June 3, 2017 8.00 am
This story is over 84 months old
Lincolnshire Talks: Who should you vote for in the general election?
With the general election just five days away now, residents in Lincolnshire will have to make up their minds very soon about who they will vote for on June 8. To help you out, Lincolnshire Reporter has gone through the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and UKIP manifestos, picking out some of the key points…
With the general election just five days away now, residents in Lincolnshire will have to make up their minds very soon about who they will vote for on June 8.
To help you out, Lincolnshire Reporter has gone through the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and UKIP manifestos, picking out some of the key points and policies to give you a summary of where each party stands on the critical issues.
All the information is based on what the parties have provided in their manifestos.
This list is by no means exhaustive and does not cover all the policy areas. However, it is intended to give you a flavour of what to expect from each party were they to form the next government.
We would encourage you to take a read through all the manifestos which are accessible below:
Combine the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, the Ministry of Defence Police and British Transport Police into a “national infrastructure police force”
Pledge to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence
Maintain the overall size of the armed forces and retain Trident
Labour
Recruit 10,000 more community police officers
Support renewal of Trident
Review counter-terror Prevent programme
Liberal Democrat
£300 million for community policing in England and Wales
Replace police and crime commissioners with police boards made up of local councillors
Get rid of the so-called “Snoopers Charter”
Green
Cancel Trident
No more arms sales to oppressive regimes
An ethical foreign policy
UKIP
Fund 20,000 more police officers, 7,000 more prison officers, and 4,000 more border force staff
Send as many as possible of the 13,000 foreign nationals in UK jails back to their home countries to serve sentences
Keep Trident
Economy & taxation
Conservative
Pledge to eradicate the deficit by the middle of the 2020s
Triple lock which guaranteed there would be no rise in national insurance, VAT or income tax, will be scrapped in favour of a general statement of intent to lower tax and simplify the tax system
No increase in VAT
Labour
New 50p tax rate for those earning over £123,000 and threshold for 45p rate of income tax to come down from £150,000 to £80,000
Raise corporation tax from 19% to 26%
Public ownership of Royal Mail, railways and energy
Liberal Democrat
£100 billion package of additional infrastructure investment
Eliminate the deficit on day-to-day spending by 2020
Reverse cuts to corporation tax from 20% to 17%, capital gains tax, marriage allowance
Green
Wealth tax on top 1% of earners
A Robin Hood tax on high value transactions in the finance sector
Create a network of local people’s banks for every city and region
UKIP
No tax rises
Raise threshold for paying tax to £13,500 and cut taxes for middle earners
Proposals to eventually scrap inheritance tax altogether
NHS & social care
Conservative
A pledge to increase NHS spending by a minimum of £8 billion in real terms over next Parliament
People with assets of more than £100,000 will have to pay for social care
The value of an elderly person’s property will now be included in the means test for care in their own home
Labour
Over £30 billion of extra funding for the NHS through increased income tax for top 5% of earners, increased tax on private medical insurance and halving management consultants’ fees
Investment of £8 billion in care services over the next Parliament, including £1 billion in the first year
Halt NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans
Liberal Democrat
Raise income tax by 1p to pay for £6 billion increase in NHS and social care services
Guarantee the rights of all EU nationals working in the NHS and social care to stay in the UK post-Brexit
End the public sector pay freeze for NHS workers
Green
Reverse NHS privatisation
Bring mental health care in line with physical health care
More funding for sexual health awareness campaigns
UKIP
Invest an extra £11 billion every year into the NHS and social care by the end of the next Parliament through cuts to foreign aid budget
Increase spending on mental health services by at least £500 million every year
Lift cap on medical school training places from 7,500 to 10,000
Education
Conservative
Pump an extra £4 billion into schools by 2022
Scrap free school lunches for infants in England, but offer free breakfasts across the primary years
Create extra 100 free schools each year
Labour
Abolish tuition fees
Reintroduce maintenance grants for university students
Introduce free school meals for all primary school children
Liberal Democrat
£7 billion boost in education spending
Free school meals for all pupils
Restore bursaries for student nurses
Green
Bring academies and free schools under local authority control
Scrap university tuition fees
Restore Education Maintenance Allowance
UKIP
Open a grammar school in every town
Stop tuition fees for STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)
Scrap sex and relationship education for children under the age of 11
Transport & environment
Photo: Sarah Barker for Lincolnshire Reporter
Conservative
Continue investment in HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and Heathrow expansion
Review rail ticketing
Make it easier to switch energy providers and introduce a “safeguard tariff cap”
Labour
Borrow to invest £250 billion over 10 years on energy, transport and digital infrastructure
Nationalise railways
Introduce new Clean Air Act
Liberal Democrat
Oppose expanding Heathrow or Gatwick
Ban sale of diesel cars by 2025
Generate 60% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030
Green
Nationalise railways
Cancel all airport expansion and end subsidies on airline fuel
An Environmental Protection Act to safeguard environment, protect and enhance biodiversity, promote sustainable food and farming, and ensure animal protection
UKIP
Scrap HS2
Repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act
Withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement
Brexit & immigration
Conservative
Exit the European single market and customs union but seek a “deep and special partnership”
Increase the amount levied on firms employing non-EU migrant workers
Objective to reduce annual net migration to the tens of thousands
Labour
Accepts referendum result but wants to retain benefits of single market and customs union
Guarantee existing rights of EU nationals living in Britain and secure reciprocal rights for UK citizens living in another EU country
No commitment to reduce numbers of migrants but will not resort to “bogus” immigration targets
Liberal Democrat
Second referendum on Brexit deal
Retain membership of single market and customs union
Keep freedom of movement
Green
Referendum on the final Brexit deal
Protect freedom of movement
A humane immigration and asylum system
UKIP
Government must not pay divorce bill and EU flags to be banned from public buildings
June 23 to be renamed Independence Day
Introduce a one in, one out immigration system and reduce net migration to zero in five-year period
Housing
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Conservative
Meet 2015 commitment to deliver a million homes by the end of 2020 and half a million more by the end of 2022
160,000 houses built on government land
A commitment to halve rough sleeping over next Parliament
Labour
Invest to build one million new homes, including 100,000 council and housing association homes by the end of next Parliament
Legal minimum requirements for rented properties
4,000 homes for rough sleepers
Liberal Democrat
A Housing Investment Bank to generate funding for new homes
Reinstate housing benefit for 18-21 year olds
£2 billion on flood defence schemes to protect properties
Green
Build affordable, zero carbon homes, including 100,000 social rented homes each year by 2022
End council house sales and scrap Right to Buy
Scrap bedroom tax
UKIP
Roll out high quality, low cost, factory-built homes affordable on incomes of £26,000
Establish a Housing Development Corporation to acquire primarily brownfield sites
Review housing associations
Pensions & welfare
Conservative
Means test winter fuel payments for pensioners
Maintain the triple lock pension guarantee until 2020, then replace it with a double lock – meaning pensions will rise in line with earnings or inflation, whichever is highest
Tighten the rules against pension abuse and increase punishment for those caught mismanaging pension schemes
Labour
Guarantee triple lock of increasing the state pension each year by the highest of earnings growth, prices growth or 2.5% for the next Parliament for pensioners
Winter fuel allowance and free bus passes retained as universal benefits
Scrap bedroom tax
Liberal Democrat
Maintain triple lock for pensioners
Reverse cuts to Employment Support Allowance
Scrap bedroom tax
Green
Redress pension injustice
Introduce a social security system the public can have confidence in
Reverse housing benefits cuts
UKIP
Retain triple lock and benefits for pensioners such as free bus pass and winter fuel allowance
Introduce a flexible state pension age with people able to retire earlier on a slightly lower state pension
Protect disability and carer’s benefits
Stefan is the Local Democracy Reporter covering Greater Lincolnshire. You can contact him directly with your news via email at [email protected]
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
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Exciting news for MyLocal app users and The Lincolnite readers! Our latest update is now available to download from your app store and comes packed with the best local news experience you can enjoy.
Revamped News Feed: Enjoy faster loading times and smoother scrolling that make catching up on local news a breeze.
New Play Video Feed: Dive into a dynamic video feed that brings local stories to life in a whole new way.
Enhanced In-App Browser: Access external links quickly and efficiently, right from the app, without any distractions.
Update your MyLocal app from your app store (version 2.73) now and start enjoying these great new features today!
P.S.: Start your MyLocal membership today to support MyLocal and The Lincolnite deliver you a better local news experience and honest journalism from across Lincolnshire.
P.P.S.: We have some huge things in the pipeline, stay tuned!