Our Minifesto

To breathe new life into our communities, we need to take power away from corporations and commercial landlords and give it to the people. By strengthening local democracy and investing in community services, reversing years of austerity, we can build a future of vibrant, inclusive towns and begin narrowing the north-south divide. 

To ensure elected representatives work for the public good, we need to remove the profit motive from parliament and make politicians much more responsive to the public. More broadly, we need to build a flourishing democracy in which everyone can participate on an equal basis. This means creating a fair voting system, experimenting with new forms of decision making, and respecting and empowering all nations of the UK.

To build an economy that provides security, dignity and opportunity for all, we need to redistribute wealth and power from the rich to the poor. That means breaking from four decades of neoliberalism by taking key industries into public control, investing in projects which meet human need, and retooling our economy to respond to the climate crisis. At the heart of this transformation will be an empowered working class, enjoying higher incomes and able to spend more time on the things that make life worth living.

We need to build an education system centred on enriching the lives of young people and providing lifelong education for all. This means an emphasis on learning through play in early years education, an end to the injustice of private schools, and a reversal of the process of marketisation in higher education. The school curriculum should not only prepare children for the world of work but should encourage a love of learning and provide the basis for a more equal and inclusive society.

We cannot address the climate crisis in isolation — it’s inextricably linked to inequalities of wealth and power at a national and global level. By democratising the economy, building a society geared towards meeting human need and promoting peace over militarism, we can begin building a truly sustainable world. As a matter of urgency, we need a Green New Deal: massive decarbonisation, a green transition in farming and bold interventions to promote biodiversity and strengthen animal rights. 

In contrast to the harmful role that it has played in the past, the UK should play its part in constructing a new global order based on self-determination, human rights, sustainable development and democracy. Rather than participating in profit-driven conflicts, the UK should stand against imperialism and occupation.

To build a society with physical and mental health at its centre, we need an end to privatisation and profiteering from healthcare and a return to a democratically run, publicly owned healthcare system that prioritises patients not profit. The NHS must be properly funded and staffed, with a highly trained workforce, and play a key role in reducing health inequalities across the population by tackling discrimination and inequality of service provision.

In the long term, we want to see a society in which the fundamental right to a home is respected and homelessness made a thing of the past. Landlordism — the hoarding of homes for profit — should ultimately be abolished, and secure, truly affordable council housing made widely available. All homes should be safe and fit for human habitation, supporting health, wellbeing and environmental sustainability. And we must make sure that a range of homes are available or adaptable to meet the needs of groups such as older, disabled and neurodiverse people, and of various household sizes.

Breakthrough unequivocally supports the human rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers and would radically overhaul the racist structures that force so many of them into insecurity and poverty. In the long term, we would build a legislative framework for immigration based on the principles of dignity and human rights.

Disabled people need solidarity not charity. In the words of Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, they deserve ‘to have equal rights to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and be fully included and able to participate in the community.’ To make this a reality, we need policies underpinned by the social model of disability and inspired by a vision of independent living for older and disabled people.

To revitalise our media, we need to restrain the billionaires and create a more diverse public discourse. Working-class voices must be given more prominence and independent media organisations more support. We must build a society in which artists and performers can thrive, benefiting from improved local provision for creative activities and increased national funding. And we have to review the way football is run, handing more power and resources to fans and the grassroots game.

Public transport should be publicly owned, environmentally sustainable, accessible and, in the long term, free to use. By taking profiteering out of public transport, we can bring down costs and integrate transport into a national zero-carbon strategy. Affordable, high-quality public transport will make it easier to reduce our dependence on cars, improving air quality and public health.

We need to harness Britain’s considerable wealth to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and give every worker a decent quality of life. This won’t be brought about simply by asking employers nicely: we have to empower workers to take what they deserve, unleashing trade unions by repealing the restrictive laws that currently hold them back.