As said previously, these manifesto articles are only going to focus on policies which are non-devolved – so won’t count education, health, social care, some aspects of transport, housing etc.

It’s Time For Real Change (English – pdf)

Brexit

The “sensible deal” will include a customs union, alignment with the EU single market, alignment on workers rights, environmental rights and consumer protection, continued participation in some EU agencies and commitments on security.

Will renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement towards a “sensible deal” within 3 months and will hold a second referendum on the new deal vs Remain within 6 months.

Economy & Tax

Employment tribunals will remain free and will have their powers extended.

Employers who fail to address pay inequalities will be fined; companies employing 250+ workers will need to obtain certification on gender equality or face auditing and/or fines.

Deliver free full-fibre broadband to all by 2030 through the establishment of British Broadband – a part-nationalised BT Openreach.

Invest in three new “gigafactories” for electric vehicles and four metal recycling plants.

Spend 3% of GDP on research by 2030.

Raise £5.2billion by reversing cuts to inheritance tax, introducing VAT for private school fees, scrapping the Marriage Allowance and introducing a second homes tax.

Raise £6.2billion through clamping down on tax avoidance.

Increase corporation tax to 21% for small profits and 26% for the main rate; introduce a multinationals rate.

Lower the income threshold for the 45% income tax rate to £80,000, introduce a 50% rate for those earning £125,000+ a year.

A 10% share of large companies should be owned by employees.

Establish a Ministry for Employment Rights; give every employee full rights from day one.

Raise an additional £82.9billion a year through various tax reforms, resulting in £3.4billion a year in Barnett Formula consequentials/extra money for Wales by 2023-24.

Criminal Justice

Attacks on religious communities will be treated as an aggravated offence.

Restore legal aid for nearly all cases.

Court-issued warrants will be required for undercover operations.

Ban cross-examination of domestic abuse victims by their accuser.

Introduce minimum standards of service for victims of crime.

Recruit 2,000 more frontline police officers than proposed by the Conservatives.

Immigration

Asylum-seekers will have the right to work and access public services.

Victims of the Windrush scandal will be compensated.

Protect freedom of movement rights even if the UK leaves the EU; EU nationals will have the automatic right to continue living and working in the UK.

Environment & Energy

End sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.

Nationalise energy and water; establish a National Energy Agency to control the national grid.

Eliminate fuel poverty by 2030 by upgrading every home to the highest energy-efficiency standards.

Deliver 90% of electricity and 50% of heating from renewable and low-carbon sources by 2030.

Welfare

The Department of Work and Pensions will be replaced with a Department for Social Security.

Cut the share of the surplus the UK Government takes from the miners’ pension scheme from 50% to 10%.

Eliminate food bank use within three years of taking office and introduce a “Right to Food”.

Extend statutory maternity pay from 9 to 12 months; increase paternity leave from two weeks to four.

Halt proposed increases to the state pension age at 66; will maintain the state pension “triple lock”.

Increase local housing allowance; increase Employment & Support Allowance by £30-a-week and increase Carer’s Allowance to the same rate as jobseekers allowance.

Scrap universal credit eventually; in the short-term, emergency reforms will be introduced to fix the worst aspects.

Defence

Suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Israel due to human rights abuses and war crimes; introduce general arms export controls and end sales to anywhere where human rights or international law are violated.

The UK Parliament will have to authorise any conventional military action.

Commit to spending 2% of GDP on defence; increase funding for UN peacekeeping missions by £100million.

Foreign Policy

If the UK votes to confirm leaving the EU, negotiate a new UK-EU Security Treaty.

Conduct an audit of the UK’s colonial legacy and a judge-led inquiry into the UK’s complicity in rendition, secret courts and torture; issue a formal apology for the Amritsar Massacre.

Commit to spending 0.7% of GDP on foreign aid – though aid spending on fossil fuels will stop.

Invest an additional £400million in the UK’s diplomatic capacity; will express support for human rights at all bilateral diplomatic meetings.

Constitutional Reform & Miscellaneous

Introduce a fit and proper person test for football club owners and will review football club ownership rules; supporters trusts will have a right to remove and appoint at least two directors.

Implement the Leveson II recommendations on misconduct by the press; will establish an inquiry into “fake news”.

Introduce automatic voter registration and lower the voting age in UK Parliament elections to 16.

Repeal the Fixed-Term Parliament Act 2011; reject a reduction in the number of MPs.

Establish a Constitutional Convention which will fully consider the Welsh Government’s constitutional reform plan

Abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected Senate of the Nations & Regions.

The major faults are things that derail the manifesto, have been completely overlooked or are outright lies – including policies which are unachievable or sketchy at best.

The minor faults are more moderate errors, circular arguments, bombastic statements or policies which will be difficult to achieve in real life, make reference to devolved responsibilities or are otherwise confusing or poorly explained.

Major Faults:

A recently-announced pledge to compensate WASPI women – which wasn’t included in the manifesto – hasn’t been accounted for.

As has been pointed out by others, the manifesto pledges to invest £100billion over ten years in Scotland, but just £3.4billion in Wales (via Barnett consequentials). I don’t know if this a case of it being poorly explained or some sort of mistake because the costings only show an additional £5billion a year in Barnett consequentials for Scotland by 2023-24. If this £100billion is on top of that, then it’s a massive slap in the face for Wales.

To Labour’s credit, they’ve provided full costings ( pdf ), but it’s been disputed by fiscal experts as to whether the changes will raise the amount of money Labour claim it will.

Labour’s “sensible Brexit deal” sounds an awful lot like remaining in the EU or an EFTA-style arrangement. They haven’t been completely upfront about this.

Minor Faults:

There’s a lot of narratives, but a distinct lack of detail on many policies – like border controls and a replacement for universal credit.

Some of their policy proposals encroach on devolved areas (i.e fisheries) but they haven’t made any distinction or noted this.

There’s no specific mention of devolving criminal justice or any element of it despite clear support from the Welsh Government for at least the devolution of policing.

Some of Labour’s electoral reforms (i.e. voting reforms) are already happening or have been proposed in Wales.

Should the Welsh Government be compensated (to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds) for their spending on Superfast Cymru if Labour’s broadband nationalisation plans happen?

The Welsh Government have had several opportunities to ban zero-hour contracts in certain sectors but have never done it, only moved to discourage their use.



The renewable energy targets are very ambitious to say the least, verging on undeliverable at the current pace of developments – including Labour’s policies in Wales.

An extra two weeks of paternity leave isn’t particularly generous.

Would Dwr Cymru – a successful not-for-profit – be nationalised?