Leaked Labour manifesto: the key points for food & drink

Labour will draw up a new childhood obesity strategy within 100 days of taking power and expand the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, a leaked draft of its election manifesto has revealed.

Other key manifesto promises include a pledge to reinstate the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme and the introduction of a new Agricultural Sector Council “to underpin employment standards and wages”.

The draft says: “The Conservatives have failed to provide a clear, ambitious or sustainable vision for the future of the farming, food and fishing industries. Only a Labour government will prioritise a sustainable, long term future for our farming, fishing and food industries, invest in rural and coastal communities and guarantee the protection and advancement of environmental standards.

It adds that use of food banks in the UK is unacceptably high. “To date too many cuts have fallen on those with least - and we have seen child poverty rise to 4 million, homelessness rise, and the queues grow at food banks. This cannot continue. Corporation tax in the UK is the lowest of any major developed economy, and so we will ask large corporations to pay a little more while still keeping UK corporation tax among the lowest of the major economies.” The draft also contains a pledge to ban zero-hours contracts.

Drafts of the Labour manifesto were leaked to a number of national news outlets, including the BBC, The Daily Telegraph and The Mirror. Labour has stressed it is not the final manifesto, which is due to be unveiled officially next week.

At a glance, the leaked draft contains the following pledges related to food & drink:

• We will publish a new childhood obesity strategy within the first hundred days, with proposals on advertising and food labelling.
• We will make a concerted effort towards addressing poor childhood oral health in England.
• We will implement a strategy for the children of alcoholics based on recommendations drawn up by independent experts.
• Labour will implement a Tobacco Control Plan, focussing on issues of mental health and children smokers, along with groups in society, such as BAME and LGBT communities, with high prevalence of the use of tobacco products.
• We will expand the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to ensure suppliers and consumers get a fair deal. Labour will extend the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator beyond direct suppliers to ensure fair treatment for all those producing goods for the UK’s largest supermarkets.
• We will reconfigure funds for farming and fishing to support smaller traders, local economies, community benefits and sustainable practices.
• We will allow EU workers employed across farming, fishing and food manufacturing to remain in the UK and reinstate the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.
• We will champion sustainable farming, food and fishing by investing in and promoting skills, technology, market access and innovation.
• We will set guiding targets for plastic bottle deposit schemes, working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce waste.
• We will protect our bees by prohibiting neonicotinoids
• We will work with farmers and foresters to plant a million trees of native species to promote biodiversity and better flood management.
• We will cease the badger cull which spreads Bovine TB
• We will use reconfigured funding streams to promote cruelty free animal husbandry and consult on ways to ensure better enforcement of agreed standard
• We will set up a National Review of Local Pubs to examine the causes for the large-scale demise of pubs, as well as the establishment of a joint taskforce that will consider future sustainability.

More general business pledges include:

• We will introduce a package of reforms to business rates - including switching from RPI to CPI indexation, exempting new investment in plants and machinery from valuations, and ensuring that businesses have access to a proper appeals process - while reviewing the entire business rates system in the longer run.
• Labour will bring forward an integrated trade and industrial strategy that boosts exports, investment and decent jobs in Britain.
• The EU accounts for 44% of our current exports and will continue to be a priority trading partner. As our trading relationship with the EU changes it is vital that we retain unrestricted access for our goods and services.
• Labour will champion the export interests of SMEs, ensuring all new trade agreements include a commitment to support their market access needs. We will develop an export incentive scheme for SMEs based on international best practice, and we will ring-fence Tradeshow Access Programme grants to help SMEs reach new customers around the world.
• We will maintain the apprenticeship levy while taking measures to ensure high quality by requiring the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to report on an annual basis to the Secretary of State on quality outcomes of completed apprenticeships to ensure they deliver skilled workers for employers and real jobs for apprentices at the end of their training
• A Labour Government will immediately guarantee existing rights for all EU nationals living in Britain and secure reciprocal rights for UK citizens who have chosen to make their lives in EU countries.
• We will drop the Conservatives’ Great Repeal Bill, replacing it with an EU Rights and Protections Bill that will ensure there is no detrimental change to workers’ rights, equality law, consumer rights or environmental protections as a result of Brexit.