The Conservative party became the second to launch their manifesto this morning. Leading with a strong family focus, the Prime Minister promised a ‘plan for every stage of your life’. Aside from the much discussed ‘right-to-buy’ scheme announced at the beginning of the day, the Tories made a large number pledges. Below is a brief summary of their manifesto:
The economy, tax and welfare:
• raise personal tax-free allowance to £12,500
• tax free minimum wage for those working 30 hours
• increase threshold from £42,000 to £50,000 for 40p tax rate by 2020
• inheritance tax to be removed on properties worth up to £1 million
• lower the amount of benefits that any household can receive to £23,000 form 26,000
• give working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds 30 hours of free childcare a week
• increase the State Pension through our triple lock, so it rises by at least 2.5 per cent,
• introduce a single-tier pension
Jobs:
• create 2 million new jobs and 3 million apprenticeships
• raise minimum wage to £6.70 – £8 by end of the decade
• replace Jobseekers Allowance for 18-21 year olds – new Youth Allowance where after 6 months, the jobseeker must undertake an apprenticeship, traineeship or daily community work to receive their benefits
• 40 per cent support for strike action needed from union members
Housing:
• 200,000 new homes for first-time buyers under 40 – 20% below market price
• 1.3 million housing association tenants will be able to qualify for a full right-to-buy discount
• extend the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme to 2020 to help more people onto and up the housing ladder
• introduce a new Help to Buy ISA to support people saving for a deposit
Immigration and EU:
• keep the ambition of delivering annual net migration in the tens of thousands, not the hundreds of thousands
• four years putting in to the UK economy before eligibility for a council house or benefits
• no child benefit for children abroad
Education:
• Protect schools budget, create 500 new free schools
• Pre-school child care provision doubled – 30 hrs a week childcare for 3-4 year olds
• No cap on university places
• Resits for 11 year olds – zero tolerance for failure
NHS:
• £8 billion extra funding a year by 2020
• Ensure 7 day a week availability of GPs
• guarantee that everyone over 75 will get a same-day appointment if they need one
UK governance, Culture, Defence and Transport:
• reduce number of MPs to 600
• give English MPs a veto over matters only affecting England, including on Income Tax
• honour in full commitments to Scotland to devolve extensive new powers
• implement the agreed settlement for Wales, handing over more responsibility to the Welsh Assembly
• free parliamentary vote on repeal of hunting act
• retain Trident whilst developing a new fleet of nuclear submarines
• freeze the BBC licence fee, to save you money
• rail fares frozen in real time until 2020
• £2 billion on railways
• £790 million investment for superfast broadband throughout country
The manifesto launch this morning provides a welcome hiatus in the Conservative party’s negative campaigning against Labour. The party has instead provided an insight into its ambitions for a ‘secure’ and strong Britain which may sway voters. The latest BBC polls average reflects this, showing a one point rise in Tory support from this time last week.
The remaining parties, including the Liberal Democrats and UKIP, are set to release their own manifestos over the next few days.
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