Labour is promising thousands more doctors, nurses and midwives by reversing the Tories’ abolition of the 45p tax rate for top earners.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said the billions saved would deliver ‘one of the biggest expansions of the NHS workforce in history” – instead of handing rewards to the UK’s richest people.
She also pledged to pave the way for a higher minimum wage taking into account “the real cost of living” on “day one” of Labour winning power.
The scrapping of the 45p rate – paid by those earning over £150,000 – has triggered a furious political storm, with many Tory MPs fearing it is a disastrous own goal.
Ms Reeves said it would cost £6bn over four years, yet benefit just 600,000 people – each of whom will receive an average of £10,000.
The shadow chancellor announced Labour would double the number of medical school places from 7,500 to 15,000 to “make sure that everyone who wants to train as a doctor in Britain can”.
The money saved would also pay to double the number of district nurses qualifying every year, train 5,000 more health visitors, and create an extra 10,000 nursing and midwifery each year.
“Our priority is not tax cuts for the wealthiest few – it is securing our public finances and investing in our public services,” Ms Reeves said.
“I can tell you: with a Labour government, those at the top will pay their fair share. The 45p top rate of income tax is coming back.”
The move means Labour has decided on higher borrowing to expand the NHS, rather than using the £1.65bn a year raised from the 45p rate to reduce the budget deficit.
The party will ask the Low Pay Commission to give greater weight to the real cost of living when recommending the minimum wage rate – but was unable to provide further details.
Ms Reeves tore into the fallout from last Friday’s dramatic budget – which has triggered a collapse in the pound and higher borrowing costs – accusing the government of “putting our economy in danger”.
She called the prime minister and chancellor “desperate gamblers in a casino chasing a losing run”, adding: “They’ve lost credibility, they’re losing confidence, they’re out of control.”
And she attacked the return of “trickle-down economics” – the belief that handing gains to the rich will deliver benefits to all – as “the failed ideas of the past”.
“Trickle down is a very simple idea – and a very wrong one,” Ms Reeves told the conference.
“Trickle down is wrong because how wealth is shared does matter to growth. High inequality strangles the spending power of working people, it piles its social costs onto our public services, and it suffocates potential.”
Attacking the Tory record, Ms Reeves said: “They’ve had 12 years. Have they got growth up? No. Have they got inflation down? No. Have they got child poverty down? No.
“Have they got the NHS waiting lists down? No. And have they even got the debt and the deficit down? No. Conference, it’s 12 years of failure.”
