Tory manifesto 2019 at a glance

Posted in Blog, Politics

The NHS and social care

  • 50,000 extra nurses to be recruited
  • 50 million extra GP appointments a year
  • £34 billion extra funding a year for NHS
  • Cross-party agreement sought to solve social care crisis
  • 40 new hospitals
  • Free hospital parking for selected patients and staff

Taxation

  • Increasing National Insurance threshold to £9,500 next year, with the “ultimate ambition” to raise to £12,500
  • Scrapping plan to cut corporation tax from 19% to 17%    – Increasing employment allowance for small businesses, to raise up to £500m a year
  • Reduce national insurance contributions for companies that employ veterans

The environment

  • £4 billion for new flood defences
  • £9.2 billion for energy efficiency measures in schools, hospitals and 2.2 million homes
  • Export of plastic to non-OECD countries banned
  • Ban on gas boilers in new homes from next year
  • 2 million new green jobs in next decade
  • Net zero carbon emissions by 2050

Childcare and education

  • An extra £1billion to fund summer holiday care for 250,000 children
  • A new arts premium to invest in arts, music and sport in secondary schools “to fund enriching activities for all pupils”
  • More new free schools but the ban on new grammar schools will not be lifted

Defence

  • Continue to exceed Nato target of 2 per cent of GDP on defence and increase defence spending by at least 0.5 per cent every year of new parliament
  • Modernise equipment
  • Invest in training and equipping Armed Forces
  • Maintain Trident
  • Invest more in cybersecurity
  • Set up UK’s first Space Command

Brexit

  • MPs will start to vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal before Christmas
  • Trade deal with the EU will be agreed next year while the implementation period following the UK’s exit at the end of December will not be extended
  • Eighty per cent of UK trade will be covered by new free trade agreements within the next three years, starting with the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan
  • Ten new freeports around the UK, benefiting some the most deprived communities
  • A new fairer Australian-style points-based immigration system to give the Government “real control” over who is coming in and out
  • The Fixed Term Parliaments Act which stopped Boris Johnson calling an election will be axed
  • A Constitution, Democracy & Rights Commission will look at the relationship between courts, Parliament and the Government
  • The Human Rights Act will be updated to ensure “a proper balance between the rights of individuals, our vital national security and effective government”

Pensions

  • Pensions triple lock
  • Older Person’s bus pass
  • Winter fuel payment
  • TV licences for the over-75s

Policing and crime

  • 20,000 extra police officers
  • Longer sentences for violent and sex offenders
  • Extra 10,000 prison places
  • Faster, tougher sentencing for knife offenders
  • Life sentences for child murderers
  • Tougher community sentences

The economy

Day-to-day spending boost for public services –  £1.5bn  in 2020-21, rising to £2.9bn in 2023-24

  • Borrow £100bn over five years to fund longer-term infrastructure projects
  • Of this, £22bn allocated over the next five years