British election: Labour plans ambitious first 100 days

Labour’s controversial renationalisation plans and staggering spending top an ambitious to-do list.

British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Picture: AFP

A UK Labour government will begin the first steps of a controversial renationalisation program of British utilities before Christmas if the Jeremy Corbyn-led party wins the general election on Thursday.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will reveal plans for immediate moves to create Public Assemblies to oversee the nationalisation of water and energy services in the first hundred days of a Corbyn government, before tackling rail, mail and broadband.

Labour has announced a staggering £400bn spending plan under two main funds: a five-year £150bn Social Transformation Fund and a 10 year £250bn green transformation fund. The promises have been criticised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies because the doubling of public investment spending to levels not seen since the 1970s created difficulties to upscale.

But Mr McDonnell was due to announce his first steps on Monday in central London, setting out “the urgent start of Labour’s public ownership program and the establishment of ‘People’s Assemblies”.

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He was expected to say: “When Labour puts money in your pockets, we will also put power back in your hands.

“You rely on and work in these services, you know them.

“But you’ve been ripped off and shut out from how they’re run, to protect vested interests and profits for the wealthy.

“When we win power it will be to give it to you.

“Your vote is more powerful than all their wealth. And under Labour, power won’t be something you have every five years in the ballot box.”

Boris Johnson is favoured to lead the Tory party to an election win this week. Picture: AP

Mr McDonnell said Labour would not only improve services, but bring down fares and bills “because we believe in democracy and we believe in you’’.

He said Labour would set up boards comprising workers, customers, local council mayors and others to run the national utilities. The boards would then be overseen by People’s Assemblies.

“We’ll make sure decisions are taken locally by those who understand the services — those who use them and deliver them,” he said.

“Meetings will be public and streamed online with new transparency regulations set higher than ever before.

“So you can see if your road is being dug up, why, and for how long.

“And we’ll create new People’s Assemblies to hold these boards to account and give everyone the option of participating in how their utilities are run.”

Labour’s People’s Assemblies will be modelled on Paris Water Observatories, and allow customers to raise concerns or issues about how enterprises are run. Labour says the assemblies will hold at least four public meetings a year, as well as an annual national assembly at which the board must attend and be held accountable for their decisions.

In 2008, the City Council of Paris decided not to renew its contracts with the private companies Veolia and Suez, and created a public entity: Eau De Paris.

Mr McDonnell said the first priority of a Labour government would be to end the Tory cuts to public spending and social security. He also believes it is urgent to create financial institutions outside of Whitehall and the City of London.

He said Labour’s National Transformation Unit would be established before Christmas and would kick-start the new National Investment Bank, regional development banks and Post Bank.

Mr McDonnell said that these new institutions would deliver finance from the city to the high street, “investing in communities ignored and held down for decades’’.