When we win, the British people win. The nurse, the teacher, the small trader, the carer, the
builder, the office worker win.

Labour is offering a real choice, a real alternative to the rigged
system holding us back and to the Conservatives who are running our country
down.

The economy is still rigged in favour of the rich and powerful.

When Labour wins there will be a reckoning for those who thought they
could get away with asset stripping our industry, crashing our economy through
their greed and ripping off workers and consumers.

When did the Conservatives – David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May,
Boris Johnson – ever stand up to their financial backers and demand our money
back?

Never and they never will.

Instead, they make others foot the bill – they make our nurses, our
carers, our soldiers, our disabled, our young people trying to get a home of
their own, our elderly looking for dignity in retirement and those working hard
to get on, foot the bill.

It makes me angry. And I know it makes the people of Britain angry too.

So today, I say to tax cheats, the rip off bosses, the greedy bankers;
enough is enough.

In this election, Labour is standing for decent jobs, investment for the
future, shared wealth creation, security at work, affordable homes for all, a
fully funded NHS and schools, training and skills, an end to rip-off
privatisation, fair taxation and a fairer, more equal country.

As we set out our detailed plans for Britain, the scale of the change we
are offering will become clear.

So let’s turn our country around. Let’s come together to transform
Britain. Together, we can win for the many not the few.

Don’t wake up on 9 June to see celebrations from the tax cheats, the
press barons, the greedy bankers, Philip Green, the Southern Rail directors and
crooked financiers that take our wealth, who have got away with it because the
party they own, the Conservative Party, has won.

We have four weeks to ruin their party. We have four weeks to have a
chance to take our wealth back.

We have four weeks to show what kind of country we are. We know that the
people of Britain don’t pass by on the other side. That is the principle we
will take into government so that we can unlock every person’s potential and
everyone can make their best contribution to our society.

We have four weeks to win and transform Britain for the many not the
few.

We must seize that chance.

Thank you.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s
Shadow Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in response to
the Conservatives’ announcement on an energy price cap, said:

“This is desperate stuff from the Tories,
re-announcing something they tried to get a headline for just a fortnight ago.
But just as when they announced it last time, there’s still no proper detail
nor any real commitment to helping working people.

“When the Tories say they’ll ‘cap’ bills, the
question they need to answer is whether they can guarantee bills won’t go up
for people next year – that’s the real test. A cap suggests a maximum amount
that can be charged, not a promise that bills won’t go up year on year.

“The reality is that the Tories aren’t offering
anything for working people. Their record is one of failure and broken
promises, letting ordinary people down at every turn. Over and over they’ve
promised to get bills down but under them households are almost £900 worse off
due to increase energy bills since 2010.

"Only Labour can be trusted to deliver a country
for the many rather than just the few. All the Tories offer is broken promises
and a record which has seen working people worse off.”

The next
Labour government will make parking at NHS England hospitals free for patients,
visitors and NHS staff. Labour created the NHS to be free at the point of use,
so the next Labour government will eradicate the hidden charges of car parking
fees.

Labour
will increase the rate of Insurance Premium Tax to 20% for private healthcare
insurance products to fund the policy, replacing the £162 million England’s
underfunded hospitals currently raise from car parking charges by scrapping the
subsidy for people that can afford it, rather than charging people who can’t.

Last
month, a Freedom of Information request by Unison revealed some hospitals are
charging staff, including nurses struggling with low wages, nearly £100 a month
to park, resulting in reports of nurses having to rush out in between
appointments to move their cars and avoid fines.

All
of Labour’s new spending commitments are fully costed and transparent. This
policy will be paid for by a new charge on private healthcare insurance.

Announcing
the policy, Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said: 

“Labour
will end hospital parking charges, which place an unfair and unnecessary burden
on families, patients and NHS staff. Hospital parking charges are a tax on
serious illnesses.

“Our
hospitals are struggling from under-funding at the hands of Theresa May’s
Conservative government, but the gap should not be filled by charging sick
patients, anxious relatives and already hard-pressed NHS staff for an essential
service.

“Our NHS
needs a Labour government that will stand up for the many, not the few.”

Labour are today (Monday) announcing that a Labour
government will mount a major programme to improve health and wellbeing of
every child in the country. Our ambition is to make the next generation the healthiest the world has ever seen.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary,
will set out the party’s plans to combat health inequalities and end the
scandalous link between deprivation and child health.

Labour will:

·        
Introduce
a new Index of Child Health to measure progress against international standards
and report annually against four key indicators: obesity, dental health, under
5s, and mental health.

·        
Legally
require all Government departments to have a child health strategy to set out
how they will support the UK’s ambition to have the healthiest children in the
world.

·        
Support
school nurses and health visitors to make sure that all children have access to
the healthcare they are entitled to.

·        
Set
up a £250m annual child health fund to support the strategy, by clamping down
on management consultancy costs in the NHS.

·        
Ensure
extra funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and support for
counselling in every school.

·        
Ring-fence
the public health budget over the course of the Parliament to allow councils to
invest in leisure activities and health awareness campaigns 

Today (Monday) Labour is outlining the
first stage of its plan focusing specifically on obesity which is costing the
NHS £6bn a year.

Labour pledge to
ban adverts promoting unhealthy food from being broadcast during primetime
television, such as the X Factor, Hollyoaks and Britain’s Got Talent. A ban on pre-watershed junk food advertising would
reduce children’s viewing of junk food adverts by 82%.

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary,
Jonathan Ashworth, will pledge that a Labour Government elected after the
General Election would:

·        
Halve
childhood obesity within ten years and make Britain “the healthiest country in
the world to grow up in.”

·        
Introduce
legislation banning junk food advertising from being broadcast before 9pm

·        
Publish
a new childhood obesity strategy within the first 100 days outlining a roadmap
to halving childhood obesity rates within ten years

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary,
will say:

“The scandal of child ill-health is a long-standing,
growing and urgent challenge. It should be matter of shame that a child’s
health is so closely linked to poverty and that where and in what circumstances
you grow up can dramatically affect your life chances.

“Evidence shows the link between
deprivation and poor health in childhood, so with child poverty on the rise,
the need for action becomes more acute.

“The UK has one of the worst childhood
obesity rates in Western Europe. Tooth decay is the single most common reason
why children aged five to nine require admission to hospital. Around 13% of
boys and 10% of girls aged 11-15 have mental health problems.

“When it comes to our children we should
be ambitious. It’s time we invested properly in the health of the next
generation. That means the sort of bold action we are outlining today to tackle
obesity and invest in mental health provision.

Labour will put children at the heart our
health strategy and put measures in place to make Britain’s children the healthiest
in the world.”

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to Jeremy Hunt’s interview on Marr, said:

“We’ve
now had an admission of failure straight from the horse’s mouth: the Tory-made
A&E crisis is simply “not acceptable.”

“Jeremy
Hunt this morning was forced to admit to the British public that the 4-hour
A&E target has not been hit in over two years. This shameful statistic is
symptomatic of the crisis that the Tories have left our NHS in. Britain cannot
afford another five years of Tory failure.

“Only
Labour will give the NHS the resources it needs to deliver the service patients
deserve.”

Ends