On this special manifesto episode of The Power Test, Ayesha Hazarika and Sam Freedman are joined by two special guests: Nick Pearce, one of the authors of Labour’s 2010 manifesto, and Claire Ainsley, who was Keir Starmer’s policy guru from 2020 to 2022. Together, this quartet dissect and discuss the Labour party’s 2024 manifesto (titled, simply, ‘Change’). Does it live up to that name? What are the big policy areas it covers, from housing to the NHS? And are there any notable omissions from the a document that could be foundational to how a Labour government does business?
Looking at whether this is a bold statement of the party’s intention to change Britain for the better – the key question that The Power Test has been asking for three seasons – or a cautious testament to Starmer’s “safety first” mentality, this is your breakdown of the first clear indication of where the country is headed.