UK Election: Key Points From The Manifestos
Britain goes to the polls on Thursday to elect the prime minister who will chart Britain's course through Brexit negotiations an...
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Britain goes to the polls on Thursday to elect the prime minister who will chart Britain's course through Brexit negotiations and confront the aftermath of three terror attacks in less than three months.
Here are the key points from the manifestos of the main parties:
Brexit
Conservatives:
Prime Minister Theresa May has already outlined her negotiating
demands, saying she will seek a departure from the European Union's
single market and an end to free movement of people.
Labour:
The party will accept Britain's departure from the European Union, but
will fight to retain benefits of the single market, vowing in its
manifesto not to leave the bloc without a deal.
Liberal
Democrats: The Lib Dem manifesto provides the strongest opposition to
Brexit, promising to hold a second referendum on a final Brexit deal and
to maintain free movement of people with the continent.
If the Brexit deal is rejected in a second referendum, the Lib Dems say Britain would stay in.
Scottish
National Party (SNP): The party wants a referendum on independence
before Britain actually leaves the bloc and has said an independent
Scotland would then re-apply to join the bloc.
First
Minister Nicola Sturgeon also wants a seat in Brexit negotiations and
for Scotland to be given special status to be allowed to stay in the
single market even if the rest of Britain leaves.
UKIP:
The deeply eurosceptic, anti mass-immigration party has promised to ban
the flying of the EU flag on public buildings and to push the
government into not paying for any divorce settlement with the bloc.
Immigration
Conservatives:
The Tories will try to reduce annual net migration to the tens of
thousands, down from 248,000 in 2016 although some senior party figures
are sceptical whether this can be achieved.
May has promised that Britain will end freedom of movement with European citizens following Brexit.
Labour:
Jeremy Corbyn's party has made no pledge to reduce immigration, saying
in its manifesto that it "believes in fair rules and reasonable
management of migration".
Lib Dems: The Lib Dems
manifesto puts no target on immigration levels, and calls to remove
students from official migration statistics.
SNP:
The party's manifesto calls for the devolution of immigration powers to
Scotland to allow immigrants from the European Union to continue to
come.
UKIP: The party advocates a "one in, one
out" immigration system and pledged to reduce net migration to zero over
a five-year period.
Health & Social Care
Conservatives:
May announced controversial plans for the elderly to pay for their own
care costs if they have assets worth more than £100,000 ($128,600,
114,000 euros).
The reforms were immediately
called the "dementia tax", forcing May to announce there would be a cap
on the total amount any one person would pay, coinciding with a plunge
in her polling lead.
Labour: The party has pledged
£30 billion of extra funding for the National Health Service and £8
billion for care services over the next parliament.
Independent
think-tank the IFS has said the tax rates needed to fund Labour's
spending plans would be the highest for Britain in peacetime.
Security
Conservatives:
The election has been overshadowed by an attack in which three
assailants in a van mowed down pedestrians and went on a stabbing
rampage in the popular London Bridge area on Saturday. Eight people were
killed in Britain's third attack in three months.
May
has insisted that the Conservatives have increased counter-terrorism
policing resources and has defended her decision to cut thousands of
police jobs during her time as interior minister.
On Sunday she promised to clamp down on Islamist extremism, particularly with more online regulation.
Labour:
Corbyn has promised to fund an extra 10,000 police officer jobs. He
said more community policing will increase "detailed local knowledge and
build a network of relationships".
Culled: Pulse Ng

