Conservative Party Manifesto Key Points
Health and Social Care:
- Recruiting 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors.
- Building 50 more community diagnostic centres.
- Taking forward the reforms in the ‘People at the Heart of Care’ White Paper.
- Dental recovery plan, with a Patient Premium to encourage dentists to take on new NHS patients and a requirement for newly qualified dentists to take on NHS patients or repay their training costs.
- Supporting research into more treatments and securing more commercial clinical trials.
- Removing bureaucratic obstacles to the use of new medicines, and aligning NHS cost effectiveness thresholds for new medicines with those used by NICE.
- Implementing a new medtech pathway to ensure rapid adoption by the NHS.
- Publish and implement a Major Conditions Strategy for prevention and care, covering cancer, heart disease, musculoskeletal disorders, mental ill health, dementia and respiratory disease.
- Take forward the Rare Diseases Action Plan.
- Pass a law for better treatment and support for severe mental health needs.
Economy:
- Cutting employee National Insurance to 6 per cent by April 2027.
- Commitment to not raising the rate of income tax or VAT.
- Maintaining the National Living Wage at two-thirds of median earnings.
Work and welfare:
- Improving PIP assessments to provide a more objective consideration of people’s needs and stop the number of claims from rising unsustainably.
- Make the assessment process simpler and fairer for those with the most severe conditions.
- Expand mental health support, and look at the best ways to provide support, eg sometimes treatment may be a better option than financial support.
- Offering tailored support to those with moderate mental health issues or mobility problems, so they can access work rather than relying on benefits.
- Overhaul the fit note process and provide more support with staying in or getting back to work.
Education:
- Expand coverage of Mental Health Support teams in schools from 50 per cent to 100 per cent by 2030.
Transport:
- Investing £4.7 billion for smaller cities, towns and rural areas in the North and Midlands to spend on transport priorities.
- Extending the £2 bus fare cap for the entirety of the next Parliament.