40 days to go: Alexander kicks off Labour’s campaign

Today Douglas Alexander, Labour’s Chair of General Election Strategy, will visit marginal seat Ealing Central and Acton to mark the fact that there are 40 campaigning days left until the general election.

Alexander will also visit this constituency, which Labour’s candidate Rupa Huq hopes to win from Conservative Angie Bray, to send a message that Labour have 40 policies that would make Britain better (a list of which can be found below). This ties in with Labour’s campaign slogan “A better plan. A better future.”

Over this weekend they aim to speak to  to 100,000 people and deliver 600,000 leaflets – and activists will be sharing campaigning they do on social media using the hashtag #LabourDoorstep.

The party say so far they have had 1.6 million conversations, nearly half way to meeting Miliband’s target of 4 million.

Ahead of the event later today, Alexander said that there is a clear choice in May:

“On 7 May Britain faces a choice between a failing plan and a better plan for working people.

“Labour knows that we only succeed as a country when working families succeed and over the next 40 days we’ll be campaigning hard to take this message to Britain’s homes, communities and workplaces, setting out our better plan.

“Unlike the Tories, who think this is as good as it gets, Labour believes we can do better than this – and we’ve a plan to make it happen. A plan for 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more doctors to give our NHS the time to care, to freeze energy bills and get more homes built, for more and better apprenticeships and to cut tuition fees.

“Forty days to change Britain – a better plan for a better future.”

40 policies Labour are highlighting:

1. £2.5bn Time to Care fund for the NHS
2. 20,000 more nurses
3. 8,000 more doctors
4. Smaller class sizes
5. Paid starter jobs for unemployed young people
6. 10p starting rate of tax
7. Freeze gas and electricity bills
8. Give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote
9. More affordable homes
10. Ban exploitative zero-hour contracts
11. Balance the books fairly
12. Ban rip-off letting agent fees
13. Cancer tests and results within a week
14. Give football fans a say in how their club is run
15. More and better apprenticeships
16. Tackle the gender pay gap
17. Control immigration with fair rules
18. Cut tuition fees to £6,000
19. A GP appointment within 48 hours
20. Double paid paternity leave
21. Fix the broken energy market
22. Scrap the bedroom tax
23. One million new high-tech green jobs
24. Cap rail fare increases
25. Cut business rates for small business properties
26. Get 200,000 homes built a year
27. Support first time buyers
28. All teachers qualified
29. Scrap the millionaires’ tax break
30. Childcare from 8am to 6pm
31. 5,000 more homecare workers
32. 25 hours free childcare a week for three- and four-year olds
33. New challenger banks
34. A British Investment Bank to help small businesses
35. Insulate five million homes
36. 50,000 more Sure Start places
37. 3,000 more midwives
38. English and maths to 18 for young people
39. More security for renters
40. Raise the Minimum Wage to £8.