Compiled with the help of PerplexityAI, ClaudeAI and DeepSeek.

Our vision

Britain stands at a crossroads. Working families can’t afford secure homes. Young people face a lifetime of debt or permanent renting. Wealth concentrates in ever fewer hands, while millions live in poverty in one of the world’s richest countries. At the same time, the climate crisis deepens and our economic model strains under low investment, low productivity and stagnant wages. jrf+3

This manifesto sets out a new course: tackling inequality at its roots, building the homes we need, regulating markets in the public interest, and creating sustainable, well paid jobs while restoring our environment. These challenges are connected; our solutions are, too.

Our programme is bold, evidence led and honest about uncertainty. Broad outcomes are foreseeable, but no government can predict every consequence of major reform with precision. Existing economic models were built for a different era and cannot fully capture the impacts of transformational change. We therefore commit to a rolling programme of review: policies will be monitored, evaluated and, where necessary, adjusted to stay aligned with our goals of fairness, sustainability and shared prosperity.

Our beliefs

Labour is a social democratic party. We believe in robust social security and fair redistribution within a mixed economy where private and public enterprise both play essential roles, guided by strong, independent regulation. We reject both unrestrained capitalism and heavy handed, inefficient state control. Our approach balances market dynamism with social justice, individual opportunity with collective responsibility.

Some sectors are natural monopolies in which privatisation has enabled extraction rather than service. The water industry is a clear example: companies have paid large dividends to shareholders while under investing in future water security and allowing unacceptable sewage pollution. We will bring water back into public ownership and then examine other sectors that have effectively become private monopolies, where competition is too weak to protect the public interest.

Britain’s prosperity must rest on widely shared benefits, not narrow windfalls. That principle runs through this manifesto.

Bankruptcy, corporate power and democracy

Joint stock companies (limited companies and corporations) can raise vast sums through equity and borrowing. When things go well, shareholders may receive large dividends and enjoy huge capital gains. When things go badly, companies can go bankrupt, leaving lenders unpaid while shareholders keep past payouts. The gains are privatised; the losses are socialised.

Some joint stock companies have used this structure to fund genuine innovation that has transformed our lives. Nvidia’s development of advanced chips for artificial intelligence is one such example, and it is now one of the world’s most valuable firms. But the structure itself is amoral. It does not build in duties to workers, communities or the environment unless the law demands it.

History shows how dangerous this can be. The East India Company, one of the first large joint stock corporations, combined commercial power with quasi-governmental authority. It exercised brutal control, levied harsh taxes, and contributed to devastating famines in Bengal in the 18th century. Its primary purpose was profit, not governance or justice.

Modern corporate giants cannot field private armies, but they can and do wield enormous political influence. Large companies deploy money, lobbyists and media access to shape the regulations that govern them and the political decisions that affect their profits.

In his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against the rise of a “military industrial complex” that could distort public policy in its own interests. He initially drafted the phrase “military industrial congressional complex”, recognising the nexus between corporate power and elected representatives. That warning is even more relevant in an age of global tech platforms, concentrated finance and large defence contractors.

Our programme is designed to restore democratic control over economic power.

1. Ending extreme inequality

The crisis

Around one in five people in the UK live in poverty, even as overall national wealth has reached many trillions of pounds. This is not a paradox; it is the result of political choices. Wealth has accumulated in financial assets and, above all, in land and property, which account for the majority of the UK’s net worth. Those with substantial assets can outbid working families for homes, pushing others into deeper debt and higher rents. ons+4

Young people face a harsh choice: decades of mortgage repayments, if they can get on the ladder at all, or a lifetime of insecure renting. The housing stock is not shrinking; it is simply owned by fewer people.

Our solution: wealth redistribution that works

We will rebalance the economy by taxing large, immobile wealth and returning the proceeds directly to people.

• Introduce a 2.5% annual tax on the value of all residential and commercial property.
• With total UK property wealth around £10 trillion, this would raise approximately £250 billion a year, funding a universal dividend of £5,000 for every UK adult.ons+2
• Every pound raised from this tax will be returned to citizens. This is a structural redistribution from concentrated property wealth to broad household incomes.

Over time, this will shift resources from passive asset holding towards productive activity, consumption by lower  and middle income households, and investment in the real economy.

An alternative: land value tax option

There is a strong case, going back to Adam Smith and others, that unearned increases in land value derive from community investment, infrastructure and planning decisions rather than individual effort. Land itself is finite and cannot be hidden offshore.

We will therefore consult on an alternative approach:

• A land value tax (LVT) of around 4.4% on the underlying land value, instead of 2.5% on total property value.
• Because land represents a large share of total property value—estimated at around 60% of national net worth—this rate can generate similar revenue while encouraging improvements to buildings and more efficient land use.[ons.gov]​

We will engage with citizens, local authorities, businesses and experts to determine which model—property tax, LVT, or a hybrid—best serves Britain’s long-term needs.

Why property and land?

Property and land are:

• Visible and difficult to hide or move abroad.
• Already valued, thanks to council tax and national accounts data.
• A major source of unearned gains driven by community investment and planning decisions.

Unlike high marginal income taxes, which can discourage additional work, or corporate taxes that multinational firms can avoid by shifting profits, taxes on property and land target accumulated wealth that often grows without corresponding productive effort.

Protecting asset-rich, cash-poor households

We recognise that wealth taxes can burden people whose incomes are modest but who live in high value homes—particularly some pensioners and long-standing residents in areas where prices have soared.

We will therefore build in clear safeguards:

• A 25% single occupancy discount, mirroring the current council tax system.
• A right to defer payment: households will be able to roll up the tax as a charge on the property, payable on sale or death.
• Gradual implementation: phased introduction over several years, with clear information and support, so households can plan.

Our revenue and distributional modelling will incorporate these protections from the outset. The principle is simple: no one will be forced out of their home because of this tax.

Implementation

• HMRC will administer the £5,000 annual payment using its existing records and payment systems.
• Local authorities will collect the property or land tax, building on their council tax infrastructure.
• A full, modernised revaluation of UK properties and land will be completed within two years, using automated valuation and digital mapping to minimise cost and disputes.

We will aim to make the first universal payments within 18 months of taking office, reaching full implementation by year three.

Economic impact

This reform will gradually reduce extreme wealth concentration. Some wealthy individuals and corporations will restructure portfolios and seek ways to minimise their liability; we expect and have planned for this. But land and bricks are fundamentally local and cannot be relocated to tax havens.

Property values, particularly for purely speculative or investment holdings, are likely to adjust downwards. That correction is necessary to restore affordability and reduce the financialisation of housing. Owner occupiers who have benefited from decades of price inflation will contribute fairly to a system that, in turn, provides them and their families with a guaranteed income stream.

Public services

Britain’s public services are under severe strain: NHS waiting lists remain high, social care is in crisis, courts face huge backlogs, school buildings are crumbling, and many local authorities sit on the brink of insolvency. These failures fall hardest on those with the least wealth and fewest alternatives.

We will combine serious investment with deep reform. That means:

• A long-term NHS workforce strategy, ending reliance on chronic understaffing and expensive agency work.
• Social care reform that establishes a stable, fair funding model and ends the postcode lottery.
• Restoring local government capacity so councils can plan, commission and deliver core services, from planning and housing to social care and local transport.

Strong public services are not a luxury; they are the foundation of a fair, productive society.

2. Building the homes Britain needs

The crisis

Britain faces a housing shortfall running into millions of homes. To meet need and stabilise prices and rents, we will target 4 million additional homes by 2040. Current build rates fall far short of this goal. The resulting scarcity fuels resentment and provides fertile ground for far-right narratives that pit groups against each other: “migrants in hotels while veterans sleep rough”.

Labour will show that the answer is to build for everyone, not to scapegoat anyone.

Our commitment: 4 million new homes

We will:

• Deliver an average of 285,000 new homes per year over 14 years.
• Front load delivery to reach at least 350,000 homes a year in our first term.
• Stabilise at a sustainable long term rate once the backlog is cleared.

How we will build: a modern prefab revolution

Most new homes will be delivered using high quality modern prefabrication. This is not the temporary, low-quality prefab of the post-war era but a mature, advanced construction sector.

Modern prefab homes:

• Use engineered timber and other low-carbon materials, locking in carbon and reducing emissions compared with traditional masonry builds.
• Are manufactured in controlled factory environments, improving quality, speeding up delivery and reducing waste.
• Benefit from economies of scale that can lower costs for buyers and the public sector.

Conventional brick-and-block construction for a typical home can emit tens of tonnes of greenhouse gases before anyone moves in. In a world of finite carbon budgets, we cannot solve the housing crisis by building in ways that deepen the climate crisis.

Where we will build: sustainable communities

New developments will be sited adjacent to existing towns and villages, with infrastructure planned in from the start. Our goal is to build complete communities, not dormitory estates.

We will:

• Require local plans to integrate shops, healthcare, schools, green spaces and public transport into new developments.
• Support local horticulture and market gardens so more fresh food is grown close to where people live, reducing dependence on imported fruit and vegetables and improving diets.
• Embed nature positive design in the National Planning Policy Framework, including wildlife corridors, nesting and roosting spaces, and long term funding streams from local levies to support nature friendly land management.

New settlements will be designed to be car lite by default. A House of Commons committee has already warned that mass private car ownership is incompatible with meeting our climate obligations. That is not about punishing drivers; it is about designing neighbourhoods where walking, cycling and public transport are safer, cheaper and more convenient than driving for most everyday trips. autocarpro+1

For residents commuting to nearby towns and cities, we will ensure integrated public transport links are in place or fully funded before large scale construction begins.

Breaking the land value windfall

Today, granting planning permission can turn agricultural land into an asset worth many times its former value. On a £300,000 home near a growing city, a large share of that price can reflect the uplift in land value triggered by planning, not the cost of materials and labour. Developers then add profit margins on top.

We will attack this problem from both ends:

• By greatly increasing supply, reducing scarcity and speculative gains.
• By using compulsory purchase powers and land value capture mechanisms so more of the uplift created by planning decisions flows back to communities and infrastructure, not private windfalls.

A new Department for Housing

We will establish a dedicated Department for Housing, inspired by the post-war Ministry of Works that delivered a rapid prefab programme.

Its functions will include:

• Strategic coordination of housing, planning, transport and energy policy.
• Exercising compulsory purchase powers to assemble land at fair, pre-permission values.
• Setting robust standards for prefab construction and environmental performance.
• Managing procurement to secure economies of scale and stable demand for modern methods of construction.
• Working closely with councils, housing associations and private manufacturers.

The post war prefab effort was treated as a national mobilisation. We will bring that same urgency to today’s housing emergency.

Addressing concerns

• Construction jobs: Far from destroying jobs, a major ramp up in housing supply will increase total employment. Prefab shifts some work from building sites to factories, but overall labour demand rises.
• Opposition from asset holders: Some existing homeowners who have benefited from chronic undersupply will resist measures that ease prices and rents. Our duty is to the many locked out of decent housing and to future generations. We will build a broad coalition among renters, young families and those struggling with high costs.
• Feasibility: Britain regularly built over 300,000 homes a year in the 1960s and 1970s, with less advanced technology than we have today. Countries such as Japan already deliver large volumes of prefab housing. This is a question of political will and institutional design, not technical possibility.

3. Regulating markets for the common good

The corporate concentration crisis

Global markets are increasingly dominated by a small number of powerful corporations. Digital platforms such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and X (formerly Twitter) began by offering attractive services, then used their position to squeeze users, suppliers and competitors. Writer and activist Cory Doctorow has called this process “enshittification”: platforms first serve users, then business customers, and finally only themselves. gdi+2

This pattern is not limited to tech. When a handful of firms control key markets, they can raise prices, depress wages, stifle innovation and lobby against regulation. Democracy and competition both suffer.

Strengthening competition authorities

Our Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) must be independent, well resourced and unambiguously on the side of the public. Recent political interference and revolving door appointments from firms under investigation have undermined trust and effectiveness.

Labour will:

• Guarantee the CMA’s operational independence from ministers in enforcement decisions.
• Ban the appointment of senior executives from firms currently under investigation to CMA leadership and board roles.
• Expand the CMA’s toolkit to include structural remedies, such as breaking up dominant platforms where necessary.
• Increase penalties so that anti-competitive behaviour is genuinely deterred, not just a cost of doing business.
• Introduce a presumption against acquisitions by dominant platforms of their potential rivals.
• Create a specialist digital markets unit with proactive powers to set rules for large platforms before harms occur.

These reforms will be introduced in our first year, backed by significant extra funding so the CMA can recruit and retain top legal, economic and technical talent.

Intellectual property reform

Intellectual property (IP) law exists to encourage innovation and creativity. Yet too often, it has been used to lock up basic ideas and block progress—through “patent thickets”, trivial software patents and aggressive litigation. High-profile examples, from old GIF compression patents to “one-click” shopping, show how IP can be stretched beyond its purpose.

Comprehensive IP reform is complex, bound by international agreements and long treaties. But we can start by shifting the balance toward openness and the public interest.

A public institution for open innovation

We will create a national institution dedicated to open and “copyleft” innovation—developing software, designs, standards and creative works that anyone can use, modify and share, provided improvements remain open.

This institution will:

• Develop open source alternatives to proprietary software across government and public services, reducing dependence on a handful of global vendors.
• Design open standards for digital infrastructure and data exchange, preventing lock in and making systems interoperable.
• Support copyleft educational and public health materials that can be freely reused and adapted.
• Provide legal and technical support for developers, researchers and creators using open licences.
• Work with universities, SMEs and civil society to build an ecosystem where innovation benefits are widely shared, not captured by patent hoarding.

Think of this as a public-option layer for innovation. It will not abolish private IP, but it will ensure high quality, open alternatives exist wherever monopoly rents are highest.

Early flagship projects will include:

• Open-source, interoperable electronic medical record systems for the NHS.
• Copyleft curriculum resources for schools and lifelong learning.
• Open digital service standards for all government websites and apps.
• Public-domain tools and datasets to support climate research, modelling and adaptation planning. ons+1

4. Growth, climate and hard choices

The growth paradox

Economic growth has long been treated as the main measure of success. Growth can create jobs, raise incomes and fund public services. But in a world still heavily dependent on fossil fuels and resource-intensive production, almost all growth has come with higher emissions and environmental damage.

Efficiency gains—using less energy per unit of output—are essential but not sufficient. If total output keeps rising faster than efficiency improves, total environmental impact still grows. For decades, politicians have promised that we can have unlimited growth and a stable climate. Physics says otherwise.

Some benefits of less destructive growth

Recent decades show that much of the benefit of growth has gone to the top, while wages have stagnated for many. When the gains from extra production accrue mainly to a small elite, and the environmental costs fall on everyone, the social case for ever faster growth weakens.

We do not argue for recession or austerity. We argue for reshaping and, in some areas, limiting growth so that what we do produce is cleaner, fairer and more evenly shared.

Our position: selective growth

Not all economic activity is equal. We need more of the things that improve wellbeing and resilience, and less of what drives emissions and ill health.

We will support expansion in:

• Renewable energy generation and manufacturing.
• Public transport systems and active travel.
• Retrofitting homes and buildings for energy efficiency.
• Health, social care and education.
• Research and development in low-carbon technologies and medicine.
• Local horticulture and food systems that shorten supply chains.
• Cultural and creative industries that enrich lives with low environmental footprints.

We will curb, through taxation, regulation and planning:

• Aviation, with frequent-flyer levies that target those who fly most.
• Private car dependence, via expanded clean air zones, investment in alternatives and reform of motoring taxes.
• High emission meat production, by ending subsidies that favour intensive livestock systems and supporting farmers to diversify.
• New fossil fuel extraction, phasing out North Sea licences and ending public support for exploration.
• Energy-intensive manufacturing that fails to adopt cleaner technologies where they are viable.

These choices are difficult. Air travel, car use and diets are personal and deeply embedded in daily life. But the climate crisis is not optional. Honesty requires us to confront these realities now, rather than leave a harsher reckoning to our children.

Making it fair

Climate action must be fair. It cannot mean working-class families paying more for essentials while the wealthy continue high-carbon lifestyles.

We will:

• Recycle revenue from carbon and environmental taxes into the £5,000 universal payment, ensuring that low- and middle-income households are net beneficiaries.
• Invest heavily in alternatives—public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure—before imposing the strictest restrictions on cars.
• Recognise regional differences: rural and small-town areas with fewer options will have longer transitions, targeted support and bespoke solutions.
• Push for strong international coordination on carbon border measures so British action is not undermined by imports produced under looser rules.

A green industrial strategy

Curtailing harmful activities is only half the task. We must build new industries and jobs.

Our green industrial strategy will focus on:

• Manufacturing and installing prefab homes at scale.
• Renewable energy technologies, from wind and solar to grid storage.
• Electric vehicle charging infrastructure and shared mobility services.
• Mass retrofitting of existing homes and buildings.
• Public and community-owned transport.
• Local food production and processing for climate resilience.
• Research, development and careful deployment of carbon capture where it is genuinely effective and not a licence for continued fossil expansion.

These sectors can employ hundreds of thousands of people. We will ensure that training, apprenticeships and retraining programmes are targeted at workers and communities currently reliant on high-carbon industries.

5. Creating good jobs

Beyond traditional growth

Reducing inequality and poverty requires both redistribution and well-paid, secure work. As we reshape the economy for climate reasons and regulate harmful sectors more tightly, we must create large numbers of alternative jobs, particularly for those at the lower end of the labour market.

The Swales employment scheme

Economist Professor Kim Swales and colleagues developed a proposal for the European Commission to boost employment by reshaping Value Added Tax. The idea is simple and powerful: brusselsblog+2

• Increase the nominal VAT rate.
• Use the additional revenue to provide a flat-rate VAT rebate per employee to every business.

How it works in practice:

• Suppose VAT rises from 20% to 22%.
• Each employer receives, for example, a £2,000 annual rebate for every worker they employ.
• For low-paid jobs, £2,000 is a large share of total labour cost; for highly paid roles, it is smaller.
• This makes it cheaper to hire people into lower-paid work relative to capital-intensive production and automation.

Economic modelling suggests such a scheme can:

• Increase employment, especially in lower wage jobs where unemployment is highest.
• Be broadly revenue neutral once reduced benefit payments and higher income tax receipts are considered. brusselsblog+1
• Tilt incentives back toward using human labour where it is socially valuable, instead of replacing workers with machines purely to arbitrage tax and social costs.

We will pilot a Swales style employment scheme in several regions:

• Testing different rebate levels, sector focuses and accompanying training programmes.
• Evaluating impacts on employment, wages and business formation.
• Scaling up nationally if the results confirm its effectiveness.

Preparing for AI disruption

Many analysts predict that artificial intelligence and automation will displace or transform millions of jobs over the coming decades. No one can know the exact numbers, but the direction of travel is clear.

Employment support schemes like Swales’ proposal, alongside robust retraining and lifelong learning, will be vital in cushioning communities from sudden shocks. We will:

• Monitor AI-related labour market changes closely.
• Expand employment subsidies, training and job-creation programmes in sectors where human presence remains essential: care, education, green infrastructure, culture and community services.

Job quality matters

Quantity of jobs is not enough. People need security, decent pay and respect at work.

Labour will:

• End exploitative zero-hours contracts by guaranteeing minimum hours for regular workers and giving them predictable schedules.
• Strengthen collective bargaining by simplifying union recognition and extending sectoral agreements.
• Raise the minimum wage to a genuine living wage, with adjustments that recognise regional cost differences.
• Expand the labour inspectorate and enforcement powers to crack down on wage theft, unsafe conditions and bogus self employment.
• Extend employment rights and protections to gig-economy and platform workers so that new business models cannot be built on old forms of exploitation.

Good work is central to a dignified life, not an afterthought.

Implementation: first-term priorities

Year One

• Introduce legislation for the new property or land value tax.
• Start a national property and land revaluation using modern digital tools.
• Establish the new Department for Housing and launch major prefab factory partnerships.
• Pass CMA reform and set up the digital markets unit.
• Found the open innovation institution and begin priority projects.
• Pilot the Swales employment scheme in three diverse regions.
• Begin phased increases in carbon and environmental taxes with clear recycling into the universal payment.

Year Two

• Begin collecting the new wealth tax and make the first £5,000 annual payments to adults.
• Reach at least 350,000 new home starts.
• Complete the first full revaluation cycle.
• Bring the CMA’s enhanced powers fully into force.
• Scale up carbon tax reforms, linked to visible investments in green infrastructure and public transport.
• Expand the employment scheme nationally if pilots are successful.

Year Three

• Move to full implementation of the wealth tax and universal payment system.
• Make prefab homes the norm in public and large scale private development.
• Bring major new public transport projects into operation.
• Introduce initial aviation and high pollution vehicle restrictions, with exemptions for those without alternatives.
• Deploy open source and copyleft digital systems across central government and the NHS.
• Measure and publish the employment and inequality impacts of our reforms.

By 2029

By the end of our first term, our goals are:

• Over 1.5 million new homes built or under construction.
• A measurable reduction in wealth inequality, including a narrower gap in property ownership.
• National greenhouse gas emissions at least 20% below 2024 levels, on a clear downward path.
• Employment at or near historic highs, with fewer low quality, insecure jobs.
• A more competitive economy, with the CMA actively tackling abuses of market power.
• Britain recognised as a global leader in open, copyleft innovation and fair climate policy.

Paying for it

Revenue sources (annual, indicative)

• Around £250 billion from the property or land value tax, funding the universal £5,000 adult payment. ons+2
• Approximately £15 billion from increased and better targeted carbon and environmental taxes.
• Roughly £8 billion in savings from reduced unemployment and in work poverty benefits, as employment and wages rise. brusselsblog+1
• Around £5 billion from closing major corporate tax loopholes and tightening enforcement.
• About £3 billion from aviation levies and vehicle related charges.

Major expenditures (annual, indicative)

• £250 billion for the universal £5,000 payment to 50 million adults.
• £15 billion to support the national housing programme and related infrastructure.
• £8 billion for green infrastructure and climate resilience investments.
• £5 billion for expanded and cheaper public transport.
• Around £2 billion net for the employment scheme, largely offset by lower benefit payments and higher tax receipts.
• Approximately £1 billion for strengthened competition enforcement and the open innovation institution.

Overall, the programme is designed to be broadly revenue neutral on the state’s balance sheet while radically redistributing wealth and opportunity. We are not asking the country to “find” new money; we are redirecting existing wealth and rents towards productive investment, security and shared prosperity.

Why this will work

• A broad political coalition. Young people, renters, low  and middle income families, climate conscious voters and many small businesses share a deep frustration with the current model. Together, they form a majority that can sustain transformative change.
• Economic logic. Our economy currently rewards asset hoarding and speculative gains more than productive work and innovation. By taxing concentrated, immobile wealth and supporting real investment, we shift incentives in the right direction.
• Moral urgency. High poverty in a wealthy nation, unaffordable housing, collapsing public services and accelerating climate breakdown are not acceptable “background conditions”. They demand structural change, not minor tweaks.
• Global context. Countries around the world are wrestling with similar issues of inequality, corporate power and climate. Britain has the chance to lead by showing that social democracy can deliver ambitious, democratic, peaceful transformation.

Our promise

This manifesto asks more of those who have benefited most from the current system. Property wealth will be taxed more fairly. Some polluting activities will become more expensive. Market power will be challenged.

In return, we offer something far greater: a fair, secure, sustainable future for the majority—those priced out of housing, struggling with bills, fearful for the climate and their children’s prospects.

We are Labour. We believe in collective action to solve shared problems, in solidarity over division, in building rather than blaming, in telling hard truths rather than comforting lies.

This is our vision for Britain. Join us in making it real.

A Labour Government: For the Many, Not the Few.