Given Wes Streeting is on manoeuvres to grab the keys to No10, Guido thought it would be helpful to look at what he would do if he succeeds. He’s often portrayed as on the right of the Labour Party, but his past policy proposals are positively Raynerite…
Tax
- Tax capital gains on the same basis as income.
- Replace inheritance tax with a “lifetime gifts tax.”
- Increase corporation tax.
- Cap or scrap business property relief.
- Abolish Business Asset Disposal Relief.
- Introduce a “withholding tax” on “payments to tax havens.”
- On taxing Netflix, he suggested extending the ambit of the digital services tax.
- Apply stamp duty to the sale of shares.
- Introduce licensing fees for tech companies “engaged in tax avoidance” that wish to operate in the UK.
- Create a new inheritance tax and capital gains exemption for business owners who transfer their businesses to a trust for the benefit of customers and/or employees.
- Supports a graduate tax and abolishing tuition fees.
Employment
- Require companies to publish “clear action plans for achieving gender balance and the widening of diversity.”
- Mandate that every public and private sector organisation with more than 250 employees has elected employee representation on their board and remuneration committees.
- Government should seed fund new unions for the self-employed to provide advice, training, and insurance for challenges like sickness or late payments.
Migration and Labour Market
- “It is now a simple fact that we will need to recruit people from overseas to fill vacancies [and] ensure world-leading UK industries are able to recruit the best talent.”
- Establish a new Ministry of Migration, responsible for immigration policy and delivery, with clear, enforceable rules that the public can understand.
Other proposals
- Introduce citizens’ assemblies to “create the conditions in which we achieve sustainable, lasting change with public support.”
- Increase UK research and development spending to 3% of GDP.
- Establish “a climate and sustainability office within a new prime minister’s department” and create a “real green investment bank.”
- Praises the ‘Golden Era’ adding, “we should not treat China as an adversary, but instead we should seek to work together to promote trade and co-operation on global issues of common concern.”
Many of the above ideas come from Streeting’s seminal 2020 pamphlet: “Let Us Face The Future Again”…
