Jeremy Corbyn is launching the Labour manifesto in Yorkshire today.
The launch itself will be in Bradford, and afterwards the party leader is bringing his battle bus to Beaumont Park in Huddersfield.
Mr Corbyn is campaigning ahead of the General Election on Thursday June 8.
Currently the Conservatives are leading in the polls with more than 40% of the vote, but Labour has posted an improvement since the election was announced and are currently at 30% or above.
The main losers have been UKIP who are at 3-6%.
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Key Events
Jeremy has left the park
So Andrew didn’t get an interview with the leader but he’s staying to get reaction from people who heard Jeremy speak.
And Colne Valley Labour have just tweeted this:
The reaction
My colleague Andrew is speaking to someone who has heard from Jeremy today & will be speaking to Theresa May tonight. That man has connections!
He says he feels some of Jeremy’s promises were for votes.
Setting the scene:
Here’s a scene setter, the photo doesn’t capture all of the crowd attending & there was a lot more behind the camera.
Crowd chatter
The speeches are over now and Jeremy is chatting to the crowds. He’s in the middle here:
How to get the votes in
Jeremy: “Since this campaign started I’ve done 41 events all around the country, the numbers of people coming are enormous. We’re young old, black, white, women and men. We’re every part of our community...”
He’s now talking about having a mental health minister, he’s promised the triple lock for all pensioners and support for the WASPI women - they are women who missed out in pension changes.
“This will not be a society ridden by inequality... but instead we will have stronger communities and stronger public services.”
He goes on to promise a Living Wage of £10 an hour minimum.
“None of this will be achieved if we don’t gain constituencies we’ve not had. The political battles of the Colne Valley go back a hundred years or more... for a decent fairer society I invite you all to get behind Thelma, knock on those doors.”
There’s chanting “Thelma, Thelma” as Jeremy finishes.
Jeremy on the homeless:
On dealing with homelessness: “What is it with modern Tory Britain? Somehow or other we condone it or accept it as ‘one of those things’.
“We have a housing strategy that does support the homeless.”
Labour’s manifesto today committed to building more houses and he says more details on their plans will be announced next week.
Jeremy on students:
“Those who want to be nurses are held back because of the cuts to the bursary... the Tories cancelled it (bursary) there will be a shortage and we’ll have difficulties in our NHS.
“A Labour government on June 9 will bring it back.”
Labour today committed to cutting student fees and bringing the nursing bursary back.
Free school meals
To a crowd in agreement Jeremy says “we all lose out” if some children “under-achieve because they don’t have the same opportunities as others”.
He promises that every child will have a good lunch every day they’re in primary school.
Labour today made a commitment to free school meals.
Jeremy on education
Jeremy talks of our “unfair society” and says he’s “utterly fed up” with how schools are funded: “The poorer schools in the poorest places with the poorer children receive the less because they receive the least.”
He says they’ll make sure all schools are fairly funded.
Jeremy on the mic
There’s a few mic problems - Labour have back-up!
He starts by talking about Labour’s plans to suspend closures of NHS services including HRI A&E “to give us a chance to make sure there are good quality A&E departments all over the country”
Thelma introduces Jeremy
Thelma Walker, a former headteacher, tells the crowd: “We’ve had enough, we deserve better, Colne Valley deserves better, our country deserves better” as the crowd cheers her.
She introduces Jeremy as “our next Prime Minister”
'We've had enough' people tell Labour
Thelma Walker, Labour’s Colne Valley candidate, is at the mic saying “We’re giving people hope”
Here she is with Jeremy, watch it live: https://www.facebook.com/HuddersfieldExaminer/videos/1162066990565229/?notif_t=live_video_explicit¬if_id=1494942758752530
Numbers game
Andrew, our reporter at the scene, says there could be 500-600 people at Beaumont Park.
The battle bus has just arrived & you can watch it live on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HuddersfieldExaminer/videos/1162066990565229/?notif_t=live_video_explicit¬if_id=1494942758752530
Chants of ‘Jeremy’ are echoing around the park as they wait for him to get off the bus.
Now you mention it...
These two supporters at Beaumont Park pose a good question. Wonder if they’ll get to ask Jeremy?
Apparently his bus is running late & the roads around the park are busy & full of parked cars.
We're live!
Andrew is now reporting on Facebook Live from Beaumont Park.
Currently people are chanting to save the NHS: “whose NHS? Our NHS”.
You can watch the coverage here: https://www.facebook.com/HuddersfieldExaminer/
We don’t think Jeremy has arrived just yet.
Colne Valley candidate arrives
This is Thelma Walker, the Labour candidate for the Colne Valley, arriving at Beaumont Park ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s visit.
Ladders - the key kit for a snapper!
Our photographer Simon is hoping for a good shot of Jeremy Corbyn during his visit to Beaumont Park.
He’ll be asked to water the hanging baskets later too!
The crowds are building:
Here’s the scene 30 minutes ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s expected arrival:
HRI campaigners arrive
The Hands Off HRI team are at Beaumont Park to meet Jeremy Corbyn.
You may recall earlier this month Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth, the party’s Shadow Health secretary, said the party would halt and review planned closures of hospital services.
See that story here: http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/shadow-health-secretary-announces-moratorium-12980197
Our reporting team
My colleague Andrew Robinson will be at Beaumont Park in Huddersfield to speak to capture what happens, speak to party members and maybe even the man himself if we can.
Follow him on Twitter: @Andrew_Examiner
And if his signal is good enough we’ll try to bring you a Facebook Live of the visit on the Examiner’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HuddersfieldExaminer/
Our photographer Simon Morley will also be there capturing photos of the visit - give him a smile and a wave if you see him!
Remember, it’s in a park so we can’t make promises with an uncertain wifi network.
Park life for Jeremy Corbyn
So it’s the worst kept secret - Jeremy Corbyn is due to arrive in Huddersfield this afternoon.
He will be doing a stump speech at Beaumont Park at around 3pm.
It will be at the top of the park near to the visitor’s centre & it’s likely to draw quite a crowd.
The local Labour Party have described it as an exciting visit.
The visit couldn’t be publicised too far in advance so there was no extra pressure on police resources - it’s also the reason we at the Examiner haven’t published a story further in advance.
Supporters have been asked to take national only placards - if it was local they would have to list it as local expenditure.
You may recall some controversy among the Conservative Party about this issue with police investigations, which have now been dropped.
The local Labour Colne Valley candidate Thelma Walker will be there, no word yet on the other Kirklees Labour candidates.
More from the manifesto
I’m still going through the manifesto & here’s some other key points:
- Free school meals for all primary school children
- Paternity leave will be doubled to four weeks and paternity pay increase & there will be a ‘move towards’ extending maternity pay to 12 months
- Four new bank holidays on the four national patron saints’ days
- Reverse the £30-a-week cuts to disability benefit Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Housing benefit for under-22s will be reinstated
- Labour will give extra pension tax credits and look at more transitional protection for ‘WASPI’ women, born in the 1950s and who lost out when their state pension age was increased
- Trident nuclear weapons will be renewed
- Commitment for 10,000 extra police officers
- Freedom of movement will end when Britain leaves the EU
- There will be “fair rules and reasonable management of migration”, without a numerical target
Manifesto overview:
Here’s some points from the Labour Party manifesto launched in West Yorkshire today so far:
- Labour will reintroduce maintenance grants for university students, and we will abolish university tuition fees
- Scrap hospital parking fee
- Build over a 1m new homes, more than half of them social housing
- Labour rules out rises in VAT and National Insurance, and guarantees triple lock on pension
- Bringing water companies and the rail network back into public ownership
- Reverse the privatisation of Royal Mail at the earliest opportunity
- Introduce an immediate emergency price cap to ensure that the average dual-fuel household energy bill remains below £1,000 per year
- On childcare: Extend the 30 free hours to all two-year-olds, and move towards making some childcare available for one-year-olds and extending maternity pay to 12 months.
Huddersfield's Harold gets a mention
Former Huddersfield MP and Prime Minister Harold Wilson has got a mention at the launch of the Labour manifesto :
Huddersfield stump speech
Here’s what we understand Jeremy Corbyn is doing in West Yorkshire today.
He is currently launching the party manifesto at Bradford University.
At 3pm he will be at Beaumont Park (pictured) in Huddersfield and will make a stump speech and meet party members and the wider public.
He will then travel to Pudsey for a similar stump event.
Corbyn in West Yorkshire
Today Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is in West Yorkshire to launch his party’s manifesto.
He’s in Bradford this morning and this afternoon he’s visiting Huddersfield and Pudsey.
Here’s the scene in Bradford where crowds are gathering for the manifesto launch:
