The Conservative Party recently unveiled its General Election manifesto, with plans for personal tax cuts, proposals to rewrite international migration rules, and a bolstered pensions triple lock at the heart of its offer.
Britain heads to the polls for the General Election this week, with voting taking place on Thursday, July 4.
Here are some of the headline policies from the Conservatives’ manifesto.
Taxes
Rishi Sunak’s party is offering a further 2p cut to national insurance in the manifesto.
This will build on similar successive 2p cuts at the autumn statement and spring budget, which is estimated to cost an average of £10 billion a year.
The main rate of national insurance for the self-employed would be abolished by the end of the next Parliament under the Tories, according to the manifesto.
The document also promises no increases to income tax, national insurance or VAT.
The Tories have also pledged to scrap capital gains tax for landlords who sell properties to their tenants.
Pensions
The Conservatives have pledged to protect pensioners from having to pay tax on their state pensions.
Billed as the “triple lock-plus”, the policy would see the threshold at which pensioners have to pay income tax rise so that even if the state pension increases it will never rise above the income tax threshold.
Immigration
Mr Sunak said at the manifesto launch his party would aim to “halve” migration.
The manifesto meanwhile pledges a binding cap on legal migration as the main election offer to control the number of people coming to the country.
The Conservatives would also call for an international summit in order to rewrite international immigration rules for the modern age, in a move aimed at placating Tory critics of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Housing
The Conservatives will deliver 1.6 million new homes if elected by speeding up planning on brownfield land in inner cities and “scrapping defective EU laws”, Rishi Sunak pledged at the manifesto launch.
In an offer to first-time house buyers, the Conservatives have said they will abolish stamp duty up to the value of £425,000 and launch a “new and improved” Help to Buy scheme.
National service
The Prime Minister’s early campaign promise for a new form of national service features in the manifesto.
The plan would see 18-year-olds either spend a year in the armed forces or volunteer once a month in civil society, which is in part aimed at creating a more cohesive society.
Health
The Tories plan to boost community medical care by expanding the Pharmacy First programme.
They also plan to build 100 new GP surgeries and modernise 150 more, which will be in part paid for by changes to the planning system but perhaps more eye-catchingly through reducing the number of NHS managers to pre-pandemic levels.
Benefits
The Conservatives have placed benefit reform proposals within their manifesto offer aimed at ensuring more economically inactive people of working age have a job.
The shake-up includes giving new specialist work and health professionals the power to issue sick notes instead of GPs, and re-examining the criteria for work capability assessments.
High earners would also be able to keep more of their child benefit, with the high-income child benefit tax charge threshold raised to £120,000 and charged to households rather than individuals.
Levelling up
The party has pledged to expand levelling up funding by giving 30 towns £20 million, the majority of which is targeted at Conservative constituencies.
Police
The Tories have pledged to get 8,000 more “bobbies on the beat”, with a focus on community policing.
The plan, according to the Conservatives, would be partially financed by raising visa costs by 25 per cent and imposing a greater immigration health levy on international students.
Transport
A “Backing Drivers Bill” would be passed through Parliament if the Tories returned to power.
This would be aimed at reversing the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone, and preventing the imposition of default 20mph zones.
Education
The Conservatives have pledged to boost apprenticeship numbers, creating a further 100,000 by 2029.
At the same time, they have taken aim at “rip off” degrees which offer poor value to students, and say scrapping these will help pay for their apprenticeship programme.
100,000 Veterans
Following a bruising few days of criticism for the Prime Minister after his early exit from D-Day commemorations, the Conservative manifesto promises more support for veterans in the UK.
This would include enshrining veterans’ rights in law, and making sure the veterans’ ID card can be used as valid identification for voting.
Rights and freedoms
The Tories want to amend the Equality Act to define the protected characteristic of sex as “biological sex”.
The party argues the change will make it simpler for service providers for women and girls, such as those running sessions for domestic abuse victims, to prevent biological males from taking part.
