Senior figures are assembling soon to finalise the Labour party’s 2024 election manifesto ahead of its launch next week, with a so-called ‘Clause V meeting’ to sign off last details in London on Friday.
They are due to meet at an undisclosed London location late morning on Friday, with a couple of hours to read key documents – and mobile phones taken away – before the meeting gets underway at lunchtime.
A Labour spokesperson told LabourList on the day the general election was called last month that the manifesto was ready then, and the final document is expected to be launched publicly next Thursday.
Party rules – and specifically clause V of them – mean it must be signed off at a special meeting however of the shadow cabinet, parliamentary committee of Labour MPs, the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh Labour parties, the chair and vice-chairs of the National Policy Forum, the whole national executive committee, and representatives of affiliated trade unions.
READ MORE: What is the Clause V manifesto meeting?
While many party figures have been involved in shaping parts of the manifesto, the whole document is being closely guarded to reduce the chance of leaks.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and party chair Anneliese Dodds are thought to be among those to have seen the whole document, while it has been reported trade union representatives were able to see hard copies on Wednesday.
Some of the likely contents of Labour’s manifesto are public already as part of Labour’s daily campaign announcements over the past fortnight, and its “first steps” pledges last month, which party sources have indicated will be in the document.
We recently published a summary of a more extensive party document on the policies that make up the “first steps” seen by LabourList.
READ MORE: Labour removes 2019 general election manifesto from party website
The Guardian reported claims from unnamed party sources apparently familiar with the document on Thursday that the 2024 manifesto is not likely to include many “retail policy announcements” like those in recent manifestos. But they suggested it could include pledges to:
- Recognise Palestine before a peace process completes
- Reduce retirement ages for ambulance drivers
- Review public sector pay review bodies’ work
- Recruit more teachers
- Reduce net migration
- Allow military ID to vote but not pledge to scrap voter ID laws
A spokesperson for Labour left campaign group Momentum said the Palestine pledge would still be a “weakening” of the party’s stance a few years ago, and urged the party to pledge to ditch voter ID rules.
The document is widely expected to be a much slimmer offering than both Labour’s 2019 manifesto and the party’s current official full policy programme, signed off last year through the established party mechanism, National Policy Forum.
This year is the first time in a decade the party has gone into an election having completed its whole formal NPF process of devising policy with many party stakeholders, after snap elections in 2017 and 2019.
Labour was approached for comment on the claims.
Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.
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