General Election 2015: Manifesto pledges

UK Independence Party

UKIP launched their manifesto in Thurrock, Essex on 15 April. Calling their near 500 page 2010 manifesto “drivel” Nigel Farage presented a slim-line version for 2015 which he stated was full-costed and independently verified.

Suzanne Evans, who led the work on the manifesto, spoke in more detail about a wide range of policies with the intention of silencing critics who say UKIP is a single-issue party.

Major policies

To leave the European Union
Banning foreign criminals entering or remaining in Britain
No tax on the minimum wage up to £13,000
Raising the threshold for paying 40% tax to £55,000 and introduce a new 30% intermediate rate on earnings between £45,300 and £55,000
Scrapping HS2 rail scheme
Scrapping inheritance tax
Building a 500-bed military hospital
Bringing in power to sack your MP
Ending the transport of live animals for slaughter and CCTV on
slaughterhouses

More detail

Economy

Review the Barnett Formula
Cancel HS2.
Increase the transferable tax allowance for married couples to £1,500
Ensure big corporations pay their fair share of tax
Remove VAT from listed building repairs and sanitary products

Immigration

End immigration for unskilled jobs for a five-year period
Tackle the problem of sham marriages
Introduce a new visa system for workers, visitors, students, families and asylum seekers
End access to benefits and free NHS treatment for new immigrants until they have paid tax and NI for five years
Require all visitors and new immigrants to the UK to have their own health insurance.

National Health Service

The party will spend £12 billion more on the NHS in England by 2020
Fund 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs and 3,000 more midwives
Invest an extra £1.5 billion in mental health and dementia services over the next five years
Scrap hospital parking charges
End “health tourism” by making sure those ineligible for free NHS care pay for treatment
Replace Monitor and the Care Quality Commission with powerful new County
Health Boards to drive up standards

Care for the elderly and pensions

Increase social care funding in total by £5.2 billion between 2015 and 2020
Invest any tax profits from fracking into setting up a Sovereign Wealth Fund to pay for elderly care
Protect services such as day care centres, home care and Meals on Wheels
Abolish the practice of arranging home-care visits in 15-minute windows
Keep the current free bus pass, winter fuel allowance, free TV licence and free prescriptions and eye test schemes for all pensioners, without means testing
Introduce a flexible state pension window so a slightly lower state pension can be taken at age 65 even as the state pension age increases
Double the budget for free pensions advice to help pensioners make sound financial decisions
Make it a criminal offence to cold-call someone in respect of pension arrangements

Welfare and disability

Crack down on benefit fraud
End welfare tourism with a five-year embargo on benefits for migrants
Stop child benefit being paid to children who don’t live in UK permanently and limit child benefit to two children for new claimants
Scrap the “bedroom tax”
End work capability assessments and return the system and funding to GPs
Increase Carers’ Allowance to match Job Seekers’ Allowance – £572 more a year
Put 800 advisers into food banks to help users with additional problems such as debt, addiction, family breakdown and mental or physical health problems, and to offer employment and legal advice

Education and childcare

Extend existing childcare voucher schemes to informal, non-Ofsted registered childminders
Offer wrap-around childcare before and after school for every school-age child
Amend planning legislation to ensure more nurseries are built to expand childcare places
Legislate for an initial presumption of 50-50 shared parenting in child residency matters, and give grandparents visiting rights
Initiate a thorough review of childcare and child safeguarding systems
Scrap teachers’ performance-related pay
Abolish Key Stage 1 SAT tests at primary level
End sex education for primary school children
Bring back grammar schools and support a range of secondary schools including vocational, technical and specialist schools
Waive tuition fees for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) subjects at university
Make First Aid training part of the national curriculum

Housing and transport

Bring empty homes back into use
Build one million homes on brown field sites by 2020
Prioritise social housing for those with local connections to an area
Give local people the final say on major planning developments in their area
Restrict “Right-to-Buy” and “Help-to-Buy” schemes to British nationals
Oppose the “Mansion Tax”
Campaign to re-open Manston airport in Kent to address the lack of airport capacity in the South East
Ensure speed cameras are used to improve road safety, not just to raise money
End road tolls wherever possible
Charge foreign lorries extra to use Britain’s roads
Roll back the VED exemption for classic vehicles to 25 years

Energy

Support fracking for shale gas
End subsidies for wind turbines and solar panels
Seek to rejuvenate the coal industry
Abolish “green levies” to cut the cost of fuel bills
Force energy companies to end higher charges for pre-payment meters

Employment and small business

Protect workers’ rights
Enforce the minimum wage
End the abuse of zero-hours contracts
Allow British businesses to choose to employ British workers first
Prevent access to EU schemes which encourage businesses to hire foreign workers
Prevent big businesses deliberately delaying payments to smaller companies
Cut Business Rates by 20% for companies having premises with a total Rateable Value of less than £50,000
Make it easier for small and medium-size businesses to tender for public service contracts
Push for 30 minutes free parking in every high street and shopping parade.

Farming

Introduce a new Single Farm Payment to support farmers
Change the remit of the Competition Commission so dairy farmers get a fair price for milk
Give a free vote in parliament on GM foods
Label food to show the country of origin, method of production, transport and slaughter

Animal welfare and fishing

Triple the maximum jail sentences for animal cruelty and torture
Impose lifetime bans on animal care and ownership for anyone convicted of animal cruelty
Tightly regulate animal testing and keep the ban on animal testing for cosmetics
Challenge companies using animals for testing drugs or other medical treatments on the necessity for this form of testing
Ban the export of live animals for slaughter
Insist on formal non-stun training and certification for all religious slaughtermen and enforce the highest standards
Install CCTV in every abattoir and deal severely with any contraventions
Introduce a 12-mile limit for UK fishermen only and a 200-mile Exclusive
Economic Zone under UK control, as is our right under international law
Return £2.5 billion a year in fish sales to the UK economy and support our fishing industry for future generations
End the slaughter of dolphins by banning pair trawler fishing for bass
Reverse any EU-wide drift-net ban in British waters
Foreign trawlers will have to apply for and purchase fishing permits to fish
British waters when fish stocks have returned to sustainable levels

Heritage and tourism

Create a new Minister of State for Heritage and Tourism
Zero rate VAT on repairs to historic churches and listed buildings
Save the Pub through tax breaks for smaller breweries, and amending the smoking ban
Oppose calls for minimum pricing for alcohol and reverse plain packaging legislation for tobacco products

Crime and justice

Fund 6,000 additional posts spread between the police service, prison service and Border Agency
Prevent foreign criminals coming into the UK and deport those who commit crimes here
Reduce the number of territorial constabularies and Police and Crime
Commissioners to cut costs and tackle serious crime
Prosecute all cases of adult sexual behaviour with minors
Take a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable “cultural” practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM)
Amend the licensing laws to lower the maximum stake on all Fixed Odds
Betting Terminals from £100 to £2
Refuse to give criminals the vote
Insist those who wish to appeal against deportation do so from their home country
Decriminalise non-payment of the BBC licence fee and review its cost with a view to its reduction
Prohibit the deployment of Euro Gendarmerie police officers on the streets of Britain

Political reform and local government

A national referendum every two years on the most popular petition with over two million signatures
Debate petitions gathering over 100,000 signatures in the House of Commons
Give voters real power to sack their MP, councillor or other elected politician
Only MPs for English constituencies will vote on laws affecting only England.
Give Commons’ Select Committees powers to approve or veto senior ministerial, civil service and quango appointments and public spending plans
Introduce a new proportional voting system that truly reflects the number of votes cast
Restrict postal votes to those with a valid reason to have one
Adopt a zero-tolerance approach to noisy or anti-social neighbours
Make the setting up of a traveller pitch without permission illegal
Reinstate weekly bin collections where they have been lost, if residents want them reinstated

Trade and foreign affairs

Seek to establish free trade agreements across the globe
Negotiate a bespoke UK-EU trade deal
Consult Parliament before committing Britain’s armed forces and taxpayers’ money to combat situations
Protect the British sovereignty and territorial integrity of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands
Encourage peace efforts in the Middle East and support a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict

Defence and the military covenant

Exempt all service personnel on duty overseas from income tax
Increase defence spending to 2% of GDP as required by our membership of NATO
Restore the armed forces to 2010 manpower levels and capability
Appoint a new Director of National Intelligence
Keep our Trident nuclear deterrent
Oppose the creation of the EU Army
Appoint a new, dedicated Minister for Veterans, attached to the Cabinet Office
Issue a National Defence Medal to all veterans
Build 500 affordable rent houses every year for veterans
Build eight halfway house hostels for homeless veterans
Guarantee jobs in the police, prison and border services to ex-servicemen and women who have served for 12 years
Support ex-forces personnel who want to set up their own businesses
Issue a Veterans service card to ensure fast-track access to mental health services

Overseas aid

Cut the overseas aid budget from 0.7% to 0.2% of GNI, on a par with the US
Continue to spend at least £4 billion annually on current figures (more than Spain and Italy combined), prioritising clean water and sanitation, healthcare, inoculation and emergency aid programmes
Remove trade barriers to provide sustainable livelihoods for the world’s poorest people
Close the Department for International Development and merge its essential functions into the Foreign Office

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