Safety for Tomorrow, Confidence for the Future

Safety for Tomorrow, Confidence for the Future

The Labour Party aims to build a society with equality and abundant opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background or ambitions. We achieve this through a strong sense of community. By doing our duty before asserting our rights, and by creating a strong economy and sharing the rewards fairly, we make our society stronger.

The 2020s represent a watershed in Norway and across the globe. After many years of peace and progress, recent years have been marked by insecurity: war in Europe, rising crime, economic turbulence and a growing climate and nature crisis. At the same time, we face major transitions—labour shortages, vital care responsibilities for an ageing population, a shift to renewable energy sources and the rollout of new technologies.

Our foremost task is to steer Norway safely through these uncertain times, ensuring that we manage change in a way that preserves what makes Norway unique: our strong community, low inequality and high levels of trust.

Our societal model is founded on core social-democratic values: freedom, equality and solidarity. It has proven robust in times of crisis and transformation. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we relied on a strong public healthcare system, a well-organised labour market and a welfare state capable of stepping up when needed. In economically challenging periods, we expand welfare provision and adopt policies that prevent growing disparities. Facing changing security policies, we are modernising our defence and intensifying our efforts against crime. Going forward, we must increase employment, revive the housing policies, harness technological opportunities and strengthen international cooperation.

Safe Economic Management

Responsible budgets will tame inflation and help bring interest rates down. Moreover, the Norwegian model—with its strong, accountable partners and a secure, well-organised labour market—delivers fair wages, low unemployment and price stability. We will provide households and businesses with predictable frameworks that encourage employment, improve living standards, enable home ownership and combat inequality and poverty. We reaffirm our commitment to the EEA Agreement and to maintaining close ties with Europe. We will prioritise bolstering welfare and extending support for measures that improve people’s finances over large tax cuts for those at the top.

We will:  

• Ensure better living standards through safe economic management, high employment rate, lower costs, accessible welfare and combatting inequality and poverty  
• Maintain today’s overall level of taxes and duties on individuals and businesses 
• Commit to a goal of building 130,000 new homes over the next four years so that more people can own their own home  
• Secure friction-free, reliable access for Norwegian businesses to their key markets through the EEA Agreement  
• Protect people from debt traps, through measures such as considering tightening rules on consumer-credit advertising, exorbitant interest rates on loans and limiting excessive debt-collection fees  
• Pursue a predictable, responsible tax policy that boosts employment, ensures fairer distribution, respects climate and nature, and safeguards long-term welfare sustainability  
• Strengthen the Norwegian labour-market model  

Safe Work for All

Value must be created before it can be shared. By distributing the benefits well, we generate even more. Jobs for everyone is our number-one priority.

We aim to increase employement by bringing 150,000 more people into work by 2030. Through active industrial policy and stable conditions for business that protect jobs, we will ensure it is profitable to work. The Norwegian model—with strong, responsible social partners and a secure, well-organised labour market—yields low unemployment and fair pay, ensuring equal opportunity for all.

Norway is rich in natural resources, and we believe public ownership and stewardship of those resources is a strength. Our energy policy will be characterised by strong political oversight, public ownership and a fair share of profits for the community. The state will secure predictable, affordable energy costs for households and businesses. We will accelerate the rollout of renewable energy and grid capacity so that clean, low-cost energy remains a competitive advantage for Norwegian industry.

We will:  

• Guarantee that sickness benefits are not cut  
• Support those outside the labour market, even when unemployment is low  
• Raise the employment rate to 82 percent by 2030 and 83 percent by 2035  
• Enhance and extend the youth guarantee, ensuring a job or education for everyone under 30
• Encourage higher union membership by increasing the tax relief on union dues for everyone, and even further for people under 30  
• Continue to roll out the Norwegian model of public procurements to secure a well-organised labour market  
• Introduce the “Norgespris” scheme, with a fixed price plan for consumers, to ensure predictable energy costs  

A Safer Norway

We will ensure security for Norway and safety in Norway. Our country has not been adequately prepared for the security challenges we now face. We will strengthen civil preparedness and all branches of our defence. We will champion Norway’s interests both at home and abroad.

At home, we will be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. We will tackle violence and offences wherever they exist, secure our borders and ensure criminals are pursued and punished. The police will be reinforced so they can be present where needed and halt the recruitment of new offenders in criminal circles.

We will:  

• Bolster Norway’s defence capabilities and pursue closer co-operation and improved military mobility with our Nordic neighbours 
• Significantly expand capacity in the Norwegian and European defence industries  
• Deepen the police’s local presence, increase core staffing and strengthen key crime-fighting units nationwide  
• Boost police resources to fight organised crime at all levels  
• Work with experts to develop new tools for dealing with young offenders, balancing what’s best for the children with the need for public safety  
• Continue to roll out one-on-one support for the most vulnerable youths  
• Ensure every municipality has outreach and preventive services aimed at children and young people  
• Bolster our plan against violence and abuse of children and domestic violence

A Stronger Welfare State

Our collective welfare must guarantee everyone security and opportunity, regardless of where they live or their circumstances.

We will build a school system in which pupils thrive. The trend of poor results and well-being must be reversed. We will restore discipline and bring calm back to our classrooms. There will be more learning, more hands-on teaching and more sense of mastery. We will strengthen the support around every pupil to ensure more young people complete their education. We will cut unnecessary screen time in schools and provide pupils with more physical textbooks.

Waiting times in our health service shall be reduced. When you become ill or face health problems, you will receive the right treatment at the right time. We will ensure more people have a named GP, that our hospitals maintain strong professional standards and the highest quality, and that older citizens who need care and support receive it. In Norway, you should never have to pay privately to access the best care at the moment you need it.

Health and Elderly Care

Norway shall have a health service that ranks among the best in the world. When you fall ill or face health concerns, the most important thing is that you receive the right care at the right time. Our health service will be governed and funded by the public.

Far too many people find that care arrives in fragments, with neither local authorities nor hospitals able to offer truly comprehensive support. Patients and their families must be able to rely on our public health service whenever they need it. We put people before bureaucracy and will build a single, comprehensive health service marked by excellent quality and minimal waiting times.

We will:  

• Ensure short waiting times and high quality in our public health service  
• Continue expanding low-threshold mental-health services in municipalities, and establish it by law over time.  
• Aim for universal dental care and gradually increase public responsibility for dental services  
• Deliver increased quality in elderly care to guarantee a safe old age and excellent welfare services  
• Strengthen opportunities for older people to participate actively in society  

Schools and Education

The Labour Party is a party of knowledge. Our goal is a school where every child feels they belong, achieves success and embraces learning. Equal access to education is the bedrock of a society offering genuine opportunity to all.

We believe a practical, varied school day enhances learning and mastery for every pupil. To achieve this, we will invest decisively in adapting school buildings, playgrounds and resources to support hands-on learning across all subjects.

Today, roughly half of all pupils opt for academic pathways and half for vocational courses. We will ensure that every programme is of the highest quality and kept up to date with the needs of both the labour market and academia. Subject content and timetables will be reviewed and refreshed to make them more attractive, relevant and academically rigorous.

Higher education brings freedom, insight and the qualifications for work. For the Labour Party, equal rights to education remain fundamental. Education must be a public responsibility and accessible to everyone. We will safeguard academic freedom and uphold the intrinsic value of knowledge.

We will:  

• Strengthen the support around pupils with resources and specialists to address social challenges and free up more time for teaching and guidance  
• Provide physical textbooks, enhance school libraries and limit screen use without pedagogical justification  
• Promote a comprehensive approach for each child by integrating school and extended-day care. Schooling will remain free  
• Invest in future-focused secondary education programmes that prepare young people for work and further study  
• Improve higher-education quality through better guidance, more practical experience, enhanced digital tools and by aspiring to increase the hours each student spend on their studies. 

Achieving Our Climate Goals and Succeeding With a Green Transition

We will meet our climate targets by developing existing jobs and creating new, secure employment. The Labour Party takes responsibility for steering our economy and our society towards sustainability on the path to a low-emission society.

Our climate and nature policies must enable the ability of businesses to transition, while remaining fair. The state will partner with industry to build new sectors, expand renewable energy generation and support technological innovation. Everyone, regardless of income or location, must be given the opportunity to choose climate-friendly options.

We will:  

• Deliver on Norway’s Paris Agreement commitments and continue climate co-operation with the EU  
• Cut emissions across the economy to protect Norwegian competitiveness  
• Promote a just transition, through measures such as designing fair schemes for redeeming climate levies  
• Set a national, overarching nature-policy target of land-use neutrality by 2040  
• Protect at least 30 percent of Norway’s land, freshwater and marine environments in partnership with local communities  
• Reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from transport  
• Reduce VAT on repairs and sales of second-hand goods