Labour launched its general election manifesto yesterday, which includes plans for the renationalisation of Energy, Rail, Mail, Free Broadband and a windfall tax on oil firms.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was “a manifesto of hope” and promised “a green transformation” of the economy.

But a party conference pledge to make the UK zero carbon by 2030 has been watered down to say ‘by the 2030’s’, with most of the target to be met by 2030.

The manifesto sets out plans to bring rail, mail, water and energy back into public ownership, as well as for more housing and free public transport.

Other policies include:

• Scrapping the planned rise in the pension age beyond 66 and reviewing the retirement age of those in hard manual jobs
• Introducing a financial transaction tax, an excessive pay levy and a second homes tax
• Scrapping higher education tuition fees
• Reversing inheritance tax cuts and imposing VAT on private school fees
• Giving EU nationals living in UK the automatic right to stay

Speaking in Birmingham, Mr Corbyn insisted Labour’s policies were fully costed and “popular” – but there has been internal controversy over the idea of a one-off tax on the oil industry.

A few trade union officials feared it would damage Scotland’s North Sea Oil industry.

Mr Corbyn is promising to set up a £250bn Green Transformation Fund – to be paid for through borrowing – to fund 300,000 new “green apprenticeships” and loans for people to buy electric cars.

In September, Labour’s annual conference passed a motion urging the party to commit to make the UK carbon neutral by 2030 – matching the Green Party’s key general election pledge.

But the wording of the pledge was watered down, following complaints from trade unions and others in the Labour movement who, concerned about possible job losses, feared it was impossible to meet on time.

‘Radical and ambitious’

Labour calls its manifesto the “most radical and ambitious plan to transform our country in decades”.

It includes a pledge for more cash for the NHS if the party wins the general election on 12 December, paid for by taxing the top 5% of higher earners and some borrowing.

Labour’s Brexit plan, including another referendum, was set out clearly.

John MacDonell claimed after the manifesto launch that even some of the country’s highest earners were tired of seeing homeless people on the streets and some were happy to pay a bit more tax.

A Manifesto of hope

The Labour leader said it was a “manifesto of hope”, adding: “Over the next three weeks, the most powerful people in Britain and their supporters are going to tell you that everything in this manifesto is impossible.

“That it’s too much for you. Because they don’t want real change. Why would they? The system is working just fine for them. It’s rigged in their favour.

“If the bankers, billionaires and the establishment thought we represented politics as usual, that we could be bought off, that nothing was really going to change, they wouldn’t attack us so ferociously. Why bother?

“But they know we mean what we say. They know we will deliver our plans, which is why they want to stop us being elected.”

The party is hoping its manifesto will help it get back into power for the first time since 2010, but the opinion polls so far suggest it is heading for defeat on 12 December.

Labour is locked in a battle with the Conservatives – who are also promising to borrow money to spend on public services – in seats across the Midlands and the north of England.

‘The people own Labour’

In his speech, Mr Corbyn criticised the Tories after claims they are being backed by donations from a third of Britain’s billionaires.

The Labour leader said voters could trust his party to deliver its pledges because “we’re opposed by the vested interests for standing up for a different kind of society”.

“We’ll deliver real change for the many, not the few. That’s what this manifesto is all about,” he said.

Responding to the launch, the Conservatives said: “A Corbyn-led government would mean higher taxes, the chaos of two more referendums, and frightening levels of debt.”

A spokesman added that “hardworking taxpayers” would be left to “foot the bill”.