LIVE: Tory Manifesto Launch
Sunak is in Silverstone along with hacks and a gaggle of Tories to launch what is billed as the “do or die” last chance manifesto. Some Tory MPs are reacting with serious despondency at the lack of anything new, especially on immigration. One right-wing wag dubs it the “dodo manifesto” – a slim chance to avoid complete extinction. The mood among many on the right is that it’s a good thing for sound policies to be off the document – so they aren’t part of the soon-to-be discredited Sunak package…
Watch the launch live here…
WATCH: Our Plan. https://t.co/VhKR9Nr3C6
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) June 11, 2024
UPDATE: Late start. Gillian Keegan speaking, followed by Ben Houchen.
UPDATE II: No rabbit in manifesto. Everything pre-briefed.
UPDATE III: Read the toplines from the manifesto below:
To support working people and secure a stronger economy
- Cut tax for workers by taking another 2p off employee National Insurance so that we will have halved it from 12% at the beginning of this year to 6% by April 2027, a total tax cut of £1,350 for the average worker on £35,000- and the next step in our long- term ambition to end the double tax on work when financial conditions allow.
- Cut taxes to support the self-employed by abolishing the main rate of self-employed National Insurance entirely by the end of the Parliament.
- Cut tax for pensioners with the new Triple Lock Plus, guaranteeing that both the State Pension and the tax free allowance for pensioners always rise with the highest of inflation, earnings or 2.5% – so the new State Pension doesn’t get dragged into income tax.
- Give working parents 30 hours of free childcare a week from when their child is nine months old to when they start school, saving eligible families an average of £6,900 per year.
End the unfairness in Child Benefit by moving to a household system, so families don’t start losing Child Benefit until their combined income reaches £120,000 -saving the average family which benefits £1,500. - Cut the cost of net zero for consumers by taking a more pragmatic approach, guaranteeing no new green levies or charges while accelerating the rollout of renewables.
- Seize the benefits of Brexit by signing further trade deals, speeding up infrastructure and unblocking 100,000 homes, cutting red tape for business, and creating new fishing opportunities.
To provide young people with a secure future
- Give young people the skills and opportunities they deserve by introducing mandatory National Service for all school leavers at 18, with the choice between a competitive placement in the military or civic service roles.
- Fund 100,000 high-quality apprenticeships for young people, paid for by curbing the number of poor-quality university degrees that leave young people worse off.
- Protect children by requiring schools to ban the use of mobile phones during the school day and ensuring parents can see what their children are being taught, especially on sensitive matters like sex education.
- Transform 16-19 education by introducing the Advanced British Standard, enabling young people to receive a broader education and removing the artificial divide between academic and technical learning.
To safeguard our borders and national security
- Boost defence spending to our new NATO standard of 2.5% of GDP by 2030, so we can protect British interests at home and abroad in an increasingly hostile world.
- Introduce a legal cap on migration to guarantee that numbers will fall every year, so public services are protected while bringing in the skills
our businesses and NHS needs. - Stop the boats by removing illegal migrants to Rwanda.
- Work with other countries to rewrite asylum treaties to make them fit for the challenges we face.
To strengthen our communities
- Increase NHS spending above inflation every year, recruiting 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors, driving up productivity in the NHS and moving care closer to people’s homes through Pharmacy First, new and modernised GP surgeries and more Community Diagnostic Centres.
- Protect female-only spaces and competitiveness in sport by making clear that sex means biological sex in the Equality Act.
- Deliver 1.6 million well-designed homes in the right places while protecting our countryside, permanently abolish Stamp Duty for homes up to £425,000 for first time buyers and introduce a new Help to Buy scheme.
- Recruit 8,000 more full-time, fully warranted police officers to ensure a new police officer for every neighbourhood.
- Cut anti-social behaviour in town centres by rolling out Hotspot Policing, expanding community payback and legislating to evict social tenants who repeatedly disrupt their neighbours.
- Invest £36 billion in local roads, rail and buses to drive regional growth, including £8.3 billion to fill potholes and resurface roads, funded by cancelling the second phase of HS2.
- Back drivers by stopping road pricing, reversing the London Mayor’s ULEZ expansion and applying local referendums to new 20mph zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.
- Champion our rural communities by backing farmers with a legal target and additional investment for food security, and protecting our best agricultural land from solar farms.
- Continue to directly invest in communities across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, protect the UK’s internal market and the integrity of our United Kingdom.
