Energy bills? Aid? What could be in manifesto...

CAP ON ENERGY BILLS

Ministers had been preparing to announce a cap on rip-off energy bills within weeks. Now they will be able to unveil a scheme to protect families as a popular vote winner. After EDF hiked tariffs for the second time in only a few months last week, a spokesman for Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: ‘We will shortly set out proposals to help energy consumers.’ 4/5

SCRAP 0.7 PER CENT AID TARGET

Tory backbenchers have been calling on the PM to scrap David Cameron’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid. Ministers had pledged to review the target before 2020 election and could now offer a fresh promise of an appraisal, but a Government spokesman at the weekend firmly dismissed claims it could be scrapped, saying: ‘We take our international responsibilities seriously and remain fully committed to them.’ 2/5

BRING NET MIGRATION BELOW 100,000

The goal of curbing annual net migration to the tens of thousands appeared in both the 2010 and 2015 Tory manifestos, but it has been repeatedly missed. Mrs May has signalled that free movement of EU citizens could continue during a transitional phase after the UK leaves the EU in spring 2019, but it would be problematic for her to admit defeat in the long-term drive to cut numbers. 4/5

RISE IN VAT, NI CONTRIBUTIONS OR INCOME TAX

Chancellor Philip Hammond was forced to abandon his Budget proposal to increase National Insurance on the self-employed last month after he was accused of breaking a 2015 pledge. The new manifesto will likely exclude a promise to freeze tax rates so the Chancellor is uninhibited at the next budget in the autumn. 1/5

HIKE RETIREMENT AGES

Next month ministers were due to respond to the Cridland review, which suggested the pension age should rise from 7 to 8 between 2037 and 2039. The Mail revealed last week that the Government was considering accelerating the rise even further so people in their 50s would also face their state pension age being pushed back a year. But any decision is now likely to be kicked into the long grass as a pledge to increase the state pension age would be risky. 1/5

BRITISH BILL OF RIGHTS

Plans to axe the Human Rights Act and introduce a British bill of rights have been repeatedly shelved. Mrs May has made clear her desire to quit the European Court of Human Rights. But after the Brexit vote, ministers have said any change would have to wait until after we leave the EU as the Government could only do ‘one constitutional reform at a time’. 2/5

LIFT BAN ON NEW GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

Theresa May’s flagship education policy will be put before voters for the first time. Labour and Lib Dem peers had threatened to stop the Prime Minister lifting the 18-year ban on new grammar schools, imposed by Tony Blair in 1998, as it was not in the Tory 2015 manifesto. But by getting a mandate for the change at an election, the Lords will be expected to follow convention and allow a new generation of selective schools. LIKELIHOOD OF BEING IN MANIFESTO 5/5