I have been researching an as yet unpublished blog article on New Labour’s governments and looked for and found Labour’s 2001 Manifesto, which was published and given a mandate between Blair’s first and second terms. I used diigo to capture my notes, but a single entry cannot be linked to (or I don’t know how to do it). So this, below/overleaf is what I captured. …
2001 Labour Party Manifesto – LABOURMANIFESTO.COM
Firstly much kudos to the curators.
I am looking for the seeds of privatisation, so the comments I highlight are to help me in this search. Many of the promises are financial i.e. they’ll spend more and not so qualitative except for the promises on teachers.
I am not sure it’s all there, but what I was looking for is not.
They/we promised to introduce City Academies, it spoke of PPP’s but no mention of Foundation Hospitals and no excuse for the mantra of public service choice. The manifesto did not propose higher student fees to fund the growth in University places.
What it had so say on Post Offices may have been a harbinger of what came later.
to refashion the welfare state on the basis of rights and responsibilities, with people helped to help themselves, not just given handouts
to give Britain back its leadership role in the world
This choice will decide whether more people will be able to realise their aspirations for themselves and their children – to be able to rely on a stable economy where hard work is rewarded by rising living standards, to receive world-class education and healthcare, to enjoy a dignified old age, to feel safe and secure in a strong community, and to be proud to be British. Or whether we will be held back by the traditional British malaise of restricting life’s great opportunities and blessings to a minority.
… diversify state schools with new City Academies and more church schools
decentralise power to give local Primary Care Trusts control of 75 per cent of NHS funding, and cut by two thirds the number of health authorities
work with the private sector to use spare capacity, where it makes sense, for NHS patients create a new type of hospital – specially built surgical units, managed by the NHS or the private sector – to guarantee shorter waiting times
Independence for the Bank of England and long-term fiscal rules have given the UK the most stable and transparent economic framework in Europe.
We will boost the efforts of trade unions to raise skill levels by giving statutory backing to union learning representatives and supporting the Union Learning Fund. Government has a wide-ranging role to play and is seeking to develop a training tax credit. We will look to business and unions to come forward with proposals on how they can contribute to meeting the nation’s training goals. (They did this!)
In the labour market, minimum standards for people at work offer dignity and self-esteem. Regulation should be introduced, where it is necessary, in a light-touch way. We will cut back the red tape associated with regulation, examine opportunities to put time limits on regulations, deregulate by secondary legislation, and offer help to small firms.
There is a section on Digital Technology which says nothing of value, nothing about internet speeds, nor coverage, nor net neutrality, it’s still focused on broadcast not p2p
Train companies will get longer franchises in return for higher investment and improved services. The SRA will lead the expansion of the network, using public-private partnerships (PPPs).
We are committed to high-quality, universal postal services, and a dynamic Post Office which can thrive in a world of technological change and increased competitive pressure. Labour is working with the banks to offer a new universal banking service. This will allow all benefit and pension recipients to receive their payments, at no charge, in full at the post office after the switch to Automated Credit Transfer in 2003. We also intend the local post office to become an invaluable resource for access to government information. There will be increased incentives for people to take over and modernise post offices. Business customers, representing by far the majority of the Post Office’s turnover, want a full range of express, parcels and logistics services. We have given the Post Office greater commercial freedom in the public sector. It needs to be able to gain an advantage in the new postal market and become a leading force in domestic and international postal services through alliances and joint ventures. We want to help the Post Office keep up with the best in a fast-changing market.
If the government and Parliament recommend entry, the British people will have the final say in a referendum. (This is about joining the Euro).
Labour is pledged to a rural services standard to set out specifically what rural people can expect from 21 public service providers – with annual auditing and commitments to service improvement. The rural school closure programme has been ended; 3,000 new, affordable homes a year are on the way; a £30 million police programme will help cut rural crime; £239 million over three years has been set aside for rural transport services; and the Post Office is now obliged to prevent closure of rural post offices except in unavoidable circumstances, with £270 million to help achieve this and recruit sub-postmasters.
Labour’s ambition for public services is simple: we want excellent services for all. Our challenge is to reverse decades of denigration and under-investment. The citizen – the patient, the pupil, their needs and aspirations – must be central. We will work with frontline staff to deliver a revival of our public services that is every bit as profound as the changes to the private sector in the 1980
We will establish more City Academies, and promote greater innovation in the supply of new schools with local consultation. We will allow greater involvement in schools by outside organisations with a serious contribution to make to raising standards.
We are committed to expand Educational Maintenance Allowances
We want teaching to be a career of choice for the best graduates and attractive to people making career changes. (Other words in this section are good, quantifying how to support teachers in work and a commitment to recruit 10,000 teachers.)
Creative entrepreneurs need seed funding ( Nothing about copyright, it’s all about opportunity of access and funding.)
As society changes, so the welfare state must change. We have a ten-year vision for an active welfare state: to promote work for those who can, security for those who cannot, and rewards for those who save, volunteer, learn or train.
All newly born children will have an interest-bearing Child Trust Fund set up in their name with an initial endowment from the government, with more for poorer children.
Statutory maternity leave is currently 18 weeks; we propose to increase it to six months. Statutory maternity pay is paid at a flat rate of £60 a week; we propose to increase it to £100 per week, as big an increase in the next two years