Reader TTS

The sheer extent of the Labour Party’s plans to increase the size of the state, take over our economy, and regulate our lives, should they form the next government, hasn’t yet been fully

absorbed by many people. Following the publication of its manifesto last week, most of the focus in the press has been on the cost of its spending plans. Its most headline-grabbing

structural reforms, such as the plans to re-nationalisation key industries, have been well publicised, and even appreciated by many. However, presented in this summarised fashion, Labour’s

plans appear coherent. They also seem to have a limit. If the economy can somehow absorb the shock of very significant tax rises, and, let’s face it, there is no perfect form of ownership

for vast natural monopolies such as the railways, we will all go on as before. However, the true nature of Labour’s boundless and incoherent vision for the state can only be grasped by

reading the manifesto in full. Where Tony Blair once tried to give the impression of focus by narrowing his message (“education, education, education”) the current Labour team has come up

with a vast, sprawling offer. Mention a sector, an issue, a human condition, and Labour want to fix it. Here below, directly quoted from the Labour Party manifesto, are all the new

commissions, boards and agencies that it proposes to create. My emphasis in bold. Page numbers given: * Labour will create a SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT BOARD to bring together the Chancellor,

Business Secretary and Bank of England Governor to oversee, co-ordinate and bring forward… investment [to tackle climate change] — involving trade unions and business. p13 * We will create a

 NATIONAL INVESTMENT BANK, backed up by a NETWORK OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS, to provide £250 billion of lending for enterprise, infrastructure and innovation over 10 years. p13 * A new 

UK NATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY will own and maintain the national grid infrastructure and oversee the delivery of our decarbonisation targets. p16 * 14 NEW REGIONAL ENERGY AGENCIES will replace

the existing district network operators and hold statutory responsibility for decarbonising electricity and heat and reducing fuel poverty. p16 * The SUPPLY ARMS OF THE BIG SIX ENERGY

COMPANIES will be brought into public ownership where they will continue to supply households with energy while helping them to reduce their energy demands. p16 * We will establish a 

FOUNDATION INDUSTRIES SECTOR COUNCIL to provide a clean and long-term future for our existing heavy industries like steel and glass and fund R&D into newer technologies like hydrogen and

carbon capture and storage. Labour will support our steel through… BUILDING THREE NEW STEEL RECYCLING PLANTS and upgrading existing production sites. p17 * We will ensure the UK’s

automotive sector isn’t left behind by the electric revolution by investing in THREE NEW GIGAFACTORIES and FOUR METAL REPROCESSING PLANTS. p17 * We’ll also take on the global plastics crisis

by investing in a NEW PLASTICS REMANUFACTURING INDUSTRY creating thousands of jobs, ending exports of plastic waste and reducing our contribution to ocean pollution. p17 * We will establish

a NEW ENVIRONMENTAL TRIBUNAL to ensure that administrative decisions are consistent with environmental and nature-recovery obligations. p23 * We will invest in MORE COUNTY FARMS to replace

those lost. p23 * We will establish a NATIONAL FOOD COMMISSION and review the Allotments Act. p24 * In England, we will introduce an ANIMAL WELFARE COMMISSIONER, prohibit the sale of snares

and glue traps, end the badger cull and ban the keeping of primates as pets. p25 * A Labour government will build a COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL CARE SERVICE for England. p36 * A NEW TEACHER

SUPPLY SERVICE will tackle the waste of funds going to private supply teacher agencies. p40 * We will bring back the SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF NEGOTIATING BODY and national pay settlements for

teachers. p40 * A Labour government will establish a ROYAL COMMISSION TO DEVELOP A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH TO SUBSTANCE MISUSE,  focusing on harm reduction rather than criminalisation. p44 *

We will champion a joined-up approach, fostering close working relationships between criminal justice agencies with education authorities, health services and others BY ESTABLISHING

VIOLENCE-REDUCTION UNITS and ensuring vulnerable people get the support they need by boosting public health, mental health and early years services. p46 * We will recruit hundreds of new

community lawyers, promote public legal education and build AN EXPANDED NETWORK OF LAW CENTRES. p47 * [We will] appoint A COMMISSIONER FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS. p47 * We will

stop Crown Post Office closures and bring Royal Mail back into public ownership at the earliest opportunity, reuniting it with the Post Office and creating A PUBLICLY OWNED POST BANK run

through the post office network. p50 * A BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AGENCY will be based in the Post Bank, providing free support and advice. p50 * We will give a NEW CO-OPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT

AGENCY a mission to double the size of the co-operative sector. p51 * Labour will build a properly funded, professionally staffed NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE, and will guarantee every young

person has access to local, high-quality youth work. p51 * We will establish BRITISH BROADBAND, with two arms: BRITISH DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE(BDI) and the BRITISH BROADBAND SERVICE(BBS). We

will bring the broadband-relevant parts of BT into public ownership, with a jobs guarantee for all workers in existing broadband infrastructure and retail broadband work. p53 * We will

commission AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW INTO DISCRIMINATION IN SPORT. p55 * We will give working people a voice at the Cabinet table by establishing A MINISTRY FOR EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS. p60 * [We will

set up] a ROYAL COMMISSION TO BRING HEALTH (INCLUDING MENTAL HEALTH) AND SAFETY LEGISLATION UP TO DATE. p62 * [We will set up] an independent WORKING TIME COMMISSION to advise on raising

minimum holiday entitlements and reducing maximum weekly working time. p63 * Labour will also introduce a new, unified WORKERS’ PROTECTION AGENCY to enforce workplace rights, including the

Real Living Wage. It will be given extensive powers to inspect workplaces and bring prosecutions and civil proceedings on workers’ behalf. p63 * We will… introduce NEW LABOUR COURTS with a

stronger role for people with industrial experience on panels. p63 * We will tackle regulatory capture and streamline regulation by creating A NEW BUSINESS COMMISSION, responsive to

parliamentary select committees. p64 * Labour will replace the Social Mobility Commission with a SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMISSION, based in the Treasury, with wide-ranging powers to hold us, and

future governments, to account. p64 * Labour will create a NEW DEPARTMENT FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES, with a full-time Secretary of State, responsible for ensuring all our policies and laws

are equality-impact assessed. p65 * We will establish a modernised NATIONAL WOMEN’S COMMISSION AS AN INDEPENDENT ADVISORY BODY to contribute to a Labour government. p65 * [We will] seek to

end the politics of hate and COMMISSION AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW into the threat of far-right extremism and how to tackle it. p67 * [We will] sreate an EMANCIPATION EDUCATIONAL TRUST to educate

around migration and colonialism, and to address the legacy of slavery and teach how it interrupted a rich and powerful black history which is also British history. p67 * Labour will…

replace the DWP on DAY ONE with a DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, which will be there to help and support people, not punish and police them. p72 * We will establish AN INDEPENDENT PENSIONS’

COMMISSION, modelled on the Low Pay Commission, to recommend target levels for workplace pensions. p75 * Labour will create a new DEPARTMENT FOR HOUSING, make Homes England a more

accountable national housing agency and put councils in the driving seat. We will set out a strategy for a flourishing construction sector with a skilled workforce and full rights at work.

p78 * Labour will set up A NEW ENGLISH SOVEREIGN LAND TRUST, with powers to buy land more cheaply for low-cost housing. p78 * The renewal of our Parliament will be subject to recommendations

made by A UK-WIDE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, led by A CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY. This Convention will answer crucial questions on how power is distributed in the UK today. p81 * We will

re-establish REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OFFICES to make central government more attuned to our English regions. p82 * As part of our Green Industrial Revolution, we will create A CLIMATE CHANGE

SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE [within the Ministry of Defence] to review the feasibility of increasing the use of sustainable energy in defence, and publish a strategy to accelerate the safe and

sustainable recycling of our old nuclear submarines. p102 * A NEW UNIT FOR PUBLIC SERVICES within DfID, which will include increasing direct budgetary support to governments so they can

build sustainable services for their citizens. p104 * Implement a gender transformative approach across all our international work, including tripling funding for grassroots women’s

organisations and establishing AN INDEPENDENT OMBUDSMAN TO TACKLE ABUSE IN THE DEVELOPMENT SECTOR. p104 * Undertake a root-and-branch reform of CDC Group plc (DfID’s principal vehicle for

encouraging private sector investment in developing countries), transforming it into A GREEN DEVELOPMENT BANK mandated to fight poverty, inequality and climate change. p105