Labour to provide regional manifestos detailing pledges for specific areas

The Labour Party is set to launch a campaign of regional manifestos which will outline more specific plans for investment in specific areas of the country.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that the plans will “bring our country back together” and deliver “wealth, power and prosperity” to local communities.

He said: "Britain is one of the most unequal countries in Europe, but under Labour that will change.

"Labour will govern for the whole of Britain, handing wealth and power back to every community and giving everyone a better life... rebuilding our public services and kick-starting a green industrial revolution that will bring prosperity to every region while tackling the climate and environmental emergency head on.”

Transport, housing and new job opportunities will be some of the key areas covered, but Conservative minister for Northern Powerhouse, Jake Berry, has taken aim at the plans, labelling it a “clear distraction from Corbyn’s failure to set out a Brexit strategy”.

Berry said: "Every region in England outside of London voted to leave the European Union. If Corbyn's Labour want to deliver for the people who live there, he should start with that.”

Labour’s regionally-specific financial pledges will come from the party’s proposed £250 billion Green Transformation Fund, generated from borrowing.

Some of the transport projects the party will look to invest in include the Northern Powerhouse Rail network, aimed at improving links between Liverpool and Manchester in the northwest and Leeds, Hull and Newcastle in the northeast, along with improvements on the Midlands Mainline.

The party also says that its fund will generate one million green jobs in the UK. 

Some of these outlined in the regional manifestos include 1,000 new jobs each in Redcar, Workington and Corby at new steel recycling plants, 5,000 new jobs each in Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon and South Wales at electric vehicle battery plants, and many more at nine plastics remanufacture and recycling sites across the relevant regions.

McDonnell said of the plans: "We're investing in our collective future and your family's future to get the economy moving again in every part of Britain, with new industries, better, well paid jobs and communities we can all be proud of.”

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have unveiled their own plans for regional investment, consisting of £3.6 million Towns Fund for improving transport links and local broadband service.

The Liberal Democrats intend to freeze peak time and season ticket prices on trains and complete the HS2 rail project, while the Brexit Party has pledged free broadband connection for deprived regions and wants to axe HS2 completely.

Elsewhere, the SNP is campaigning for issues such as transport, work and welfare to be devolved to Holyrood.