Comprising of Motions 11, 12 and 13
Over the past 14 years, the UK economy has stagnated, leading to a critical infrastructure deficit, overburdened public services and falling living standards for working families.
Congress welcomes the election of a Labour government and the manifesto commitment that “there will be no return to austerity”.
Congress believes however that Labour is inheriting the results of sustained austerity, meaning that our public services, local authorities and public transport networks have been starved of the necessary funding.
Congress notes that the UK has a £500bn public investment gap compared to other OECD countries and believes serious state investment will be required to deliver change.
Whilst Congress accepts this crisis cannot be resolved overnight Congress believes public services and local authorities cannot wait for reliance upon the current approach, a strategy based on future economic growth and private investment.
Congress believes that waiting for money from growth alone will not deliver the investment needed to fix our broken economy and restore living standards to public sector workers. There is instead an urgent need for Labour to deliver a significant real-terms increase in public spending and investment, both as an immediate necessity and as part of a longer-term economic strategy for sustainable growth. Different choices will need to be made, including on taxation, further borrowing and collective bargaining.
Wealth inequality is further exacerbated by an unfair tax system that disproportionately taxes income earned through work compared to unearned wealth. This disparity is not only unjust but deprives the economy of vital revenue that could be used to invest in infrastructure, public services and put more money into the pockets of working people.
This economic hardship has been unequally distributed. CEO pay has continued to rise dramatically, with many FTSE 100 CEOs earning more in an hour than the annual average for workers. Congress notes that a wealth tax on the richest one per cent could restore local authority funding to pre-austerity levels or, give public sector workers a 10 per cent pay rise and fill current NHS vacancies.
Congress notes that in real terms workers in Britain earn less today than they did in 1997 and believes that collective bargaining is the only tried and tested method by which work can be made to pay. The last Conservative government created an economy that rewards wealth, not work. We need change.
Congress therefore agrees that the General Council will urgently agree a high-profile and constructive public campaign to strongly make the case for a more radical, progressive and credible economic strategy for national renewal.
This campaign will include making the case for:
i. reforms to unnecessarily restrictive and arbitrary fiscal rules and a plan to close the £500bn public investment gap through responsible borrowing to rebuild Britain’s crumbing public infrastructure and deliver a real industrial strategy
ii. reforms to taxation including a wealth tax on the richest one per cent, introduction of wealth taxes, and a redistribution of wealth to raise £25bn per year for our public services and NHS
iii. equalising capital gains tax in line with income tax, so that all income is taxed equally regardless of whether it comes from wealth or work
iv. closing inheritance tax loopholes, including allowances for agricultural and business land, and special treatment of alternative investment market shares
v. applying national insurance to investment income so that all income is taxed at the same level
vi. closing private equity tax loopholes
vii. a proactive industrial strategy, including public ownership and investment and planning to help deliver strategic investment as the basis of sustainable economic growth
viii. a straightforward and uncomplicated right for trade union access to workplaces that safeguards existing bargaining arrangements but does not require meaningless support thresholds
ix. an automatic right to trade union recognition where most workers want it, including wherever a majority of workers sign a lawful petition and the extension of sectoral collective bargaining across the economy to raise productivity and living standards, while ensuring that any new bargaining arrangements do not cut across existing bargaining arrangements or agreements with recognised trade unions.
This campaign to be launched as soon as possible to influence the next and forthcoming budgets and to include lobbying of MPs and the cabinet.
Mover: Unite
Seconder: National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
Supporters: Accord, Communication Workers Union