With less than a week until the UK casts its vote in the December 12th General Elections, Truly Belong has put together some key points from the major parties’ promises.
Though Brexit is the front and centre issue for many voters, reports show a growing interest in topics like the NHS, climate change and crime control that can swing votes.
These are some key pledges of the major party manifestos.
Conservatives: ‘Get Brexit Done’
Brexit:
- Leave the EU by January
- Will not extend the post-Brexit transition period 2020
- Negotiate trade deal with the EU by next year
- End freedom of movement between the EU and the UK
- Introduce a new points-based immigration system
NHS:
- A pledge of £20.5 billion in funding for the NHS in England by 2024
- Spend £2.7 billion on 6 new hospitals
- Train 6,000 more GPs in England by 2025
- Deliver 50,000 more nurses
- Work towards developing a new long-term plan for social care with cross-party support
- Bring back nurse bursaries
- End hospital parking charges in England for selected patients
Climate change:
- Reach net-zero by 2050
- Create a new Office for Environmental Protection
- Set binding targets on air pollution
- Charge for plastic-use
- Plant 30 million trees by 2025
- Halt fracking
Crime:
- Recruit 20,000 extra police officers in England and Wales in the next 3 years to combat violent street crimes
- Implement tougher sentences for violent and sexual offenders and those who commit acts of animal cruelty
Labour: ‘Time for Real Change’
Brexit:
- Renegotiate the Tory’s deal with the EU before holding a second Brexit referendum within 6 months
- Negotiate to stay in the EU Customs Union
- Carry out ‘whatever the people want’ in the second referendum
NHS:
- Increase the NHS budget by £26 billion by 2024
- Increase taxes on the richest in society
- Cut waiting times
- Boost mental health services
- Offer free personal care for over 65-year olds
- Free prescriptions
- Introduce a new state-run pharmaceutical company to make drugs affordable
- Increase GP training places from 35,000 to 55,000
- Scrap hospital parking charges in England
Climate change:
- Meet net-zero carbon emissions by 2030
- Create 320,000 apprenticeships within renewable industries in 1st term
- Lift ban on new offshore wind farms
- Invest in new solar, tidal and wind energy
- Upgrade UK’s 27 million homes to be energy efficient
- Create an interest-free loan on electric cars
Crime:
- Recruit 20,000 extra police officers in England and Wales in the next 3 years
- Implement tougher sentences for violent and sexual offenders and those who commit acts of animal cruelty
- Invest £2.5 billion to improve prisons
- Offer more freedom for police officers to stop and search those who have had previously carried knives
Other:
- Raise the minimum wage to £10 per hour for people 16-years old and over by 2020
- Implement the teaching of colonial history in schools
Scottish National Party: Stronger for Scotland
Brexit:
- Wants to remain an EU member
- Plan to campaign for a Second Brexit Referendum
- Ultimately intends to hold a second Scottish Referendum on independence while opting to stay in the EU
NHS:
- Pass any additional money from health spending in England to Scotland’s health services
- Keep the Scottish NHS public
- Introduce an NHS Protection Bill to block UK governments from using the NHS in trade deals
- Invest £500 million a year in Scotland’s GP practices and health centres by 2021
Climate change:
- Reach net-zero emissions by 2045
- Become carbon neutral by 2040
- No support for fracking developments in Scotland
- Phase-out new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032
- Increase charges for disposable plastic bags
- Pledge to remove single-use plastic
Other:
- Allow a consumption room in Glasgow where users could inject or smoke their own illegal drugs to tackle the crisis
Liberal Democrats: Stop Brexit Build a Better Future
Brexit:
- Revoke Article 50 and stop the UK from leaving the EU without another referendum
- Deliver a £50 billion “Remain bonus” to be spent on public services
NHS:
- Enforce a penny income tax raise to the NHS, allowing a budget increase of £26 billion a year investment to health and social care by 2023-2024
- Ringfence funding for mental health services to make sure mental and physical health are treated with equal importance
Climate change:
- Generate 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030
- Tax frequent flyers who take the most international flights
- Plant 60 million trees a year until 2045
- Reduce net greenhouse emissions to zero by 2045
Crime:
- Legalise cannabis and regulate the market
- Increase non-custodial punishments (ex. curfews, community service and GPS tagging) instead of short prison sentences
- Provide two new police officers in every ward by investing £1 billion
Other:
- Offer free childcare to two to four-year-olds for 35 hours a week, 48 weeks a year
- Resettle 10,000 refugees over 10 years and expand family reunion rights
Journalist at Truly Belong
Zahra is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist who’s currently living in the U.K. She has a BA in media production and a master's in journalism.
Zahra has written for platforms like CBC News, Brown Girl Magazine, Broadview Magazine, and Narcity Toronto. Her work often centres around topics related to social justice, culture, and travel. She enjoys fondling Spanish on Duolingo, practicing salsa moves in the shower, and talking to strangers on the subway.
Zahra has written for platforms like CBC News, Brown Girl Magazine, Broadview Magazine, and Narcity Toronto. Her work often centres around topics related to social justice, culture, and travel. She enjoys fondling Spanish on Duolingo, practicing salsa moves in the shower, and talking to strangers on the subway.
Latest posts by Zahra Khozema (see all)
- Travellers are Rethinking Flying as Flight Shaming Takes Off - 1st March 2021
- Oxford-Backed Project Connects Partition Survivors to Their Ancestral Homes - 22nd February 2021
- Helping Your Own: A Young Aslyum Seeker Explains the Importance of Volunteering in the COVID Era - 7th September 2020
