Labour meet to finalise election manifesto

Senior Labour figures and union leaders are meeting to finalise the party's 2024 election manifesto ahead of its launch next week.

Labour's main themes for government have been established for months, but final details over workers' rights policies and Palestinian statehood are being worked out at the meeting.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is attending, alongside shadow ministers and senior union figures like GMB Union General Secretary Gary Smith.

They met at an undisclosed London location on Friday.

Ahead of the meeting, Sir Keir confirmed to the BBC that Labour's manifesto will include a commitment to recognise a Palestinian state as "part of the process" to a two-state solution.

The Labour leader said it is important there is a "viable Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel".

Unions have told the BBC they are expecting a fight over workers' rights.

"We go into the meeting with open hearts but girded loins," one union leader told the BBC's Iain Watson.

The public service union Unison wants to ensure commitments to improved pay and wage bargaining are in the document.

Unite wants various caveats on, for example, ending zero hours contracts taken out - and a complete ban on the practice of "hire and fire", for instance taking workers back on with worse pay and conditions.

As Labour's biggest trade union funder, Unite may cut support if the party is not strong on employment rights.

Jess Barnard, a left-wing member of Labour's national executive, told the BBC she will push for commitments on free school meals in England and lifting the benefits cap in the manifesto.

Plans leaked to the BBC also reveal Labour is looking to block companies from sponsoring visas for overseas employees if they do not comply with training British workers.

Labour sources have said the document will be "radical" on planning reforms and housebuilding.

The first two-weeks of Labour's election campaign have been built around Sir Keir's six first steps for government, including delivering "economic stability" and providing 40,000 more hospital appointments each week.

But party rules, specifically clause five, require the final manifesto to be signed off at a special meeting of the shadow cabinet, the parliamentary committee of Labour MPs, the Scottish and Welsh Labour leaders, the chair and vice-chairs of the National Policy Forum, the national executive committee, and representatives of affiliated trade unions.

After snap elections in 2017 and 2019, this year's manifesto is the first time in a decade the Labour party enters an election having completed its complex policy sign-off process.

While many party figures have been involved in shaping parts of the manifesto, the whole document is being closely guarded to reduce the chance of leaks.

To enter the meeting attendees must hand over their mobile phones.

Green New Deal, an environmental protest group, found the meeting's secret location and is picketing outside, demanding stronger climate action

Zak Coleman, 23, the former student union president at the University of Cambridge and spokesperson for the group, told reporters: "Young people know that this Labour Party is refusing to commit to the transformational policies that we need to see.

"We need to see massive investment to tackle the climate crisis; they're promising us nothing. We need to see an end to the housing crisis, an end to the crisis of student debt."