Labour manifesto: Corbyn vows to take on ‘wealthy and powerful’ and save NHS from privatisation, as election pledges unveiled
Labour leader reveals plans to solve Brexit crisis and tackle climate emergency
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Jeremy Corbyn has unveiled Labour’s general election manifesto, branding it “the most radical and ambitious plan to transform our country in decades”.
However, the document watered down existing Labour policies in a range of areas, including abolishing private schools, extending freedom of movement and making the UK carbon neutral by 2030.
In a defiant message to critics of his left-wing agenda, Mr Corbyn said that “ferocious” attacks on him were a sign that the powerful elite are scared of his determination to change a system “rigged in their favour”.
And quoting Franklin Roosevelt, the president who led the US out of the Great Depression, he added: “They are unanimous in their hate for me, and I welcome their hatred”.
Recap our live coverage of the manifesto launch below
Concluding his speech, Corbyn says: "Because Labour is a party of experts. And by experts I mean the people who produce the wealth and deliver our services at the sharp end; carers, teachers, train drivers, engineers, tech workers, all experts in their fields.
"That’s why when Labour wins the nurse wins, the student wins, the pensioner wins, the tenant wins, the young couple wins. We all win.
"This manifesto is the most radical and ambitious plan to transform our country in decades.
"In an election offering a once-in-a-generation chance of real change we can end privatisation and rescue our NHS.
"We can get Brexit sorted and bring our country together. We can tackle the climate emergency that threatens us all. And we can rewrite the rules of our economy to work for the many, not the few.
"Ignore the wealthy and powerful who tell you that’s not possible. The future is ours to make, together.
"As the writer Pablo Neruda wrote so beautifully: “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.”
"Vote for this manifesto of hope.It’s time for real change."
Taking questions, Corbyn defends the need for a "radical manifesto", saying the country has to change to deal with the levels of poverty. "Poverty is such a waste of the abilities of people," the Labour leader says.
"If you have travelled around this country and speak to people, you realise you need radical answers," he adds.
On Brexit, he says the shadow cabinet has discussed Brexit a great deal. "The only cheer I've got at the shadow cabinet was when I said Brexit isn't on the agenda today".
On Prince Andrew and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Corbyn says we should start by thinking about the victims. "Nobody is above the law," he says.
Labour manifesto commits to automatic voter registration
"We will oversee the largest extension of the franchise in generations, reducing the voting age to 16, giving full voting rights to all UK residents, making sure everyone who is entitled to vote can do so by introducing a system of automatic voter registration, and abandoning plans to introduce voter ID which has been shown to harm democratic rights."
Mr Corbyn suggested his manifesto could be carried out regardless of how the UK voted in another EU referendum under Labour.
Asked about whether EU laws could block his nationalisation plans, the Labour leader said: "We have obviously looked into these extremely carefully, have had numerous meetings with the EU over the years on a number of issues.
"So far as we are concerned, this is all possible otherwise we would not be putting it forward."
Mr Corbyn called his party vision for government the "most radical and ambitious plan to transform our country in decades".
He said Labour would "rescue" the NHS and "tackle the climate emergency that threatens us all".
The list of priorities included scrapping university tuition fees, providing free care to the elderly, capping rents in the private rental sector and providing free childcare to all two to four-year-olds.
"Ignore the wealthy and powerful who tell you that's not possible," Mr Corbyn told supporters.
"The future is ours to make, together."
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