David Cameron launched the Conservative Party election manifesto this morning where he set out our commitments for the next five years. He promised a brighter, more secure future.
You can read the manifesto in full here.
He made clear that it is only the Conservative Party which offers real security and a brighter future to working people in Britain today.
At the heart of this manifesto is a simple proposition. We are the party of working people, offering you security at every stage of your life.
If you’re a young person looking for training, if you’re looking for a decent job, if you want to buy your own home, if you’re raising a family and need help with childcare, if you fall ill and need to rely on our NHS, if you are reaching retirement and want real security, we are there for you – offering security at every stage of your life.
David Cameron’s message to Britain was this: “we have come this far together. Let’s not waste the past five years. Now is not a time to put it all at risk, but to build on the progress we have made. We are the party of working people. So if you want a more secure Britain, if you want a brighter future for your family and for you, then together, let’s build on what we’ve done and see this through.”
One of the items covered most in the press was the announcement of the extension of Right to Buy to housing association tenants which will allow up to 1.3 million families to realise the dream of owning their own home. In Wychavon alone, more than 7,500 families could benefit from this policy.
The Right to Buy has already helped around two million families to realise their dream of owning a home. By now extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, we will help more people who want to move on and up the housing ladder. Our proposals will increase house building, increase home ownership and reduce waiting lists.
The Right to Buy gives something back to families who have worked hard, paid their rent and played by the rules. It allows them to do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden – without getting permission from officialdom. It gives people a greater sense of pride and ownership not just in their home, but in their street and neighbourhood.
Other key policy announcements were:
- We will double the free hours of childcare provided for working parents of 3- and 4-year-olds, from 15 hours to 30 hours a week during term time; and
- The next Conservative Government will also pass a new law to guarantee a Tax Free Minimum Wage for those working up to 30 hours.
A summary of the key points in the manifesto from the BBC’s website follows:
Key messages
The front page of the Conservative manifesto gives their three key messages for the election: "strong leadership", a "clear economic plan" and a "brighter, more secure future".
David Cameron adopted an upbeat tone at the launch, saying he wanted to offer people in the UK a "good life". He said he wanted to "finish the job" of economic reform, having "rescued" the economy when he took power in 2010.
And he warned that Labour would put that progress at risk, accusing the party of wanting to take the UK "back to square one".
Key policies
The main pledges in the manifesto combine previous announcements and some new policies, announced at the launch. Here are some of the most important:
§ Extension of the right-to-buy scheme to housing association tenants in England
§ Plans to build 200,000 starter homes
§ Ensuring all people who work 30 hours per week on the minimum wage pay no income tax
§ Doubling free childcare allowance for three and four-year-olds to 30 hours
§ Increasing the inheritance tax threshold on family homes to £1m by 2017
§ No above-inflation rises in rail fares until 2020
§ An extra £8bn a year for the NHS by 2020
§ Opening 500 more free schools
§ An EU referendum by 2017
Economy
The party says mortgages, schools, hospitals and pensions are some of things that depend on a "strong economy". The manifesto says the party will continue with its "long-term economic plan". Pledges on the economy include:
§ Running a surplus by 2018 so that the UK "starts to pay down its debts"
§ No rise in VAT, national insurance contributions or income tax
§ A crackdown on tax evasion and the "aggressive" avoidance of tax
§ Creating a "Northern Powerhouse" through investment
§ Spending £100bn on infrastructure in the next Parliament
Jobs
The document says the Conservative Party is committed to helping people enjoy the "satisfaction and rewards of a decent job". Pledges include:
§ Achieve full employment by helping businesses create two million extra jobs over the course of the next Parliament
§ Cutting £10bn of red tape over the next Parliament
§ Giving businesses "the most competitive taxes of any major economy"
§ Replacing Jobseeker's Allowance for 18-21 year-olds with a Youth Allowance time-limited to six months. After that, they will have to take an apprenticeship or traineeship or do community work to claim benefits
§ Requiring 40% of those entitled to take part in strike ballots to vote for a strike before industrial action can be held
§ Requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap - the difference between average pay for male and female employees
§ Increasing the minimum wage to £6.70 by the autumn and to £8 by the end of the decade
§ Investing £6.9bn in the UK's research infrastructure up to 2021
§ "Near universal superfast broadband" for rural areas
§ Giving Parliament a free vote on repeal of the Hunting Act
Taxation and welfare
The manifesto launch paid significant attention to plans to reduce tax for low-paid workers and increase benefits for working parents. Some of the main pledges in this area include:
§ Taking everyone who earns less than £12,500 out of income tax
§ Passing a new law that would mean all those working 30 hours a week and earning the minimum wage will not pay income tax on earnings
§ Raising the threshold for the 40p rate of tax so that nobody under £50,000 pays the rate
§ A freeze on working age benefits for two years from April 2016 (exemptions for disability and pensioner benefits)
§ Lowering the benefit cap from £26,000 to £23,000 (with exemptions for those receiving Disability Living Allowance or the Personal Independence Payment)
§ Giving working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds 30 hours of free childcare a week
Immigration
The party says it still wants to see annual net migration in the tens of thousands. It pledges to reduce the incentive for EU migrants to settle in the UK by:
§ Negotiating new EU rules so people will have to be earning in the UK for four years before they can claim tax credits and child benefits
§ Introducing a four-year residency requirement for social housing for EU migrants
§ Ending ability of EU jobseekers to claim any job-seeking benefits
§ Requiring jobseekers who have not found a job within six months to leave
The party says it will also:
§ Insist new EU member states' citizens do not have free movement rights "until their economies have converged much more closely with existing member states"
§ Cap the level of skilled migration from outside the EU at at 20,700
§ Extend the "deport first, appeal later" principle to cover all immigration appeals and judicial reviews, apart from asylum cases
§ Introduce legislation to "ensure that every public sector worker operating in a customer-facing role must speak fluent English"
§ Introduce a fund to ease pressures on services experiencing "unexpected volumes of immigration"
Education and the NHS
The Tories pledged at the weekend to spend an extra £8bn per year on the NHS. Other manifesto commitments include:
§ Investing £7bn over the course of the next Parliament to provide "good school places"
§ To open at least 500 new free schools and turn failing schools into academies
§ To protect the schools budget; increasing the amount spent on schools as the number of pupils increases
§ Scrap the cap on higher education student numbers
§ Same-day GP appointments for over 75s
§ The right to a named GP
§ Integration of health and social care systems
Heritage, sports and government
The party pledges to:
§ Keep major museums and galleries free to enter
§ Freeze the BBC licence fee
§ Defend a free media
§ Build on the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
§ Guarantee those who work for a big company and the public sector entitlement to Volunteering Leave for three days per year
§ Reduce the cost of government
§ End taxpayer-funded six-figure pay-offs for the best-paid public sector workers
§ Reduce number of MPs to 600
IIntroduce English votes for English laws