In what is probably the biggest engagement process an opposition political party has undertaken, Labour has worked closely with businesses of all sectors and sizes (including the Chambers of Commerce), conducting reviews led by – or involving – a wide range of business leaders and experts.
In what is probably the biggest engagement process an opposition political party has undertaken, Labour has worked closely with businesses of all sectors and sizes (including the Chambers of Commerce), conducting reviews led by – or involving – a wide range of business leaders and experts. This has allowed us to launch our plan for prosperity, which details the measures we’d implement if elected to government on May 7th.
Productivity requires a relentless focus in order to balance the books fairly and raise living standards year on year. The plan outlines how we can achieve this with structural reforms.
A pathway from school to obtaining vocational skills requires the same clarity that the academic pathway has. A new, gold standard vocational qualification – the Tech Baccalaureate – will be a starting point for this. We will also introduce Technical Degrees, and drive an expansion of apprenticeships.
The next Labour Government will cut the deficit ever year. We will get the current budget into surplus and the national debt falling as soon as possible during the next parliament, meaning some difficult decisions on spending cuts. We will examine every pound spent through a zero-based review to identify and eliminate waste and inefficiencies.
"The Swindon and Wiltshire LEP must put more emphasis on help for small businesses" – Anne Snelgrove
A tax policy system that supports growth and investment is vital to keeping Britain as the country with the most competitive corporation tax rate in the G7. However, given the pressure from high and rising business rates a cut in the corporation tax rate (already the lowest in Europe) is not our priority for the next budget. We will instead cut and freeze business rates for 1.5 million business properties. In Swindon, business rates went up by £660 last year (the second biggest rise in the country) – this is simply not sustainable for many businesses. The Tories stopped a revaluation of business rates that was due in 2015 – so small businesses have been stuck paying 2008 levels which don’t reflect the lower property values following the global financial crisis.
Local areas need more control, so we’ll devolve £30 billion of funding to city and county regions over five years. Local Enterprise Partnerships need a clear purpose with the powers and budgets to deliver and we’ll make sure of this. The Swindon and Wiltshire LEP must put more emphasis on help for small businesses – particularly better premises and funding to help expansion.
Our plans will overcome the short-termism of government and the pressures on business to take the short-term view. We will ensure that businesses have the infrastructure needed to succeed, with an independent National Infrastructure Commission to stop long-term decisions being delayed.
You can find Labour’s plan for prosperity document in full at www.labour.org.uk/