Long-Bailey Long-Bailey created a four-point plan titled "Aspirational socialism"; empower the movement and raise trade union membership; a "Democratic Revolution" and; a "Green Industrial Revolution". Long-Bailey promised that she would continue to develop the "
Green New Deal" policies that she had introduced to the party's 2019 election manifesto. On democratic reform, Long-Bailey called for constitutional reform to spread power more evenly across the country, including
abolishing the
House of Lords. Long-Bailey stated that if she were to win the leadership election the Labour Party would maintain its commitment to bring energy, water, rail and mail back into public ownership. She has also supported open selection as a process of selection for Labour MPs. Long-Bailey and her platform were described by the media as "continuity Corbyn" because of her closeness to Corbyn,
Momentum and the left of the Labour party, although she rejected the label. In response to the release of
U.S. President Donald Trump's
peace plan to resolve the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Long-Bailey criticised the proposals, stating that they would "only perpetuate conflict" and "undermine rights of the Palestinian people". During the
COVID-19 pandemic, Long-Bailey made several recommendations to the government. She advocated the government look at a
universal basic income for all people in the United Kingdom regardless of wealth, and to eliminate the five-week waiting time before claimants can receive
Universal Credit. In an article, Long-Bailey advocated that the government should buy shares in key industries and put these shares into a "social wealth fund". She stated that: "This crisis should make us realise that we're all connected – that the chief executive relies on the refuse worker, the corporate lawyer on the supermarket worker, and the politician on the nurse. And this realisation should power how we rebuild our economy when the crisis is over." Long-Bailey was the first candidate to publish a list of donors to her campaign, with primary funding coming from trade unions
Unite (£215,000) and the
Communication Workers Union (£52,000), plus small individual donations solicited from members of left-wing organisation
Momentum (£120,000).
Nandy In January, Nandy accused the
Blair and
Brown governments of continuing the "consensus that
Thatcher built". She criticised
New Labour for being "as tight as the Tories". She called for "a modern, empowering welfare state for the 21st century". She praised Corbyn for shifting party policy towards a position that opposes
austerity During the party hustings held in
Bristol, Nandy argued that the
honours system should have references to the
British Empire removed and replaced with 'Excellence'. Nandy defended
free movement within the
European Union, while also arguing that concerns about its flaws should not be simply dismissed as "racist anti-immigrant rhetoric". Nandy is opposed to
Scottish independence and argued that Labour should "look to
Catalonia and
Quebec" as examples for dealing with "divisive nationalism", later clarifying that the party can learn from the
Socialist Party in Spain that has shown how "the cause of social justice has beaten divisive nationalism". She has said she wants
Scottish Labour to be represented in the shadow cabinet and has also pledged not to interfere in devolved policymaking, allowing Scottish Labour to decide their own approach to independence. She also stated that
British federalism would not resolve the political division between England and Scotland. In February,
deputy leadership candidate
Richard Burgon proposed a "Peace Pledge" to ensure that the party would not support future military action unless its members vote in favour of such a policy. Nandy voiced her strong disapproval of the pledge. She argued that civilians in war zones could not afford to wait for such a ballot to pass and it was irresponsible to share such classified information. In an interview with
The Jewish Chronicle, Nandy acknowledged that the party had lost the trust of the
British Jewish community as a result of its "failure of leadership" and poor handling of
antisemitism in the Party. She also said that she believed that the word '
Zionism' had become "horribly distorted and weaponised" by some in the party; Nandy denounced those who questioned
Israel's right to exist and reiterated her view that advocating the
rights of
Palestinians does not contradict support for Israel. She has chaired
Labour Friends of Palestine since 2018. When she spoke to the
Evening Standard in January, Nandy called on
party general secretary Jennie Formby to publish the evidence that had been submitted to the
Equality and Human Rights Commission, as part of the commission's investigation into institutional antisemitism in the party. She added that openness and transparency would necessary to rebuild trust with the British Jewish community. Nandy said that she would conduct a "fair recruitment process" for parliamentary candidates and end the practice of
"parachuting" those favoured by the leadership. She criticised the centralised approach taken during the
2019 general election, in which a number of candidates were "imposed" by Corbyn and his allies. Nandy has also stated that she would end the practice of nominating peers to the
House of Lords. This announcement came after the Labour Party controversially nominated
John Bercow, former
Commons Speaker, and
Karie Murphy, Corbyn's former chief of staff. During a speech in
Bassetlaw, one of the "
red wall" constituencies gained by the
Conservatives in 2019, Nandy announced that a future
shadow cabinet led by her would involve the representation of local Labour councillors, giving a seat to the elected Leader of the
Local Government Association Labour Group. She also pledged that she would give councillors the right to nominate candidates in future leadership elections, just as
MPs and
MEPs had during the previous month. Nandy released a list of donors to her leadership campaign, which was principally supported by the
GMB trade union and featured four private donations of over £10,000 from individuals including her husband Andrew Collis, businessmen Jason Stockwood and Tom Shutes, and
Hope Not Hate chair Simon Tuttle.
Starmer Starmer positioned himself in opposition to
austerity, stating that Corbyn was "right" to position Labour as the "party of
anti-austerity". Starmer indicated he would continue with the Labour policy of scrapping
tuition fees. He also pledged "common ownership" of rail, mail, energy and water companies and called for ending outsourcing in the NHS, local governments and the justice system. In 2022 Starmer was alleged to have broken his pledge on "common ownership" of rail, mail, energy and water companies. In February 2020, Starmer announced that he would continue the policy introduced under
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell to raise taxes on the top five per cent of earners with incomes of more than £80,000. Starmer argued that the party should propose the reintroduction of
free movement within the
European Union. In response to the release of Trump's peace plan to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Starmer described the proposals as "inconsistent with international law and human rights protections". Starmer's leadership campaign gained funding from trade union
Unison, and donations from several individuals, including £100,000 and £5,000 respectively from barristers Robert Latham and
Richard Hermer, as well as hotel bills totalling £2,500 from a company linked to Labour donor Farah Sassoon. ==Hustings and debates==