New
Forest West Constituency Labour Party
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To deliver a more prosperous and fairer Britain Labour is: • Acting to
help ease the pain of the credit crunch for hard-working families with - From 2010 every 18–24 year old who has been out of work for a year will receive a guaranteed job, work experience or training place. - Adults who have been out of work for six months will get help with setting up a business, skills training or volunteering opportunities. - An offer of a paid – for place in education or training for every 16 and 17 year old who wants one. - A £1 billion Future Jobs Fund will provide 100,000 jobs for young people and a further 50,000 new jobs in areas of high unemployment. - An additional £1.5 billion will be invested over the next two years to deliver 20,000 new affordable homes, creating 45,000 jobs in the construction and industry and related sectors. - We will ensure that Britain’s economy is underpinned by a world class modern infrastructure and that we have world-leading capabilities in the ‘network’ industries of the future – low carbon, biotechnology, life sciences, digital, advanced manufacturing and financial services. - To support the key technology-based sectors of the future we will establish a new £150 million Innovation Fund which will over time lever up to £1 billion of private sector funding. • Supporting families as they bring up children with new rights for flexible working for all children, longer paid maternity leave for new mothers, paid paternity leave for fathers, increased Child Benefit and child tax credits. Reforming welfare so that those who can work, do work. • Labour wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. Our first priority was to provide a boost in the incomes of the poorest pensioners and make sure that people who have worked hard share in the country's rising prosperity. Pensioners benefit from the Winter Fuel Allowance, worth at least £200, plus £100 for those over 80. In addition, Labour introduced free TV licenses for over 75s, free eye tests and reduced the Tories' VAT on fuel from eight per cent to five per cent. The poorest pensioners are now significantly better off. Our next challenge is to address the group of pensioners who've managed to save something for their retirement but who - until now - have found that it is knocked straight off their benefit entitlement, leaving them no better off than those who have not saved at all. Labour introduced the Pension Credit to reward saving. • Labour is leading at home and abroad on action to tackle the threat of climate change, while working to make Britain a leader in green technology, manufacturing and services. To make Britain a world leader in the low carbon industry we will: 1) Invest in energy efficiency and the next generation of renewable, nuclear and clean coal technology. 2) There are plans for a major programme of rail electrification and in the coming year and we will publish a feasibility study for a new North-South high speed rail line. 3) We will provide incentives for the take up of low carbon buses and develop a National Cycle Plan to promote cycling as a mainstream form of personal transport. And we will ensure Britain leads globally on three major international reforms over the coming year: 4) Securing a global climate change agreement in Copenhagen by the end of 2009. • Delivering neighbourhood police teams in every community to keep people safer from crime and anti-social behaviour, while cutting red tape to free up police time to spend on the beat. • Rolling out a new Australian-style points based system for immigration so that only those who benefit Britain can come here. • Labour is taking the necessary steps to reform the system of MPs' expenses and regain the public's trust. To rebuild trust in politics we will: 1) Create an independent regulator for parliamentary standards expenses. Every expenses claim made by MPs over the past four years will be audited and those who have broken the rules will be held to account. 2) Further reform the House of Lords, including completing the process of removing the hereditary principle. We will bring forward a draft bill for a smaller and democratically constituted second chamber. 3) We will continue to devolve more power to local councils, allowing citizens to take more control of local services so that they better meet the distinctive needs of local areas. • In 1948 it was Labour that created the National Health Service and it is Labour in government today that is investing in and reforming the NHS to create a health service fit for the needs of 21st century Britain. Our starting point for all that we want to achieve is our belief in a publicly funded NHS, free at the point of need and accessible to all, irrespective of their ability to pay. Labour has dramatically cut waiting times and boosted the numbers of nurses and doctors working in the NHS to deliver a faster, more convenient service for patients.• Since 1997 there has been remarkable progress in education. There are now more teachers in schools than at any point in the last 20 years. Throughout England, standards are up with real improvements at every age level. We are working with parents and teachers to provide the best start for every child; with free, part-time early education for every three and four year-old whose parents want it; New Sure Start children centres are providing high quality early education, childcare, health, family support and help into employment for poorer families.
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