Break down barriers to opportunity

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Whoever you are, wherever you come from, Britain should be a country where hard work means you can get on in life. Under the Conservatives, this basic promise – that if you work hard, you will enjoy the rewards – has been broken. We are a country where who your parents are – and how much money they have – too often counts for more than your effort and enterprise. Too many people see success as something that happens to others. This is an appalling waste of talent as well as a huge injustice. So, breaking the pernicious link between background and success will be a defining mission for Labour. The Welsh Labour Government has been working hard to tackle this, with a determination to help more young people plan ambitious futures in Wales.

First, we must recognise that greater opportunity requires greater security. Tackling economic insecurity – at work, at home, in our communities and public services – is the golden thread that runs through all of Labour’s missions. That secure foundation will support the Welsh Labour Government to continue building an education system in Wales that prepares children and young people for life, work and the future.

Wales’ public services are under enormous pressure after years of chronic Conservative mismanagement of public money, and the education system is still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic. Too many children are not attending school, too many families are feeling the pressure of the cost of living, and poverty too often impacts on attainment. There is never any place for complacency on education, and the Welsh Labour Government is implementing groundbreaking reforms to transform the life chances of young people in all parts of Wales. It is also making more parents eligible for free childcare through the Childcare Offer for Wales, enabling more people to return to work and training, and supporting all children through their first 1,000 days to give every child the best possible start in life.

Welsh Labour has a proud record of building new schools in Wales over the last decade. National and local government are working in partnership to build schools fit for the future in all parts of Wales, through the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme. In the last five years alone, this programme has invested over £1 billion in children and young people. Through the Community Focused Schools initiative, Welsh Labour is also investing in making schools work for local communities by co-locating key services on school sites, and enabling engagement with parents and carers outside of normal school hours.

Launched in 2021, the Welsh Labour Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee committed to provide everyone aged 16 to 24, living in Wales, with support to gain a place in education or training or help to get into work or self-employment.

Welsh Labour is working to ensure a smoother transition for learners to post-compulsory education and parity of esteem for vocational pathways, including through the new Commission for Tertiary Research and Education.

Education is the central focus for Welsh Labour, because every child deserves to have the best possible start in life. Two Labour governments will make this a reality by working together to deliver high standards and aspirations for all, no matter where you come from.

The last UK Labour government lifted over half a million children and over a million pensioners out of poverty. That progress transformed life chances and ensured security in retirement. The next UK Labour government will build on that legacy of pursuing opportunity and social justice.

The Welsh Labour government has spent 14 years seeking to mitigate the worst impacts of the Conservatives’ failure to tackle intolerable levels of poverty in Welsh society, including through the actions set out in the Child Poverty Strategy for Wales, and making it easier for everyone to access their full entitlements. But two Labour governments working together will be able to do so much more to tackle poverty across Wales and Britain.

Good employment will be the foundation of our approach to tackling poverty and inequality. We will create more good jobs, reform employment support, and make work pay so that many more people benefit from the dignity and purpose of work.

Labour is committed to reviewing Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty. We want to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels, which is a moral scar on our society.

Child poverty in Britain has gone up by 700,000 under the Conservatives, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. Last year, a million children experienced destitution. This not only harms children’s lives now, it damages their future prospects, and holds back our economic potential as a country. The next UK Labour Government will develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We will work with the voluntary sector, faith organisations, trade unions, business, devolved and local government, and communities to bring about change.

We will take initial steps to confront poverty by slashing fuel poverty, banning exploitative zero hours contracts, and improving support to help people get into good work.

Our system of state, private, and workplace pensions provide the basis for security in retirement. Labour will retain the triple lock for the state pension. We will also adopt reforms to workplace pensions to deliver better outcomes for UK savers and pensioners. Our pensions review will consider what further steps are needed to improve security in retirement, as well as to increase productive investment in the UK economy.

Security also means having a secure roof over your head. That is not the case for too many renting their homes privately. The Welsh Labour Government has been working hard to make renting a positive experience by improving the standard of rented properties and giving tenants greater protections, and has changed the law to give more protection to both tenants and landlords. The law in Wales gives people the most generous time period to relocate. Welsh Labour has abolished unreasonable tenancy charges and fees, and is also bringing forward new approaches to affordable rents for local people and a right to adequate housing.

The mandatory registration scheme for private landlords ensures all our landlords are supported to be aware of their responsibilities, and that tenants have a route to hold landlords to account if conditions are not adequate.

The Welsh Labour Government has taken decisive action to improve building safety, protect leaseholders from unfair costs, and accelerate remediation work. In Wales, there is a route to address fire safety issues in all residential buildings of 11 metres and over. This is not limited to buildings with cladding. A Building Safety Bill will also be brought forward in the Senedd to ensure a disaster like Grenfell never happens in Wales.

In 2018, the Welsh Labour Government negotiated a commitment from the major home builders not to sell houses on a leasehold tenure and introduced restrictions to Help to Buy-Wales, limiting the use of leasehold for houses and improving the terms offered where it is used for flats. This action virtually eliminated the sale of new leasehold houses in Wales. Welsh Labour has been clear that a UK Bill addressing leasehold reform is necessary. The Conservative dither and delay will finally cease when a Labour government in Westminster brings to an end the feudal leasehold system. We will work with a UK Labour government to enact the package of Law Commission proposals on leasehold enfranchisement, right to manage and commonhold to ensure they work for the people of Wales.

Welsh Labour is committed to ending homelessness in Wales. The Welsh Labour Government will bring forward the Homelessness Bill, which will transform homelessness services in Wales to ensure a route to ending homelessness.

High-quality early education and childcare is vital to giving children the best start in life and helping them fulfil their potential. It also supports parents back into work.

The Welsh Labour Government is supporting children and families by continuing to expand childcare for two-year-olds through the Flying Start programme – including in Welsh-language settings – and by providing 30 hours of funded childcare a week for up to 48 weeks a year for eligible parents of three and four-year-olds through our Childcare Offer.

The Childcare Offer is also available to parents in training and education, and to foster carers and kinship carers.

The Welsh Labour Government is committed to supporting children – and their families – throughout their first 1,000 days to give them the best start in life.

Supporting children in the early part of their life also means giving parents the flexibility they need to care for their children. Labour will review the parental leave system within our first year in UK government to consider the contribution of parental leave in a growing economy.

Every child should have a loving and secure home. The Welsh Labour Government has an ambitious plan to radically transform children’s services. No matter where children live, more children should be supported to remain with their families, with fewer children and young people entering care. The time that young people stay in care should be as short as possible, consistent with meeting the needs of the young person. While children are in care, they should remain close to home so they can continue to be part of their community. This work includes changing the law to remove the private profit from children’s care.

The Welsh Labour Government is clear that a sustained improvement in educational attainment is a top priority. That is only possible through the efforts of Wales’ dedicated and talented school workforce. Welsh Labour is committed to working in partnership with teachers and school staff to deliver progress on this priority.

With Labour in power in Westminster, the Welsh Labour Government can go even further in investing in policies that tear down the barriers holding people back. That includes recruiting new teachers in key subjects in schools across Wales to prepare children for life, work and the future, paid for by measures a UK Labour government will put in place to end tax breaks for private schools, meaning more money for Wales.

Developing high-quality teaching and leadership through guaranteed career-long professional learning is central to our vision for education in Wales, and the Welsh Labour Government is putting this into practice through the National Professional Learning Entitlement. Alongside high-quality teaching, driving up standards in education requires outstanding leadership. The Attainment Champions pilot is being extended to a new phase, meaning more headteachers and school leaders will be supported through mentoring and sharing examples of best practice. Welsh Labour is also committed to enabling collaboration between schools and a more consistent approach to driving up standards everywhere.

Inspection and independent feedback are crucial to raising standards. In Wales, there are no longer summative judgements on schools and the culture of inspection has been changed to focus on providing more support for schools on a continuing improvement journey. From September 2024, schools will be receiving more feedback from Estyn, on a more regular basis.

We are renewing our focus on literacy, numeracy and digital skills as the cross- curricular skills running throughout all areas of learning and experience. The purpose-driven Curriculum for Wales is now being taught in all schools and will be rolled out to all year groups by 2026. The new curriculum is supporting children to become ambitious, capable learners ready to play a full part in life and work.

As the Welsh Labour Government works towards delivering on the goal of a million Welsh speakers by 2050, it is continuing to invest in Welsh-medium provision from early years onwards. From free Welsh lessons available to 16- to 25 year-olds and teaching staff, to investing £6.6 million to support Welsh language immersion projects, Welsh Labour is committed to ensuring young people achieve the Welsh language skills needed for life and work.

Pupils with Additional Learning Needs (ALN) deserve access to the right levels of support to reach their potential. That’s why record levels of funding have been made available to schools in Wales for implementing the new system of ALN support, and why the Welsh Labour Government is continuing to review the support available to schools. The Welsh Labour Government will continue to work with schools and families to get this reform right, as well as drawing on independent expertise.

Too many children and young people are not going to school, and attendance levels have still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The National Attendance Taskforce is helping the Welsh Labour Government to identify the practical actions needed to improve school attendance and learner engagement. Getting pupils into school is vital to improving attainment and closing the gap between the poorest learners and their peers.

The Welsh Labour Government’s commitment to the Pupil Development Grant is also key to closing tackling the impact of poverty on attainment, and work is progressing on maximising the impact of this funding. We need children and young people to arrive at school ready to learn. In Wales, free breakfasts have been provided in primary schools since 2004 and have been protected in legislation since 2013. Over 100 million free breakfasts have been provided across Wales in the last decade alone, and Welsh Labour is working with councils to increase the take-up of free breakfast provision. Welsh Labour has a proud record of delivery in rolling out universal free school meals to every primary school in Wales. Over 20 million free school meals have been delivered through this policy since September 2022. The other costs of the school day are an additional financial burden for many families. That is why the Welsh Labour Government provides support directly to families through the School Essentials Grant, to pay for school uniforms or equipment and ensure children do not miss out on activities and experiences. Guidance on school uniforms has also been updated to help reduce the costs faced by families.

Good mental health is vital for children and young people to learn and aspire to reach their potential. The Welsh Labour Government is implementing a Whole School Approach to mental health for both learners and staff. All local authorities in Wales are required by law to provide a school counselling service for pupils from age 6 and above, and the counselling available to school staff is being expanded. The CAMHS in-reach service for schools has been rolled out to all parts of Wales, providing vital links to wider NHS mental health services, and statutory guidance to embed the Whole School Approach across the culture and ethos of schools has been published.

The Welsh Labour Government has a proud record of delivering its flagship apprenticeships programme in Wales, and is continuing to deliver on this record via the Young Person’s Guarantee, launched in 2021, and by investing over £140 million into apprenticeships this year.

Through collaboration with public and private sector, Welsh apprenticeships are being designed to improve productivity and meet strategic skills needs. Investment is prioritised to address skill shortages through developing apprenticeships in growth sectors and emerging occupations, and investment rebalanced to align to the needs of Welsh businesses; shifting apprenticeship training from areas where there is limited evidence of skill shortages, into high-value sectors.

Apprenticeships in Wales are vital for the long-term aims of tackling poverty and supporting economic growth. They demonstrate the priority the Welsh Labour Government attaches to working people and their skills in order to build a stronger, fairer and greener economic future.

A new UK Labour government will give renewed focus to apprenticeships and training, reforming the Conservatives’ broken Apprenticeships Levy.

The Welsh Labour Government’s new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research will support a joined-up tertiary sector in Wales, focused on meeting the needs of students, the economy and communities. Welsh Labour is working to ensure a smoother transition for learners and parity of esteem for vocational pathways, and will also continue to work in partnership with colleges and universities to meet the challenges of the future.

The current higher education funding settlement across the UK does not work for the taxpayer, universities, staff, or students. Together with a UK Labour government, the Welsh Labour Government will act to create a secure future for higher education and the opportunities it creates across the UK, as well as working with universities to deliver for students and our economy.

Welsh Labour is working to help ensure that the arts and music are no longer the preserve of a privileged few. Culture is an essential part of supporting children and young people to develop creativity and find their voice. There is huge potential for growth in the creative industries that benefit every corner of the UK.

A UK Labour government will implement our creative industries sector plan as part of our Industrial Strategy, creating good jobs and accelerating growth in film, music, gaming, and other creative sectors. We will work constructively with the BBC and our other public service broadcasters so they continue to inform, educate and entertain people, and support the creative economy by commissioning distinctive content. The Welsh Labour Government is proud of the thriving TV and film sector that is backed by Creative Wales.

Rollout of the Curriculum for Wales means that all children and young people will have the opportunity to study Expressive Arts, as one of the six areas of learning and experience required in the curriculum. Creativity and innovation are also amongst the integral skills promoted throughout the new curriculum. Sport and physical activity have a key place in schools under the Health and Wellbeing area of learning and experience. More widely, Welsh Labour is reviewing investment in sports facilities across Wales to support the role of grassroots sports clubs in expanding access for all.

The Welsh Labour Government has commenced the journey of bringing art collections to local communities, led by a collaboration between the Arts Council of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru and the National Library of Wales. The geographically dispersed model will allow greater access to the national collection and contemporary art by communities across Wales, bringing art closer to all the people of Wales. Digitisation of the national collection has produced the Celf ar y Cyd digital platform, which was launched in June 2023. This represents a national and international digital shop front for Welsh art, making art accessible to everyone. Access to music, drama and sport has become difficult and expensive because of ticket touting. Labour will put fans back at the heart of events by introducing new consumer protections on ticket resales.

From the Men’s UEFA European Football Championship to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to the Invictus Games, Labour will deliver international events with pride and seek new opportunities where we can, and work with all nations and regions to create a legacy to inspire the next generation of talent while promoting exercise and healthy living.

Labour is committed to making Britain the best place in the world to be a football fan. We will reform football governance to protect football clubs across our communities and to give fans a greater say in the way they are run. We will introduce a Football Governance Bill, which will establish an independent regulator to ensure financial sustainability of football clubs. We will never allow a closed league of select clubs to be siphoned off from our football leagues.

Everyone in this country deserves a government that matches their ambition. Labour will ensure no matter whatever your background, you can thrive, and therefore a Labour government in Westminster will enact the socio-economic duty in the Equality Act 2010 across the UK, as the Welsh Labour Government did in 2021.

Women’s equality will be at the heart of our missions. Our plan to Make Work Pay will transform the lives of working women, including by strengthening rights to equal pay and protections from maternity and menopause discrimination and sexual harassment. And Labour will take action to reduce the gender pay gap, building on the legacy of Barbara Castle’s Equal Pay Act.

Labour will introduce a landmark Race Equality Act, to enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority people, strengthen protections against dual discrimination and root out other racial inequalities. Labour will also reverse the Conservatives’ decision to downgrade the monitoring of antisemitic and Islamophobic hate. In Wales, this will build on the work of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

A UK Labour Government will be committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all we do. In Wales we will build on the work of the Disability Rights Taskforce and Disabled People’s Employment Champions. We will introduce the full right to equal pay for disabled people. Building on gender pay gap reporting, we will introduce disability and ethnicity pay gap reporting for large employers. We will support disabled people to work by improving employment support and access to reasonable adjustments. We will also tackle the Access to Work backlog and make sure people can try out a job without fear of an immediate benefit reassessment if it does not work out.

Delivering opportunities for all means that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. Labour will protect LGBT+ and disabled people by making all existing strands of hate crime an aggravated offence. The Welsh Labour Government will continue to work towards making Wales the most LGBT+ friendly place in Europe.

So-called conversion therapy is abuse – there is no other word for it – so Labour will finally deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, while protecting the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity.

We will also modernise, simplify, and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law to a new process. We will remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and acceptance; whilst retaining the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a specialist doctor, enabling access to the healthcare pathway. Labour is proud of our Equality Act and the rights and protections it affords women; we will continue to support the implementation of its single-sex exceptions.

Labour will stop the chaos, end the failure and division of the last 14 years, and turn the page to ensure everyone can thrive.