Labour's Manifesto Sees Return Of 50p Tax Rate And Levy On Premier League Clubs

30 hours free childcare will also be offered to families
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Labour will reintroduce the 50p rate of income tax, introduce a levy on businesses which pay excessive wages and renationalise the water industry if it wins the election, according to reports.

The Daily Telegraph is claiming the party’s manifesto - set to be published on Tuesday - will include a pledge to bring back the 50p tax rate, with speculation it will apply to those earning more than £125,000 a year.

The 45p rate - currently levied on wages above £100,000 - will be lowered to those earning £80,000 and more.

The Guardian says the manifesto will aim to reduced excessive pay for charging companies - such as football clubs with huge wage bills - a 2.5% levy on earnings above £330,000, and 5% on those above £500,000.

That equates to £4,250 extra for every worker receiving £500,000 in pay and bonuses, while for an employee earning £1million a year, the business would have to fork out £29,250.

The BBC is reporting the manifesto will set out plans create nine new public bodies to run the UK’s water and sewage system.

It is also being claimed the party will guarantee 30 hours of free childcare for families.

A Labour source told the BBC: “Under Labour, rather than answering to its shareholders out to make a quick buck at the expense of increasing household bills and worsening service quality, utilities will be accountable to the bill payer, helping ease the burden of those struggling with the cost of living crisis.”

Corbyn will use Labour’s manifesto launch on Tuesday to tear into the “mean-spirited” Tories and demand Theresa May “comes out of hiding” to take part in a head-to-head television debate.

The Labour leader is set to use the official unveiling of his party’s vision for Government to throw down the gauntlet to May, who is refusing to take part in a one-on-one debate.

Corbyn will accuse the Tories of being for the “rich…tight-fisted and the mean-spirited”, as he sets out Labour’s “radical and responsible” manifesto.

The Tories dismissed Corbyn’s attack, and described his economic plans as “nonsensical.”

Labour’s draft manifesto was leaked to the media last week, confirming the party would to renationalise the railways, abolish tuition fees and raise tax on those earning more than £80,000 a year.

Speaking in Bradford on Tuesday, Corbyn is expected to say:

“Whatever your age or situation, people are under pressure, struggling to make ends. Our manifesto is for you.

“Parents worrying about the prospects for their children and anxious about the growing needs of their own elderly parents.

“Young people struggling to find a secure job and despairing of ever getting a home of their own.

“Children growing up in poverty; students leaving college burdened with debt; workers who have gone years without a real pay rise coping with stretched family budgets.

“Labour’s mission, over the next five years, is to change all that.

“Our manifesto spells out how – with a programme that is radical and responsible.

“It’s a programme that will reverse our national priorities to put the interests of the many first. It will change our country while managing within our means.

“And it will lead us through Brexit while putting the preservation of jobs first.

“This is a programme of hope. The Tory campaign, by contrast, is built on one word: fear.

“The record proves one thing: The Tories are still the nasty party. The party of prejudice, the party of the rich, the party of the tight-fisted and the mean-spirited.

“Theresa May will disagree of course.

“So I say to her: Prime Minister, come out of hiding and let’s have that debate on television so millions can make up their minds.

“What are you afraid of? It’s not too late. Let’s debate our two manifestos. Have the argument.

“I am confident that once the people of Britain have the chance to hear our promises and plans, they will decide now is the time for Labour.”

Corbyn has been increasing the pressure on Theresa May to debate him in a head-to-head format in recent weeks.

The Labour leader used his account on the social network to ask: “Hi Theresa May, as Prime Minister you have served your elite friends by giving them tax cuts while wages have stagnated, house-building is at its lowest since the 1920s, there are 20,000 fewer police on our streets since 2010 and the NHS is in crisis.

“Do you not think the British people deserve to see us debate, live and on TV?”

May replied: “What I think is more important is that I and he take questions directly from the voters.

“I don’t think people get much from politicians having a go at each other I think people want to hear directly.

“And of course to answer so many of the points that he’s made, under Labour we saw housebuilding went down by 45%, homes purchased went down by 40%.

“And we announced a new deal with councils and housing associations over the weekend to help them build homes which after a period of time, about fifteen years, would be available to buy under Right To Buy.”

Corbyn followed up his question on Twitter, writing: “It’s weak leadership to hide from your record.”

Although Corbyn is keen to face May, he is shunning an opportunity to take part in a debate with the leaders of the Lib Dems, Greens, Ukip, SNP and Plaid Cymru on ITV on Thursday.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood spun Corbyn’s attack on May back on the Labour leader this afternoon, tweeting:

I Agree. Weak. By same token will you now turn up in Manchester on Thursday night? Its good to debate, I know you agree. See you there then?

As well as renationalising the railways, Labour’s draft manifesto leak last week revealed the party would bring the Royal Mail back into public ownership, create a Ministry of Labour and a new levy on firms “with high numbers of staff on very high pay.”

Following a meeting of Labour bigwigs to sign off the manifesto on Thursday, a promise to end the free movement of workers from the EU was added in.

Reacting to Corbyn’s planned speech Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke said: “Jeremy Corbyn’s policies are a shambles and he simply doesn’t have what it takes to lead our country through Brexit and beyond.

“His economic ideas are nonsensical, his views on national security indefensible – and he’d make a total mess of the Brexit negotiations.

“And it’s ordinary working people who will pay for the chaos of Corbyn.

“Jeremy Corbyn has made so many unfunded spending commitments it is clear that Labour would have to raise taxes dramatically because his sums don’t add up.

“It is not worth taking the risk of Jeremy Corbyn ending up in Downing Street in 3 weeks’ time. For strong, stable leadership through Brexit and beyond there is only one choice on 8 June: Theresa May and her Conservative team.”

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