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U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his Conservative Party’s election manifesto on Sunday with a promise to end the “seemingly unending Brexit box-set drama.”
In a 40-minute speech, Johnson promised 50,000 new nurses and said the National Health Service will not be “on the table” in post-Brexit trade talks, lines that sought to neutralize attacks by the opposition Labour Party. He also pledged not to raise income tax, value-added tax or national insurance rates.
Even so, the policies are far less radical than those proposed by Labour, which published its manifesto on Thursday — perhaps reflecting the Conservative Party’s already strong lead in the polls.
Here’s a breakdown of the Conservatives’ key proposals:
Brexit, Trade
Ratify Johnson’s divorce deal with the European Union before the Jan. 31 deadline; legislation would be introduced to Parliament before ChristmasOnce the U.K. has left, negotiate and ratify a free-trade agreement with the EU quickly enough to ensure there’s no need for an extension to the transition phase beyond its scheduled end in Dec. 2020.Aim to have 80% of U.K. trade covered by free-trade agreements within three years
Taxation, Spending
Borrow more to invest in infrastructure under loosened fiscal rules, which would allow an increase of 13.8 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) in spending across all departments by 2021The rates of income tax, national insurance and VAT would not riseRaise the threshold for making National Insurance contributions from 8,628 pounds year to 9,500 in the government’s first budget, with a goal to raise it to 12,500 pounds at an unspecified future dateReduce the “overall burden” of business ratesIncrease the tax relief on buildings and research and developmentThe party has shelved a planned cut in corporation tax
Labor
Raise the minimum wage to 10.50 pounds an hour by 2024Establish a National Skills Fund, which would give individuals and small businesses the chance to receive vocational trainingEnsure workers have the right to request a more predictable contract
Environment
Make the U.K. carbon neutral by 2050, including by planting an additional 75,000 acres of trees a year by 2023Spend 6.3 billion pounds on energy efficiency measures to cut fuel bills in millions of homesA ban on exporting plastic waste outside OECD countries to reduce ocean damageSet up a new independent Office For Environmental Protection and introduce new legal targets, including for air quality
Health Care
Deliver 50,000 more nurses, some of whom will be newly-trained, some hired from abroad and some from staff retention. Also the reintroduction of bursaries for nurse trainingA 2.7 billion-pound investment to build 40 hospitals. This has been widely disputed by opposition parties and fact-checkers, who put the actual number of new hospitals at six over five yearsCommit 1 billion pounds per year in extra funding for local authorities to better deal with demands for social careNo specific plan to resolve the U.K.’s social care crisis; aim to build a “cross-party consensus” on a new policy to ensure nobody needs to sell their home in order to afford itEnd hospital car park charges for some staff, patients and visitors
Education
A 1 billion-pound investment to boost childcare provisionsExtra 14 billion pounds funding for schools by 2023
Housing
Build at least 1 million more homes by 2024Ban the sale of new leasehold homesIntroduce a 3% surcharge for foreign buyers of homes in EnglandBan “no fault evictions,” where tenants are evicted before the end of their contract without a proper reasonLifetime rental deposits program, allowing payments to be transferred when tenants move house
Law, Policing
Recruit 20,000 new police officersIncrease stop-and-search powers for policeEnsure those guilty of premeditated murder of a child are never eligible for releaseAdd 10,000 prison places, with 2.75 billion pounds already committed to refurbishing existing prisons and building new ones
Transport
New fund to reopen disused railway lines axed in the 1960s, beginning with northern EnglandInvest 2 billion pounds to repair the U.K.’s roads
Immigration
An Australian-style points-based visa system to prioritize skilled workersImmigrants from the EU will only be able to access unemployment, housing, and child benefits after five years
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at [email protected], Stuart Biggs, Thomas Penny
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