Press release Sunday 29 April 2012 Embargo 0001 30 April 2010 NEWS FROM LABOUR: Ed Miliband outlines Labour's 5 priorities for the Queen's Speech. Only one party has the ideas to improve the living standards of the many. Ed Miliband and Ed Balls will today (Mon) launch a whistlestop tour of local election battlegrounds ahead of Thursday’s elections in which he will underline the key themes of Labour’s campaign. At a Q & A event in Coin Street, London, Mr Miliband will set out some of Labour’s priorities for next week’s Queen’s Speech, measures that would help families immediately by tackling rip-off prices and creating real jobs for young people.  Ed Miliband’s opening remarks in Coin Street: Last week we found out that Britain’s economy, which had been recovering strongly two years ago, has now sunk into a double dip recession. A recession made in Downing Street. David Cameron and George Osborne promised they would change things for the better. They boasted they had taken the economy out of the danger zone. They ignored the warning signs that their reckless plan would backfire. David Cameron and George Osborne have helped the bankers who wanted their big bonuses. They have helped the millionaires who wanted a tax cut worth tens of thousands of pounds in the Budget. They tried to help Rupert Murdoch secure his biggest ever deal.  This Tory-led government, with its Liberal Democrat prop, has helped those who don’t need help. But it has not helped you.  Too close to the rich and powerful. Out of touch with everyone else.  Millions in the middle are being forced to pay more in tax. Pensioners are being forced to pay more in tax. There is even a new tax that will hurt charities.  Families are losing their working tax credits making some of them better off on benefit. Cuts that go too far and too fast in services mean there are less police, our NHS is suffering and we now have more than one million young people out of work.  In these tough times when there is less money around, only one party has an agenda for change which would improve living standards for families, ensure security for pensioners and get our young people back to work. That party is Labour. This week there are elections here in London and for councils across Britain. Next week the Government will unveil its Parliamentary programme for next year in the Queen’s Speech.  I want to talk briefly today about five of the Bills we would introduce if Labour was in government now and writing this year’s Queen’s Speech. These measures offer practical ways to help people right now and get our economy moving again.  But to bring them about requires a government in touch with the needs of families in this recession. It requires different choices and different priorities. It requires a Labour party that is with you in tough times.  Five Labour Priorities for the Queen’s Speech • A Fair Deal on tax. Alongside implementing Labour’s five point plan for jobs and growth, Labour’s Finance Bill would reverse tax cuts for people earning over £150,000 a year. We would use that money to help pensioners on fixed incomes hit by the “granny tax” and we would restore cuts in tax credits which have hit families. • A Fair Deal on Energy. Labour’s Energy Bill would break up the dominance of the Big Six power companies and require them by law to offer 4 million elderly people the lowest rate available. • A Fair Deal on Transport. Labour’s Transport Bill would stop train operators raising fares by more than one per cent above inflation, stop them exploiting commuters with unadvertised rates and give local authorities more control over bus firms. • A Fair Deal for Consumers. Labour’s Consumer Bill would give new powers to the Financial Conduct Authority and Competition and Markets Authority to stop rip-off surcharges by banks, low-cost airlines and pension firms. • A Fair Deal on Jobs. Labour’s Jobs Bill would ensure some of the money raised from a tax on bank bonuses is used to provide real jobs, with real wages and responsibilities, to more than 100,000 young people aged 18 – 24.  Ends