Labour set to launch manifesto for every region of England

John McDonnell is set to announce that Labour would give “wealth and power back to every community”, as the party prepares to launch a manifesto for every region of England.

Labour will publish the manifestos, designed to deliver an “investment blitz”, on Friday. The party says the plans for each region will bring a divided Britain back together and show that a desire to “govern for the whole country”.

Highlighting that the UK is one of the most geographically unequal countries in Europe, McDonnell will say that Labour would connect communities with better transport links, invest in public services, and bring jobs and industries to every region.

The Shadow Chancellor will go on to outline details of Labour’s £250bn ‘green transformation fund’, which he claims will kick-start an industrial revolution in every part of the UK. He will also explain how Labour’s promised one million new green jobs will be distributed across the regions.

Commenting before the launch, McDonnell said: “This election is a chance to bring our country back together. Britain is one of the most unequal countries in Europe but under Labour that will change.”

Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows that the UK is more regionally divided than any comparable advanced economy, with stark differences in productivity, income, unemployment, health and politics.

On Labour’s proposals, McDonnell added: “Labour will govern for the whole of Britain, handing wealth and power back to every community and giving everyone a better life. Labour will deliver an investment blitz to rebuild our public services and kickstart a green industrial revolution that will bring prosperity to every region while tackling the climate and environmental emergency head on.

“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.”

A Labour government would establish a plastics remanufacturing and recycling site in each region, three new steel recycling plans in Redcar, Workington and Corby, and a tidal power project in Mersey.

The party also plan to invest in green energy manufacturing supply chains in eight ports, the ‘northern powerhouse rail’ to connect Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Hull and Newcastle, and local rail expansion and improvement.

Labour intends to create green jobs across the country and make Britain a world leader in electric vehicle battery manufacturing, carbon capture and storage, tidal power, production and transport of hydrogen.

Job creation has been largely concentrated in the capital so far, with London and the South East accounting for almost a third of net job increases since 2010 despite being home to only a quarter of the UK’s population.

The UK is more regionally divided in terms of individuals’ disposable income than any country of comparable size and development, such as Italy, Germany or Spain.

There are also significant levels of inequality in wealth and income between regions, with 36.1% of Britain’s wealth in London and the South East. The average household wealth is higher in all southern regions than the north.