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Rishi Sunak launched the Conservative Party’s general election manifesto on Thursday, in what could be his last chance to try and grab the attention of voters before they got to the polls.
The prime minister said he was promising “bold action” as he unveiled the document at the Silverstone racetrack in Northamptonshire.
Here is a quick guide to the headline measures and promises included in the booklet.
The main rate of self-employed National Insurance will be abolished entirely by the end of the next parliament.
Another 2p will be taken off employee National Insurance. The government has already done this twice. A third cut would lower it from 12% at the beginning of this year to 6% by April 2027. The Tories say this is a total tax cut of £1,350 for the average worker on £35,000.
Pensioners will be promised a tax cut with a so-called Triple Lock Plus. This would guarantee 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.
Parents will be given 30 hours of free childcare a week from when their child is nine months old to when they start school. The Conservatives say this would save eligible families an average of £6,900 per year.
Child benefit will be moved to a household system, so families don’t start losing it until their combined income reaches £120,000 – saving the average family which benefits £1,500.
A “mandatory” national service scheme for all school leavers at 18 will be introduced. Young people will be given the choice between a competitive placement in the military or “civic service” roles.
Education for 16-19 year olds will be shaken-up with the introduction of the Advanced British Standard. It would combine A levels and T levels into a single qualification to remove the “artificial divide between academic and technical learning”.
Defence spending will be increased to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 to meet a new Nato standard.
A “legal cap” on migration will be brought in to “guarantee” that numbers will fall every year.
The policy to “stop the boats” by sending asylum seekers to Rwanda will begin.
NHS spending will be increased above inflation every year, recruiting 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors.
A total of 1.6 million homes will be built. And stamp duty for homes up to £425,000 for first time buyers will be abolished alongside introduce a new Help to Buy scheme.
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