According to the press it’s a tough week for Ed Miliband as Labour’s manifesto coordinator. Yesterday’s Times said that Alistair Darling’s tight purse strings are hampering Ed’s efforts to write a bold manifesto, and other papers have been less kind to Ed suggesting he has been asked to work magic on the Party’s fortunes.
So we’ve decided to cheer Ed up a bit and send him the best Young Fabian ideas for the manifesto.
The Young Fabians are offering all our members the chance to send their manifesto ideas to Ed this week through our blog. If you have a bold policy suggestion which you think deserves to make it into Labour’s 2010 election manifesto then email your 100 word idea to me, David Chaplin, on dchaplin@youngfabians.org.uk or register as a YF Blogger on this page and post it yourself.
All your manifesto ideas will be posted onto our Blog, and at the end of the week a panel of judges including Jess Asato from Progress, and Sunder Katwala from the Fabian Society will choose the best manifesto idea to be sent onto Ed Miliband.
Get thinking and get blogging!
My manifesto idea:
I admit may be hard to pay for, but we could be in substantial growth before it gets through parliament:
“To overhaul job seekers allowance, this benefit is not fit for purpose. I would rename it Employment Support, and try and re-brand it away from stigma. The benefit should take into consideration a person’s a time in work and current wage, initial pay 80% of employed wage for 6 months, dropping 50% and then to the base of the allowance after a 12 month period. This will help support those suddenly made unemployed and their families to get straight back on the employment ladder. With this support improved signposting to new training and education should be paramount.”