New Labour, New Life For Britain
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New Labour, New Life For Britain was a hugely significant political manifesto published in 1996 by the UK's Labour Party, which had recently restyled itself as New Labour under Tony Blair. The manifesto set out the party's new "third way" centre-left approach to policy, with subsequent success at the 1997 general election - a landslide victory.
[edit] Pledge card
During the 1997 campaign, a pledge card with five specific pledges was issued and mentioned in the manifesto too. The pledges were:
- cut class sizes to 30 or under for 5, 6 and 7 year-olds by using money from the assisted places scheme
- fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders by halving the time from arrest to sentencing
- cut NHS waiting lists by treating an extra 100,000 patients as a first step by releasing £100 million saved from NHS red tape
- get 250,000 under-25 year-olds off benefit and into work by using money from a windfall levy on the privatised utilities
- no rise in income tax rates, cut VAT on heating to 5 per cent and inflation and interest rates as low as possible
The text of the 1997 election manifesto can be read at http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/man/lab97.htm
