To deal with the immediate economic and social crisis, we propose:

INDUSTRY

In the short-term we must reverse the dramatic decline in England’s manufacturing and production by:

- re-opening coal mines, steel plants, engineering works and shipyards
- beginning to rebuild the rail industry, textiles and all industries that generate real wealth

THE ENVIRONMENT

Environmental concerns go hand in hand with resurrecting our industry:

- an integrated public transport system involving rail canal and road
- clean coal technology, an immediate end to nuclear power, a halt to opencast mining and the development of renewable energy resources

UNEMPLOYMENT

The scourge of unemployment can be wiped out, but only with radical policies:

- a four day week without loss of pay, a ban on non-essential overtime
- voluntary retirement at 55 on full pay

POVERTY

- immediate introduction of a national minimum wage based on two thirds of median male earning
- no taxation on incomes below £ 10,000
- the doubling of state pensions within one year coupled with their linking to average wages and the cost of living

HOUSING

To end homelessness and provide work for hundreds of thousands of unemployed builders:

- a million new homes every year for five years
- all empty properties to be identified, modernised, upgraded and converted into homes

HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES

Rebuilding and further development of the NHS and social services will be ahigh priority for ESP

- the right to health and social services to be enshrined in law
- universal access to free health and social services
- the abolition of all forms of private health care and social services – no-one will get rich from the ill-health and suffering of others

EDUCATION

- free and decent education for all, comprehensive education and lifelong access to learning
- the management of schools and colleges to be returned to local communities
- abolish the class privilege of private education
- proper funding for further and higher education
- restore mandatory student grants and state benefits taken from students in the 1990s and 1980s; link student grants to minimum wage levels

OTHER POLICIES

English Socialist Party has detailed policy statements on these and other issues including:

The economy, health and welfare, pensions, transport, the environment, local government, regional autonomy, the arts, anti-racism, sexual preference and orientation, youth, children, women, anti-trade union legislation, international policy and the European Union.

The policies outlined in the Program only subdue the destructiveness of the present system. The only way we can permanently resolve the economic and political crisis is by replacing the capitalist system with Socialism.