2005 Labour Party Manifesto
UK Labour Party Manifesto for the 2005 General Election PDF download.
Labour Party Manifesto 2005 PDF (PDF file opens in new tab)
UK General Election Date: Thursday, 5 May 2005
UK Labour Party Leader: Tony Blair
Manifesto tagline: Britain Forward, Not Back
Manifesto Preface by Tony Blair
New Labour’s 2005 manifesto applies the unchanging values of our party to the new priorities of the British people.
It is a plan to improve the lives of hardworking families and prepare our country for success in a fast-changing world. Our case rests on one idea more than any other – that it is the duty of government to provide opportunity and security for all in a changing world.
Every chapter relates back to that goal: breaking down the barriers that stop people fulfilling their talent, extending opportunity to every corner of the United Kingdom, building communities strong and safe for those who play by the rules. On the firm foundations we have laid since 1997, our programme will embed a new progressive consensus in our country.
This preface is my personal message.
Eight years ago, I offered new leadership – fresh, idealistic, energetic, but untested.You voted for change and gave me the chance to serve. In our first term we banished the demons of ten per cent interest rates, mass unemployment, wages of £1.50 an hour, and outside toilets in our schools. We put Labour values into action. And we banished Labour demons too:we showed we could run the economy well, cut crime, and stand up for Britain abroad.We proved our competence.
Four years ago, I said we needed to continue the modernisation of our economy, coupled with investment and reform to achieve change in public services. At the end of this second term we have delivered an unprecedented period of stability and growth, we have increased investment and we have embarked on a radical programme of reform to put the people themselves in the driving seat of our public services.
We have made difficult decisions – about health policy, student finance, and secondary school reform. In the process we have proved our resilience. Now we go to the people not only having delivered on our promises, but also setting new and more ambitious goals for our public services and our country.
But Britain can be better still.
I know the change is possible. Not just because I have studied the statistics, but because I have seen it with my own eyes, across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom.
I have spoken to NHS staff in Coventry, Edinburgh and Swansea, who tell me how their new hospital and the new funding is letting them improve care for their patients.
I have heard teachers in Bexley, Middlesbrough and Sheffield tell me how they no longer have to work in crumbling classrooms without books and computers – and pupils show me, with pride, round their sparkling new school.
I have met youngsters in Blackpool and London whose lives have been transformed by the New Deal – once written off, they are now full of confidence and ambition.
I’ve been to communities in Southampton and Darlington where the Sure Start programme is helping overcome disadvantage and seen for myself the remarkable revival of our great cities.
I have met aid workers in Africa who tell me how this country is improving the lives of the poorest on our planet.
These are not the fantasy of politicians.They are the stories of real life in our country and abroad. Not for everyone. Not everywhere. But for enough people and in enough places for us to know it is not a fluke.
Personal prosperity and the good society; the fruit of partnership between the British people and a government on their side.
Now we have to decide whether to go forward or back.
Britain is on the right track.We will not change direction. Neither will we rest on our laurels. Our third-term opportunity is to build on the progress we have made.That progress, first as a party then in government began with the insight that the only way to advance decent progressive values was to develop a new policy agenda. Our understanding of the world and the great changes underway in our society led us to reject the false choices of the past.This is the foundation stone of new Labour.
I believe that in our third term we can embed a new progressive consensus. One that reflects the mission of our movement, and the hopes and values of our people.And as much as the pursuit of this consensus represents an unprecedented opportunity for progressive politics, so it will be bitterly opposed by those who seek to take us back to the divisions of the past.
In our third term we will forge an even stronger bond between the goals of economic progress and social justice. No going back to fiscal irresponsibility. No going back to a Conservative government that says mass unemployment is a price worth paying. Going forward instead to an opportunity economy, spreading prosperity through high employment and welfare reform, spreading opportunity through widening access to university and training, spreading ownership through the Child Trust Fund and expanding homeownership.
In our third term we will make public services safe for a generation.
No going back to one-size-fits-all monolithic services. No going back to the Tory years of cuts and privatisation. Going forward instead to services free to all,personal to each:breaking once and for all the dropout culture in education and the waiting-list culture in health, by raising investment and driving innovation through diversity of provision and power in the hands of the patient, the parent and the citizen.
In our third term we will cement a new social contract with rights matched by responsibilities. No going back to ‘no such thing as society’. Going forward instead to power and resources in the hands of the law-abiding majority. A government committed both to abolishing child poverty and to putting the values of individual responsibility and duty at the very heart of policy.
In our third term we will show that our national interest can only be pursued by engaging with the world’s great challenges. No going back to a Britain marginalised and weak. Going forward to a stronger country in a safer, fairer world. Leading on Africa, leading on the environment, at the heart of Europe, working together to tackle terror and spread peace and justice.
We do not duck the tough choices – from independence for the Bank of England to the tax rise we made for the NHS, to the war in Iraq.We made decisions because we believed them right – not because they were destined to be popular.
But we refuse to accept false choices.The British people never wanted to choose between wealth creation and social justice.They never wanted to choose between national security and overseas aid.They never wanted to choose between equal rights and protection from crime.
These are the false choices that landed us with economic decline and social division.
The British people have the capacity to make this a great country. Our ideals are undimmed: extend opportunity to all, demand responsibility from all, secure justice for all. Our policies are refreshed: never has a governing party proposed a more wide-ranging programme of change for the country. Our vision is clear: a country more equal in its opportunities, more secure in its communities, more confident in its future.
It is our social contract: we help you, you help yourself; you benefit and the country benefits.
So now, I fight my last election as Leader of my party and Prime
Minister of our country. My call is a passionate one: let’s together make irreversible the positive changes that are happening in our country.Let’s make the values of social justice and a fair deal for all the governing ideal of our country not just for some time but for all time. People freed from barriers of class, building a better future for themselves and for the country. Self-interest and national interest together.
New Labour’s record: The contract delivered
Our country is changing for the better, because we fulfilled the promises of our 1997 and 2001 manifestos. Here is what has changed.
Prosperity for all
Britain now has a stable, growing economy with the lowest inflation since the 1960s.
Since 1997, two million more people are in work, and the UK has the lowest unemployment for 30 years.Tax credits and the minimum wage are ensuring that work pays for everyone.
Because of this we are saving £5 billion a year on the costs of unemployment – that’s £84 for every citizen in Britain – money that is being invested in frontline services such as schools and hospitals.
There are over one million more homeowners,saving on average nearly £4,000 a year, thanks to the lowest mortgage rates for 40 years.
Since 1997, average incomes have increased by 19 per cent and the income of a typical family has increased by 17 per cent,with living standards rising in double digits for every part of the income spectrum.
There are 300,000 more businesses, providing jobs and increased prosperity.
There are two million fewer children and nearly two million fewer pensioners living in absolute poverty.
World-class public services
Investment in public services is up – an extra £1,000 per pupil per year in real terms since 1997, and spending on the NHS has more than doubled to £69 billion.There are over 28,000 more teachers and 105,000 extra teaching assistants and support staff.The National
Health Service now has 79,000 more nurses and over 27,000 more doctors.And public servants – from nurses to police officers – are better rewarded for their work.
Our ten-year-old pupils are ranked third best in the world in literacy and are the fastest improving in numeracy.
Since the introduction of free entry, visits to our national museums and galleries have risen by 75 per cent.
Deaths from heart disease are down by 27 per cent and cancer deaths are down by 12 per cent.
A modern welfare state
Thanks to our New Deal, long-term youth unemployment has been virtually eradicated, with over half a million young people helped into work.
By October 2005, families with children will be on average £1,400 a year better off as a result of our tax and benefit measures compared to 1997.
Thanks to our reforms pensioner households are on average £1,500 a year better off, rising to £2,000 for the poorest third.
Maternity leave has increased to 26 weeks and maternity pay has almost doubled.
There are 1.2 million more older people in employment.The employment rate for people aged between 50 and pension age has increased by over five percentage points to 70 per cent.
Strong and safe communities
Crime has fallen by 30 per cent overall, with almost five million fewer crimes a year than in 1997.
There are record numbers of police, nearly 13,000 more, assisted by 4,600 new Community Support Officers.
New powers to tackle anti-social behaviour have been introduced,with nearly 4,000 Anti-Social Behaviour Orders issued so far and nearly 66,000 fixed penalty notices.
We have halved the time from arrest to sentencing for persistent young offenders.
More than 80 per cent of initial decisions on asylum claims are now processed in two months.
Britain strong in the world
Britain’s interests are at the heart of an enlarged European Union, with economic reform putting jobs first.
Our international aid budget for the world’s poorest countries has more than doubled.
We have successfully pressed for the restarting of world trade talks which will focus on the needs of developing countries.
Our strong, effective and responsive armed forces are ensuring the defence of Britain’s interests.
We introduced greenhouse-gas trading to cut pollution – the first country to do so – reducing emissions by 9.8 million tonnes in the first two years.
Tony Blair
Leader of the Labour Party
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