Here is the summary of the Liberal Democrat manifesto for the 2015 General Election. Click on one of the links below to find the relevant section. You can read the full manifesto here and find other parties’ manifesto on this page.
- Economy
- Health
- Education
- Tax
- Environment and Climate Change
- Jobs and Welfare
- Young People
- Pensions
- Crime
- Immigration
- Freedom & Equality
- Democracy & Constitution
- Defence & Foreign Policy
Economy
- Finish the job of balancing Britain’s books by April 2018
- Permit borrowing to invest in vital national infrastructure
- New supplementary Corporation Tax on the banking sector
Health
- Deliver the £8bn England’s NHS needs, with money for Scotland, Wales & NI too
- £500m a year to transform mental health care with waiting time standards
- A package of support for carers including a £250 Carer’s Bonus every year
- Crack down on bad care with better pay & conditions for care staff
- give patients easier access to GPs and more choice, with more practices open at evenings and weekends and offering phone and Skype appointments
Education
- Protect early years, school, sixth form & college budgets
- Core national curriculum taught by qualified teachers in every school
- Free childcare to all 2 year olds & free hours from 9 months for working families
Tax
- Cut tax by £400 more, raising the personal allowance to at least £12,500
- Introduce a High Value Property Levy on residential properties worth over £2m
- Bring in £6bn extra tax a year from a further crack down on tax avoidance
Environment and Climate Change
- Renewable energy will make up over a third of our electricity by 2020
- Cut council tax for green homes by at least £100 a year for 10 years
- Invest in research & development in cleaner energy
- Force energy companies to let customers switch suppliers in 24 hours
- Get rid of coal power within 10 years
- Every home to be properly insulated by 2035
- Keep energy bills down
- Place the country’s forests in a trust and plant a tree for every child born
- Improve access to nature, protecting green space as National Nature Parks
- Pass a Nature Law to protect nature & cut waste
Jobs and Welfare
- Raise the minimum wage without slowing job creation
- Invest in back-to-work & healthcare support for those who need it
- Connect up back-to-work support with local businesses
- Expand shared paternal leave with a ‘use it or lose it’ month for fathers
Young People
- Double the numbers of businesses hiring apprentices
- A two thirds discount bus pass for under 21s
- Transform young people’s mental health services to get more help, closer to home
- Create the first ever Rent to Own scheme for young people
Pensions
- Make the triple lock permanent, guaranteeing decent pension rises
- Crack down on unfair charges that stop people’s pension pots from growing
- Complete the roll-out of workplace pensions to 9 million workers
- Improve workplace pensions to encourage higher savings
Crime
- Scrap Police & Crime Commissioners, saving £75m for front line policing
- Specialist ‘drug courts’ to help addicts & those with mental health problems
- Reform prisons to focus on turning offenders away from a life of crime
- Community sentences to make offenders pay back to the community and reduce reoffending
- Jobs for offenders
Immigration
- Make our borders secure, ensuring the UK introduces full exit checks
- Ensure that people coming to the UK learn English & integrate into society
- End indefinite detention for immigration purposes
Freedom & Equality
- A Digital Bill of Rights to protect privacy by updating data laws
- A second Freedoms Act to protect free speech & prevent heavy-handed policing
- Fight homophobic bullying in schools, professional sports & communities
- Force big firms to publish the difference in what they pay men & women
- Recruit more Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic police officers
Democracy & Constitution
- Meet the needs of England with ‘Devolution of Demand’
- A £10,000 cap on political donations as part of a wider funding reform
- A fair voting system, votes at 16 & an elected House of Lords
Defence & Foreign Policy
- Scrap online barriers so British firms can sell their products to 500m EU customers
- Cut waste by abolishing unnecessary EU institutions
- Exempt small businesses from EU legislation where possible
- End needless nuclear patrols & procure fewer Trident replacement submarines
- A ‘presumption of denial’ of arms sales to countries with human rights abuses
- End Female Genital Mutilation within a generation