BORIS UNVEILS TORY MANIFESTO IN MoS
As Corbyn vows to impose swingeing tax hikes on the middle classes, PM pledges to freeze income tax, VAT and NI for 5 years
BORIS JOHNSON today unveils a castiron pledge not to raise taxes for the lifetime of the next Parliament if he is returned to Downing Street after the Election.
The Tory manifesto, which is being launched by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, will include a ‘triple tax lock’ promise that a Conservative Government will not increase the rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT – in stark contrast to the swingeing tax rises threatened last week by Jeremy Corbyn.
The commitment, to operate in tandem with the separate ‘triple lock’ which protects the income of pensioners, follows Mr Johnson’s promise to raise the threshold for National Insurance payments in a move that would ultimately save £500 a year for every worker.
The tax pledge is one of a string of manifesto policies which Mr Johnson hopes will secure a Commons majority sufficient to pass his Brexit deal through Parliament by Christmas and allow No 10 to finally switch its focus to pressing domestic issues such as the NHS.
The Prime Minister said last night that the manifesto would ‘get Brexit done and allow us to move on and unleash the potential of the whole country’.
He added: ‘As families sit down to carve up their turkeys this Christmas, I want them to enjoy their festive season free from the seemingly unending Brexit boxset drama.
‘That’s why my early Christmas present to the nation will be to bring the Brexit Bill back before the festive break, and get Parliament working for the people.’
Hailing the environmental policies in his manifesto, he said: ‘We now know the country can be carbon-natural by 2050 and Corbynneutral by 2020.’
The Labour manifesto set out plans to raise income tax for people earning £80,000 or more, introduce a new ‘super-rich rate’ for people earning over £ 125,000 and to i ncrease i nheritance, business and capital gains taxes as part of an astonishing spending and renationalisation splurge that will cost hundreds of billions of pounds.
The manifesto, which will be launched in the heart of the West Midlands electoral battleground, will also include an extra £1 billion for schools and childcare providers to increase the availability of afterschool and holiday childcare.
The aim is to enable 250,000 more primary- school children to be looked after over the summer holidays to allow parents more employment flexibility.
As part of the effort to entice blue-collar voters, the manifesto will also promise to keep in place the cap on energy prices and to help 2.2 million low-income families by spending £ 6.3 billion on energy-efficiency measures.
A total of £ 2 billion will be set aside over the next four years for a national programme to fill in potholes in roads, which damage cars and pose to risk to cyclists – among them Mr Johnson. The money represents a five-fold increase on current funding levels.
Pensioners – who are more likely to be Tory supporters than any other age group, and more likely to vote – are also being wooed.
In addition to their own ‘triple lock’, which increases the state pension by whatever is the highest out of inflation, wage growth or 2.5 per cent each year, the Tories will promise to retain tax-free winterfuel payments of up to £300 a year to help pensioners with heating costs, keep the £ 1 billion- a- year concessionary bus passes and continue to pressure the BBC to keep free TV licences for the over-75s.
The Tories will go further in their drive to replace Labour as ‘ the natural party of the NHS’. The Conservatives have already promised to inject an extra £33.9 billion a year into the NHS by 2023-24 and
‘We are offering hope – Labour are offering hate’
to end unfair hospital car parking charges for NHS staff on night shifts, and disabled and terminally ill patients and their families. It will become compulsory for hospitals to provide free hospital car parking to those protected groups, at a cost of £78 million.
And the party will try to steal Labour and the Liberal Democrats’ mantle on the environment by announcing a ban on exporting plastic waste to the Third World, to reduce the environmental impact on the oceans.
Mr Johnson added: ‘Our positive, one-nation agenda will unite this great country. It’s time to turn the page from the dither, delay and division of recent years and start a new chapter in the incredible history of this country.
‘We have achieved amazing things together in the past, and I know we will achieve even more in the future – if only we choose the right path at
this critical Election. With new policies to cut the cost of living, support our fantastic NHS staff, help parents juggling childcare and work, and invest in a massive programme of i nfrastructure across the whole country – we are offering hope and optimism where the Labour party only offer hate and division.
‘Vote Conservative to get Brexit done and let 2020 bring peace, goodwill and prosperity to our country.’