Labour leader Ed Miliband has given his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Manchester – the final Labour Party conference before the general election in 2015.
In his speech, he announced that should Labour win the election in 2015, they would repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and introduce a £2.5 billion NHS ‘time to care fund’. Part of this fund would be used to recruit 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs and doctors, 5,000 more care workers, and 3,000 more midwives.
In order to pay the reforms, Miliband said that there would be a crackdown on tax avoidance – including avoidance by hedge funds, a mansion tax on homes worth above £2 million, and more fees imposed on tobacco companies.
Miliband also announced a commitment to reform the House of Lords in order to make it a representative senate. In terms of devolution, Miliband only mentioned that more power would be devolved to local government.
Labour also promised to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour by 2020, and to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.
Further announcements on health care will be announced by Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham in his speech on Wednesday 23rd September.
