‘THE FIRST thing that we will do is repeal the Health and Social Care Act. It must be repealed and that will effectively renationalise the National Health Service making it an NHS free from the creeping, nay galloping, privatisation,’ Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pledged yesterday.
Speaking in Dagenham, east London, Corbyn outlined his policies. The first principle he outlined is ‘that prosperity must be enjoyed by the many not the few’. Corbyn also outlined plans to ensure full employment by creating one million jobs. Highlighting the housing crisis, he said: ‘Last year 100,000 children were not living in a home that they could call their own.
‘This is a result of Tory neglect. We will build at least a million decent secure homes in our first term in office. We will build at least half of them as council houses so that a new generation can enjoy security of tenure, and the affordable rents of a previous generation. Labour gives a secure homes guarantee.’
On wages, he said: ‘Six million people are earning less than the living wage. Hundreds of thousands of people are on zero-hours contracts. They don’t know when they are working or if they are working at all. We will put an end to the exploitation and injustice of low-paid insecure work.
‘Our house building programme will create 120,000 jobs per year. Labour will tackle insecurity at home, backed up by strong employment and trade union rights. We will have strong equal rights from day one whether full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary, by ending zero-hours contracts.’
On education, he said: ‘We will not increase fees for colleges but cut them. We will give councils more powers and remove obstacles to bring services back in-house. Labour will encourage publicly owned and publicly responsible bus services. Ending what I think is legalised larceny of the private railway system will help to end rip-off Britain. The train operating companies need to be brought into public ownership and public management. Labour will put public back into our economy and our services.’
Meanwhile, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has been commenting on Owen Smith’s right-wing campaign against Corbyn, that Labour is ‘teetering on the edge of a precipice’ and ‘could be bust apart and disappear’.
McDonnell said: ‘I’ve had Labour Party members … saying “the message that is coming across from some of Owen Smith’s friends is you either vote for Owen Smith or we’ll split the party” and that’s a threat and I don’t think that’s acceptable. I don’t think that’s what Owen Smith wants either.’
He said that Smith could end talk of division if he were to ‘denounce’ supporters ‘who are trying to split the party’ and pledge to serve under Corbyn if he wins the contest.
