Labour: There'd be billions for public services with Labour

Taxes are at a 70 year high under the Conservative Party. We understand that, we understand the burdens that puts on people. But that is why we do not accept this doom loop of high taxes, low growth, poor public services. We're going to break out of that. And that is the big argument in the Labour manifesto with a set of practical proposals that will make a real difference. And we should remember, if the economy had grown at anything like the rate it had grown to the last Labour government over the previous 14 years, there'd be billions of pounds of spending now available to be spent on public services that just isn't there. And if I didn't think that could be improved, I wouldn't even be a candidate at this election. That is the big challenge facing the country. And that's why we need this change to a Labour government. I do want higher wages. I think one of the problems today is that people are worse off at the end of this Parliament than they were at the beginning. So I'll make no apologies for wanting to see people be better off. But we've put in place a set of proposals on the minimum wage becoming a real living wage overtime, not an arbitrary amount, but a process that will take into account the cost of living as part of an economy which for businesses will be much more attractive.