Labour To Abolish Student Fees & 5 Other Things We Learned From Leaked Manifesto

With Labour not looking so hot in the latest poll ratings ahead of the general election on the 8th June, who knows how they will feel about a draft of the party’s manifesto being leaked, a week ahead of schedule.

The document, which was originally made public by the Daily Mirror and the Daily Telegraph, is 45 pages long and is expected to be formally signed off today, the BBC reported. The party’s national campaigns coordinator, Andrew Gwynne, denied it was the finished manifesto, saying it was simply a rough list of ideas. But shadow chancellor John McDonnell called the leak “disappointing” and said he didn’t know who was responsible.

Predictably, the Tories called the situation a “total shambles”, with a party spokesman saying Corbyn’s plans will require extra borrowing and “put Brexit negotiations at risk”. Others have said they await details to support Labour's claim that the policies have been fully costed.

The document has been hailed as Labour’s most left-wing set of policies since Michael Foot was leader in 1983. (There are plans to nationalise railways and parts of the energy industry, and 20 policies for workers’ rights alone, for instance.) Here are some stand-out policy proposals you need to know about.

Labour will raise an extra £6bn for the NHS by increasing income tax for the 5% of highest earners.

The party will scrap tuition fees and reintroduce maintenance grants for university students, a cost set to be made up by increasing taxes. Labour also wants to set up a National Education Service to serve people of all ages.

The party “will not make false promises on immigration numbers”, according to the document. (By contrast, the Tories will likely recommit to their target of cutting net migration to the “tens of thousands”, despite there being a less than 10-in-1,000 chance of it happening, The Guardian reported .)

An extra £8bn will be spent on social care over five years.

Labour will build at least 100,000 new council and housing association houses each year and reserve 4,000 homes for rough sleepers.

Labour says it wants “at least 50%” of its cabinet to be women and that it will legislate to extend abortion rights to Northern Ireland. The document also says the party will "gender audit all policy and legislationfor its impact on women before implementation."

Also of note are the party's plans to lower the voting age to 16, ban zero hours contracts, scrap the controversial “bedroom tax”, bring back housing benefit for under 21s, lift the cap on public sector pay and renew the Trident weapons system.

We wonder what the finished document has in store...