Local MP Candidate Alan Mak welcomes Conservative Party's 2024 General Election Manifesto

Local MP Candidate Alan Mak has welcomed the Conservative Party's 2024 General Election Manifesto, saying it sets out a clear plan backed by bold action to chart a course to a more secure future for local residents across the Havant Constituency.

He said, "Our manifesto provides tax cuts, more help to get on the housing ladder, increases in the amount of childcare available to young families, support for our NHS and an enhanced triple lock for pensioners. These are practical policies that help residents and communities across the Havant Constituency."

Key policies set out in the Manifesto are set out below.

Conservatives will support working people and secure a stronger economy by: 

• Cutting taxes for working people. We will cut tax for workers by taking another 2p off employee National Insurance so that we will have halved it from 12 per cent at the beginning of this year to 6 per cent by April 2027, a total tax cut of £1,350 for the average worker on £35,000 – and the next step in our long-term ambition to end the double tax on work when financial conditions allow.

• Cutting taxes for the self-employed. We will cut taxes to support the self-employed by abolishing the main rate of self-employed National Insurance entirely by the end of the Parliament.

• Cutting taxes for pensioners. We will cut tax for pensioners with the new Triple Lock Plus, guaranteeing that both the State Pension and the tax-free allowance for pensioners always rise with the highest of inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent – so the new State Pension doesn’t get dragged into income tax.

• Rolling out the biggest ever expansion of childcare. We will give working parents 30 hours of free childcare a week from when their child is nine months old to when they start school, saving eligible families an average of £6,900 per year.

• Cutting taxes for parents. We will end the unfairness in Child Benefit by moving to a household system, so families don’t start losing Child Benefit until their combined income reaches £120,000 – saving the average family which benefits £1,500.

• Taking a practical approach to reaching net zero. We are cutting the cost of net zero for consumers by taking a more pragmatic approach, guaranteeing no new green levies or charges while accelerating the rollout of renewables.

• Seizing the benefits of Brexit. We are seizing the benefits of Brexit by signing further trade deals, speeding up infrastructure and unblocking 100,000 homes, cutting red tape for business, and creating new fishing opportunities.

Conservatives will provide young people with a secure future by:

• Creating new opportunities for young people whilst delivering a renewed sense of pride in our country. We will give young people the skills and opportunities they deserve by introducing mandatory National Service for all school leavers at 18, with the choice between a competitive placement in the military or civic service roles.

• Delivering 100,000 new high-quality apprenticeships. We will fund 100,000 high-quality apprenticeships for young people, paid for by curbing the number of poor-quality university degrees that leave young people worse off. 

• Protecting children’s learning. We will protect children by requiring schools to ban the use of mobile phones during the school day and ensuring parents can see what their children are being taught, especially on sensitive matters like sex education. 

• Transforming 16-19 education. We will transform 16-19 education by introducing the Advanced British Standard, enabling young people to receive a broader education and removing the artificial divide between academic and technical learning. 

Conservatives will safeguard our borders and national security by:

• Boosting defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP. We will boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, so we can protect British interests at home and abroad in an increasingly hostile world.

• Setting a legal cap on migration. We will introduce a legal cap on migration to guarantee that numbers will fall every year, so public services are protected while bringing in the skills our businesses and NHS needs.

• Stopping the boats. We will remove illegal migrants to Rwanda and work with other countries to rewrite asylum treaties to make them fit for the challenges we face.

Conservatives will strengthen our communities by:

• Boosting NHS spending and recruiting more staff. We will increase NHS spending above inflation every year, recruiting 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors, driving up productivity in the NHS and moving care closer to people’s homes through Pharmacy First, new and modernised GP surgeries and more Community Diagnostic Centres.

• Protecting women’s safety. We will protect female-only spaces and competitiveness in sport by making clear that sex means biological sex in the Equality Act.

• Building 1.6 million homes. We will deliver 1.6 million well-designed homes in the right places while protecting our countryside, permanently abolish Stamp Duty for homes up to £425,000 for first time buyers and introduce a new Help to Buy scheme.

• Recruiting 8,000 new police officers. We will recruit 8,000 more full-time, fully warranted police officers to ensure a new police officer for every neighbourhood.

• Clamping down on anti-social behaviour. We will cut anti-social behaviour in town centres by rolling out Hotspot Policing, expanding community payback and legislating to evict social tenants who repeatedly disrupt their neighbours.

• Investing £36 billion in more transport projects. We are investing £36 billion in local roads, rail and buses to drive regional growth, including £8.3 billion to fill potholes and resurface roads, funded by cancelling the second phase of HS2.

• Ending Labour’s war on motorists. Back drivers by stopping road pricing, reversing the London Mayor’s ULEZ expansion and applying local referendums to new 20mph zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

• Backing rural communities. We will champion rural communities by backing farmers with a legal target and additional investment for food security and protecting our best agricultural land from solar farms.

• Strengthening our Union. Continue to directly invest in communities across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, protect the UK’s internal market and the integrity of our United Kingdom.