Britain’s party manifestos lack detail but leave clues

The launchNHSA of Labour’s manifesto on June 13th had all the glitz and neurotic management you would expect of a long-exiled party on the cusp of power. Sir Keir Starmer had chosen the giant atrium of the Co-op Building in Manchester, a nine-storey beehive topped by a glass roof. To the left of the stage, his shadow cabinet sat in neat rows as if posing for a school photo. The party’s pledges (“Cut waiting times”, “Deliver economic stability”) hung on giant flags. Activists beamed from the tiered balconies above. With a to protect, Sir Keir’s job—and that of the 5 booklet he was promoting—was to say not much at all. He succeeded.The manifesto that Labour put forward has been sketched out before. It is organised around five missions, covering education, crime, health, green industry and, most importantly, economic growth. The Labour leader remains emphatic that he will not raise the rates of the main taxes while retaining the flexibility to increase smaller ones. The party is wary of giving its opponents the slightest opening; a campaign in 1992 that was derailed by Tory attacks on its tax plans looms large in Labour folklore.