Party Policies Compare Conservative policies against Liberal Democrat policies

CREATING MORE JOBS by backing small business and enterprise with better infrastructure and lower jobs taxes.

Continuing to back businesses to create jobs - with action on business rates and more help for the high street.

Abolishing the employers' jobs tax on apprenticeships for people under 25 to help more young people get the skills they need.

By reducing red tape, cutting the jobs tax and delivering better infrastructure, we're helping more people set up their own business. And that's creating more jobs, with 1.7 million more people in work since 2010. Every job is another hardworking taxpayer with the security of a pay packet and the opportunity to get on in life.

Tackling tax avoidance by multinational corporations to make taxes fairer and help cut the deficit.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Finish the job of police reform, so you can have more confidence that your local policing team is working effectively

Toughen sentencing and reform the prison system, so dangerous criminals are kept off your streets

Support victims, so that the most vulnerable in our society get the support they deserve.

Scrap the Human Rights Act and curtail the role of the European Court of Human Rights, so that foreign criminals can be more easily deported from Britain.

We will ensure proper provision of health and community-based places of safety for people suffering mental health crises, saving police time and stopping vulnerable people being detained in police custody.

We will allow police forces to retain a greater percentage of the value of assets they seize from criminals.

We will improve our response to cyber-crime with reforms to police training and an expansion in the number of volunteer ‘Cyber Specials’

We will enable fire and police services to work more closely together and develop the role of our elected and accountable Police and Crime Commissioners.

We will legislate to mandate changes in police practices if stop and search does not become more targeted and stop to arrest ratios do not improve.

We will create a blanket ban on all new psychoactive substances, protecting young people from exposure to so-called 'legal highs' And we will make sobriety orders available to all courts in England and Wales, enforced through new alcohol monitoring tags.

We will introduce widespread random testing of drug use in jails, new body scanners, greater use of mobile phone blocking technology and a new strategy to tackle corruption in prisons.

Now we will strengthen victims’ rights further, with a new Victims’ Law that will enshrine key rights for victims, including the right to make a personal statement and have it read in court before sentencing.

A new semi-custodial sentence will be introduced for prolific criminals, allowing for a short, sharp spell in custody to change behaviour.

We will extend the scope of the Unduly Lenient Scheme, so a wider range of sentences can be challenged.

The next Conservative Government will scrap the Human Rights Act, and introduce a British Bill of Rights.

The next Conservative Government will continue to take a tough, intelligent and comprehensive approach to preventing terrorism and confronting extremism.

We will outlaw groups that foment hate with the introduction of new Banning Orders for extremist organisations. These could be

applied to dangerous organisations that fall short of the existing thresholds for proscription under terrorism legislation.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We will continue to keep our Armed Forces strong so they can continue to keep you safe.

We will maintain the size of the regular armed services and not reduce the army to below 82,000.

We will retain the Trident continuous at sea nuclear deterrent to provide the ultimate guarantee of our safety and build the new fleet of four Successor Ballistic Missile Submarines - securing thousands of highly-skilled engineering jobs in the UK.

We will work closely with our allies to continue to strengthen NATO - supporting its new multi-national rapid response force.

We will maintain our global presence, strengthening our defence partnerships in the Gulf and Asia.

Later this year, we will hold a National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review to plan for the future.

We have made commitments for the equipment plan to be funded at one per cent above inflation for the next Parliament.

We plan to invest at least £160 billion in new military equipment over the next decade: as well as our six new Type 45 destroyers, we are building a class of seven Astute submarines and buying the Joint Strike Fighter, Scout armoured vehicles, Type 26 frigates and

new Apache attack helicopters.

We will bring both of our new Aircraft Carriers - HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the largest vessels the Royal Navy has ever possessed – into service, so we have one available for use at all times.

We will continue to invest in our cyber defence capabilities.

We have honoured our commitment to enshrine the Armed Forces Covenant in law and done much to support our servicemen and women.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Keep our economy secure by running a surplus so that we start paying down our debts

Increase the tax-free Personal Allowance to £12,500 and the 40p Income Tax threshold to £50,000

Commit to no increases in VAT, National Insurance contributions or Income Tax

Crack down on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance and ensure those who can afford to pay the most do

Rebalance our economy, build a Northern Powerhouse and back elected metro mayors

Pursue our ambition to become the most prosperous major economy in the world by the 2030s.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Ensure a good primary school place for your child, with zero tolerance for failure.

Turn every failing and coasting secondary school into an academy and deliver free schools for parents and communities that want them.

Help teachers to make Britain the best country in the world for developing maths, engineering, science and computing skills.

Create 3 million new apprenticeships and make sure there is no cap on university places, so we have aspiration for all.

We will start by introducing tough new standards for literacy and numeracy in primary schools.

We will expect every 11-year-old to know their times tables off by heart and be able to perform long division and complex multiplication.

If children do not reach the required standards in their exams at the end of primary school, they will resit them at the start of secondary school, to make sure no pupil is left behind.

We will require secondary school pupils to take GCSEs in English, maths, science, a language and history or geography, with Ofsted unable to award its highest ratings to schools that refuse to teach these core subjects.

We will turn every failing and coasting secondary school into an academy, and deliver free schools if parents in your area want them.

Over the next Parliament, we will open at least 500 new free schools, resulting in 270,000 new school places.

We will continue to allow all good schools to expand, whether they are maintained schools, academies, free schools or grammar schools.

We will support families by providing free meals to all infants.

We will not allow state schools to make a profit.

In the next Parliament, we will expect every teacher to be trained not just in how to tackle serious behaviour issues, but also in how to deal with the low level disruption that stops children from learning properly.

In future, we will recruit and keep the best teachers by reducing the time they spend on paperwork, introducing bursaries for the most

in-demand subjects, paying good teachers more, further reducing the burden of Ofsted inspections and continuing to encourage the growth of Teach First.

We want teachers to be regarded in the same way as other highly skilled professionals, so we are supporting the creation of an independent College of Teaching to promote the highest standards of teaching and school leadership.

We will train an extra 17,500 maths and physics teachers over the next five years.

From September, [we will] abolish the cap on higher education student numbers and removing an arbitrary ceiling on ambition.

Our reforms to university funding mean you do not have to pay anything towards tuition while studying, and only start paying back if you earn over £21,000 per year.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Put in place a new ‘Blue Belt’ to protect precious marine habitats.

Invest in cleaner air and water for you and your family.

Keep our forests in trust for the nation.

We will spend £3 billion from the Common Agricultural Policy to enhance England’s countryside over the next five years, enabling us, among other things, to clean up our rivers and lakes, protect our stonewalls and hedges, and help our bees to thrive.

We will ensure that our public forests and woodland are kept in trust for the nation and plant another 11 million trees.

We will make it easier to access our beautiful landscapes, by providing free, comprehensive maps of all open-access green space.

Building on our introduction of a five pence charge on single-use plastic bags, we will review the case for higher Fixed Penalty Notices for littering and allow councils to tackle small-scale fly-tipping through Fixed Penalties rather than costly prosecutions.

We will launch an ambitious programme of pocket parks – small areas of inviting public space where people can enjoy relief from the hustle and bustle of city streets.

We will protect the Green Belt, and maintain national protections for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and other environmental designations.

We will now go further, building 1,400 new flood defence schemes, to protect 300,000 homes.

We need a Conservative Government to see through [our] long-term plan and secure clean but affordable energy supplies for generations to come. This means a significant expansion in new nuclear and gas; backing good-value green energy; and pushing for more new investment in UK energy sources.

Onshore wind now makes a meaningful contribution to our energy mix and has been part of the necessary increase in renewable capacity. Onshore windfarms often fail to win public support, however, and are unable by themselves to provide the firm capacity that a stable energy system requires. As a result, we will end any new public subsidy for them and change the law so that local people have the final say on windfarm applications.

At home, we will continue to support the UK Climate Change Act. We will cut emissions as cost-effectively as possible, and will not support additional distorting and expensive power sector targets.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Give English MPs a veto over matters only affecting England , including on Income Tax.

Honour in full our commitments to Scotland to devolve extensive new powers.

Implement the agreed settlement for Wales, handing over more responsibility to the Welsh Assembly.

Continue to build a Northern Ireland where politics works , the economy grows and society is strong.

Give you a say over whether we should stay in or leave the EU, with an in-out referendum by the end of 2017.

Commit to keeping the pound and staying out of the Eurozone.

Reform the workings of the EU , which is too big, too bossy and too bureaucratic.

Reclaim power from Brussels on your behalf and safeguard British interests in the Single Market.

Back businesses to create jobs in Britain by completing ambitious trade deals and reducing red tape.

We will legislate in the first session of the next Parliament for an in-out referendum to be held on Britain’s membership of the EU before the end of 2017.

We will strengthen and improve devolution for each part of our United Kingdom in a way that accepts that there is no one-size-fits-all solution: we will implement the Smith Commission and St David’s Day Agreement or equivalent changes in the rest of the UK, including English votes for English laws.

We will retain the Barnett Formula as the basis for determining the grant to cover that part of the Scottish Parliament’s budget not

funded by tax revenues raised in Scotland.

We will agree new rules with the Scottish Government for how the block grant will be adjusted, to take account of the new devolved

tax and welfare powers.

We will devolve to the Welsh Assembly control over its own affairs – including the Assembly name, size and electoral system, Assembly elections and voting age.

We will maintain Northern Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom on the basis of the consent of its people.

We will protect our economy from any further integration of the Eurozone.

We want to expand the Single Market, breaking down the remaining barriers to trade and ensuring that new sectors are opened up to British firms.

We want to ensure that new rules target unscrupulous behaviour in the financial services industry, while safeguarding Britain as a global centre of excellence in finance.

We will press for lower EU spending, further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and Structural Funds, and for EU money to be focused on promoting jobs and growth.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We will back the institution of marriage in our society, enabling married couples to transfer £1,060 of their tax-free income to their husband or wife, where the highest earner is a basic rate taxpayer. This applies to civil partnerships too, and the transferable amount will always rise at least in line with the Personal Allowance.

And we will help

families stay together and handle the stresses of modern life by continuing to invest at least £7.5 million a year in relationship support.

We will bring in tax-free childcare to help parents return to work, and give working parents of three and four year-olds 30 hours of free childcare a week.

In the next Parliament we will give families where all parents are working an entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for their three and four year-olds.

Freeze the BBC licence fee , to save you money.

Keep our major national museums and galleries free to enter.

Guarantee your child a place on National Citizen Service , so they can learn new skills and meet young people from different walks of life.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Save you money by cutting government waste.

Put more of the essential services you use online, to make them more convenient.

Continue to make government more transparent, so you can hold us to account for how your money is being spent.

We will cut government waste. We plan a further £10 billion annual savings by 2017-18 and £15-20 billion in 2019-20.

We will continue to be the most transparent government in the world.

In the next Parliament, we will legislate to ensure trade unions use a transparent opt-in process for subscriptions to political parties.

We will push ahead with reform of the Civil Service to make it more dynamic and streamlined.

We will make recruitment to the Civil Service more open and actively look for exceptional talent, especially in areas where capabilities are in short supply.

We will continue to tackle all the bureaucracy of Whitehall that clogs the arteries of government.

We will end taxpayer-funded six-figure payoffs for the best paid public sector workers.

We will continue to sell unneeded government property and co-locate services wherever possible.

We have already created 20 high-quality digital services, which include apprenticeships applications and tax self-assessments.

We will save you time, hassle and money by moving more services online, while actively tackling digital exclusion.

While we still see a strong case for introducing an elected element into our second chamber, this is not a priority in the next Parliament.

We have already allowed for expulsion of members for poor conduct and will ensure the House of Lords continues to work well by addressing issues such as the size of the chamber and the retirement of peers.

We will introduce votes for life, scrapping the rule that bars British citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from voting.

We will respect the will of the British people, as expressed in the 2011 referendum, and keep First Past the Post for elections to the House of Commons.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Continue to increase spending on the NHS, supported by a strong economy, so the NHS stays free for you to use.

Spend at least an additional £8 billion by 2020 over and above inflati on to fund and support the NHS’s own action plan for the next five years.

Ensure you can see a GP and receive the hospital care you need, 7 days a week by 2020, with a guarantee that everyone over 75 will get a same-day appointment if they need one.

Integrate health and social care , through our Better Care Fund.

Lead the world in fighting cancer and finding a cure for dementia.

We will implement the NHS’s own plan to improve health care even further – the Five Year Forward View.

Because of our long-term economic plan, we are able to commit to increasing NHS spending in England in real terms by a minimum of £8 billion over the next five years.

Already millions more people can see a GP 7 days a week, from 8am-8pm, but by 2020 we want this for everyone.

We will ensure that your family doctor appointments and repeat prescriptions are routinely available online, wherever you live.

And we will guarantee same-day GP appointments for all over 75s who need them.

We will continue to eliminate mixed-sex wards and hospital infections.

We will continue to ensure that we have enough doctors, nurses and other staff to meet patients’ needs, and consider how best to recognise and reward high performance.

We will boost transparency even further, ensuring you can access full information about the safety record of your hospital and

other NHS or independent providers, and give patients greater choice over where and how they receive care.

We will give you full access to your own electronic health records, while retaining your right to opt-out of your records being shared electronically.

We will take action to reduce childhood obesity and continue to promote clear food information.

We will continue to invest in our life-saving Cancer Drugs Fund. We will work with the NHS, charities and patient groups to deliver the new strategy recommended by NHS England’s cancer taskforce.

We are increasing funding for mental health care. We will enforce the new access and waiting time standards for people experiencing mental ill-health, including children and young people.

We will increase support for full-time unpaid carers. We will guarantee that you will not have to sell your home to fund your residential social care.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Help to keep mortgage rates lower by continuing to work through our long-term economic plan.

Build more homes that people can afford, including 200,000 new Starter Homes exclusively for first-time buyers under 40.

Extend the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme to 2020 to help more people onto and up the housing ladder, and introduce a new Help to Buy ISA to support people saving for a deposit.

Give more people the chance to own their home by extending the Right to Buy to tenants of Housing Associations and create a Brownfield Fund to unlock homes on brownfield land.

Ensure local people have more control over planning and protect the Green Belt.

We will extend Help to Buy to cover another 120,000 homes – in total helping over 200,000 people and we will continue the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee until the start of 2017, and the Help to Buy equity loan until at least 2020.

From this autumn, we will introduce a new Help to Buy ISA to support people who are working hard to save up for a deposit for their first home.

We will build 200,000 quality Starter Homes over the course of the next Parliament, reserved for first-time buyers under 40 and sold at 20 per cent below the market price.

We will now go further, delivering 275,000 additional affordable homes by 2020.

We will extend the Right to Buy to tenants in Housing Associations to enable more people to buy a home of their own.

We will support locally-led garden cities and towns in places where communities want them, such as Ebbsfleet and Bicester.

We will help local authorities keep council tax low for hardworking taxpayers, and ensure residents can continue to veto high rises via a local referendum.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Keep our ambition of delivering annual net migration in the tens of thousands, not the hundreds of thousands.

Control migration from the European Union, by reforming welfare rules .

Clamp down on illegal immigration and abuse of the Minimum Wage.

Enhance our border security and strengthen the enforcement of immigration rules.

Develop a fund to ease pressure on local areas and public services.

We will negotiate new rules with the EU, so that people will have to be earning here for a number of years before they can claim benefits, including the tax credits that top up low wages.

W will continue to strengthen our borders, improve the enforcement of our immigration laws and act to make sure people leave at the end of their visas.

We will insist that EU migrants who want to claim tax credits and child benefit must live here and contribute to our country for a minimum of four years.

We will introduce a new residency requirement for social housing, so that EU migrants cannot even be considered for a council house

unless they have been living in an area for at least four years.

If an EU migrant’s child is living abroad, then they should receive no child benefit or child tax credit, no matter how long they have worked in the UK and no matter how much tax they have paid.

To reduce the numbers of EU migrants coming to Britain, we will end the ability of EU jobseekers to claim any job-seeking

benefits at all. And if jobseekers have not found a job within six months, they will be required to leave

We will negotiate with the EU to introduce stronger powers to deport criminals and stop them coming back, and tougher and longer re-entry bans for all those who abuse free movement.

We want to toughen requirements for non-EU spouses to join EU citizens, including with an income threshold and English language test.

We have already capped the level of skilled economic migration from outside the EU. We will maintain our cap at 20,700 during the next Parliament.

We will reform the student visa system with new measures to tackle abuse and reduce the numbers of students overstaying once their visas expire.

We will also implement a new removals strategy to take away opportunities for spurious legal challenge and opportunities to abscond.

We will introduce satellite tracking for every foreign national offender subject to an outstanding deportation order or deportation proceedings.

To crack down further on illegal working, we will harness data from multiple agencies, including Exit Checks data, to identify illegal immigrants and businesses that employ illegal workers.

We are taking unprecedented action to tackle health tourism and will recover up to £500 million from migrants who use the NHS by the middle of the next Parliament.

We will legislate to ensure that every public sector worker operating in a customer-facing role must speak fluent English.

And to encourage better integration into our society, we will also require those coming to Britain on a family visa with only basic English to become more fluent over time, with new language tests for those seeking a visa extension.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Invest in infrastructure to attract businesses and good jobs across the whole of the UK.

Make your life easier, with more and faster trains, more roads and cycle routes.

Keep commuter rail fares frozen in real terms for the whole of the next Parliament.

Roll out universal broadband and better mobile phone connections, to ensure everyone is part of the digital economy.

We will deliver on our National Infrastructure Plan and respond to the Airports Commission’s final report

We will invest £38 billion in our railway network in the five years to 2019.

In addition to rolling out our national high-speed rail network, with High Speed 2 and High Speed 3, we will complete the construction of the new east-west Crossrail across Greater London, and push forward with plans for Crossrail 2, a new rail route running through London and connecting Surrey and Hertfordshire.

We will invest £15 billion in roads. This will include over £6 billion in the northern road network, with the dualling and widening of the A1 north of Newcastle and the first new trans-Pennine road capacity in over 40 years.

We will secure the delivery of superfast broadband in urban and rural areas to provide coverage to 95 per cent of the UK by the end of 2017, and we will ensure no one is left behind by subsidising the cost of installing superfast capable satellite services in the very hardest to reach areas.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Cut income tax for 30 million people, taking everyone who earns less than £12,500 out of Income Tax altogether .

We will lower the benefit cap from £26,000 to £23,000 to reward work.

Pass a new law so that nobody working 30 hours on the Minimum Wage pays Income Tax on what they earn.

Back aspiration by raising the 40p tax threshold – so that no one earning less than £50,000 pays it .

Cap overall welfare spending , lower the amount of benefits that any household can receive to £23,000 and continue to roll out Universal Credit, to make work pay.

Take the family home out of Inheritance Tax for all but the richest by raising the effective threshold for married couples and civil partners to £1 million.

Continue to increase the State Pension through our triple lock, so it rises by at least 2.5 per cent, inflation or earnings, whichever is highest

Reward saving by introducing a new single-tier pension.

Give you the freedom to invest and spend your pension however you like – and let you pass it on to your loved ones tax-free.

Protect pensioner benefits including the free bus pass, TV licences and Winter Fuel Payment.

Ensure Britain has a strong economy, so we can continue to protect the NHS and make sure no-one is forced to sell their home to pay for care.

Bring in tax-free childcare to support parents back into work, and give working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds 30 hours of free childcare a week.

We have begun to introduce Universal Credit – a way to simplify benefits into a new single payment – so that work always pays.

We are reassessing those on incapacity benefits so that help goes to those who really need it.

The days of something for nothing are over – and all this has helped to reduce by 900,000 the number of people living in workless households.

In the next Parliament, we will continue to reward hard work: raising the tax-free Personal Allowance so that those working 30 hours on the Minimum Wage pay no Income Tax at all and taking hardworking people out of a 40p higher rate tax band originally meant to

capture only the wealthy.

And we will see through our welfare reforms, lowering the benefit cap and rolling out Universal Credit, to make the system fairer and reward hard work.

A Conservative Government will not increase the rates of VAT, Income Tax or National Insurance in the next Parliament. Instead, we will ease the burden of taxation by raising the tax-free Personal Allowance – the amount you can earn before you start paying tax – to £12,500.

We will pass a new law so that the Personal Allowance automatically rises in line with the National Minimum Wage.

We have already announced an above-inflation increase in the threshold next year. Now we will raise the 40p tax threshold much further, so that no one earning less than £50,000 pays the higher rate of Income Tax. The 800,000 people earning between £42,385 and £50,000 will no longer pay the 40p rate of tax.

We will freeze working age benefits for two years from April 2016, with exemptions for disability and pensioner benefits – as at present – as well as maternity allowance, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay and statutory sick pay.

We will review how best

to support those suffering from long-term yet treatable conditions, such as drug or alcohol addiction, or obesity, back into work. People who might benefit from treatment should get the medical help they need so they can return to work. If they refuse a recommended treatment, we will review whether their benefits should be reduced.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Help businesses to create two million new jobs, so we achieve full employment.

Give businesses the most competitive taxes of any major economy.

Back small firms with a major business rates review.

Support three million new apprenticeships , so young people acquire the skills to succeed.

We will abolish long-term youth unemployment, and make sure that all young people are either earning or learning.

We will boost apprenticeships and help you secure a good job.

We aim to achieve full employment in the UK, with the highest employment rate in the G7, and we will help businesses create two million jobs over the Parliament.

We strongly support the National Minimum Wage and want to see further real-terms increases in the next Parliament.

We will continue to help smaller businesses take on new workers through the Employment Allowance, which frees businesses from the first £2,000 of employers’ NICs so that a third of employers pay no jobs tax.

We will replace the Jobseeker’s Allowance for 18-21 year-olds with a Youth Allowance that will be time-limited to six months, after which young people will have to take an apprenticeship, a traineeship or do daily community work for their benefits.

It is also not fair that taxpayers should have to pay for 18-21 year-olds on Jobseeker’s Allowance to claim Housing Benefit in order to leave home. So we will ensure that they no longer have an automatic entitlement to Housing Benefit.

We will, in addition, tackle the disproportionate impact of strikes in essential public services by introducing a tougher threshold in health, education, fire and transport.

Industrial action in these essential services would require the support of at least 40 per cent of all those entitled to take part in strike ballots.

The gender pay gap is the lowest on record, but we want to reduce it further and will push business to do so: we will require companies with more than 250 employees to publish the difference between the average pay of their male and female employees.

We also support the Living

Wage and will continue to encourage businesses and other organisations to pay it whenever they can afford it. We will also take further steps to eradicate abuses of workers, such as non-payment of the Minimum Wage, exclusivity in zero-hours contracts and exploitation of migrant workers.

Give those who work for a big company and the public sector a new workplace entitlement to Volunteering Leave for three days a year , on full pay.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Ensure Britain is a major player on the world stage, using diplomacy to protect your interests, uphold British values and tackle threats to your security and prosperity.

Help generate new trade, investment and job opportunities, to benefit you and your family.

Maintain our world class Armed Forces so they continue to guarantee your security.

Uphold our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on international development.

We will tackle global terrorism and the poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism while taking a patient, long-term approach to preventing conflict and state failure.

Work for peace, stability and an inclusive settlement in Syria and Iraq; and pursue a comprehensive political and military strategy to defeat ISIL.

Uphold the sovereignty, integrity and capacity of Ukraine, and continue to reject Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

Stand shoulder to shoulder with our NATO allies, reassuring all its members - especially those closest to Russia - of their security, and continue to support the Euro-Atlantic path for Western Balkan nations.

Ensure that the significant achievements of our Armed Forces in Afghanistan are maintained; and support the Government of Afghanistan in ensuring that the country remains stable and never again becomes a haven for international terrorists.

Support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, robustly defending the right of Israel to protect its security, while continuing to condemn illegal settlement building, which undermines the prospects for peace.

Protect global security by helping to lead international efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon; and work to ensure that North Korea ends its development of nuclear weapons.

We will push for freer global trade, concluding major trade deals with the US, India and Japan and reinvigorating the World Trade Organisation.

We will build on our strong relationship with India, push for an ambitious EU-India trade deal and support India’s bid for permanent representation on the UN Security Council.

We will strengthen our economic links with China, doubling support for British firms selling goods there and championing an EU-China trade deal.

We will stand up for the freedom of people of all religions - and non-religious people - to practise their beliefs in peace and safety, for example by supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

Uphold our Special Relationship with the USA and further strengthen our ties with our close Commonwealth allies, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Uphold the democratic rights of the people of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands to remain British, for as long as that is their wish, and protect our Overseas Territories.

Source: Conservative party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Industrial Strategy and Business Bank to grow modern British businesses; and delivered 99,000 jobs with our £3 billion Regional Growth Fund.

Continue to develop our Industrial Strategy, working with key sectors which are critical to Britain's ability to trade internationally motor vehicles, aerospace, low-carbon energy, chemicals, creative industries and more.

Support innovation through greater public funding on a longer timescale, with a ring-fenced science budget, more 'Catapult' innovation and technology centres and a green innovation arm within the new Business Bank.

Facilitate new entrants to the banking sector, including through public procurement policy, so that there is much more choice and variety of competitors in banking, in particular business banking, encourage the growth of crowd funding and alternative finance models, and promote a new community banking sector to support SMEs and social enterprises.

Grow the Green Investment Bank.

Continue to reform business tax to ensure it stays competitive, making small and medium-sized enterprises the priority for any business tax cuts.

Establish a new Regulation Advisory Board to reduce regulatory uncertainty and remove unnecessary business regulation.

Take tough action against corporate tax evasion and abusive avoidance strategies, including by continuing to invest in HMRC, as we have done in government, to enable them to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, and introducing a general anti-avoidance rule.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Design out opportunities for crime, by improving the built environment, the design of new technologies, and community resilience.

End the use of imprisonment for possession of drugs for personal use and move the drugs and alcohol policy lead from the Home Office to the Department of Health. We will establish a Commission to assess the effectiveness of current drugs law and alternative approaches, including further work on diverting users into treatment or into civil penalties that do not attract a criminal record which can seriously affect their chances of employment.

Create a National Institute for Crime Prevention, to provide evidence and guidance of what works in fighting and preventing crime.

Ensure that teachers, social workers, police offers and health workers in areas where there is high prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation are trained to help those girls at risk of being cut.

Improve support for victims of crime.

Guarantee the police pursue the public's priorities by replacing Police and Crime Commissioners with Police Boards made up of councillors from across the force area.

Encourage police forces and other emergency services to work together to reduce back office costs and exploit opportunities for efficiency savings.

Explore the case for transferring responsibility for more serious national crime to the National Crime Agency.

Work with EU partners to tackle serious and organised crime.

Create sentencing options which are effective in protecting the public, while reducing the risks of re-offending. We want to see an enhanced role for restorative justice, and will do more to keep young people and women out of prison. We will promote the use of Community Justice Panels.

Reform prisons, so they become places of work, rehabilitation and learning. We will encourage third sector providers to deliver improved rehabilitation.

Make more offenders perform unpaid work in the community to ensure they pay back to their community.

Provide experts on hand in courts and in police stations to identify where mental health or a drug problem is one of the main drivers behind an offender's behaviour so they can be dealt with in a way that is appropriate. We will pilot US-style drug and alcohol courts.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Maintain strong and effective armed forces, and set long-term budgets to procure the right equipment at competitive prices.

Remain fully engaged in international nuclear disarmament efforts.

Retain our Trident independent nuclear deterrent through a Contingency Posture of regular patrols, enabling a 'surge' to armed patrols when the international security context makes this appropriate. This would enable us to reduce the UK warhead stockpile and procure fewer Vanguard successor submarines, and would help the UK to fulfil our nuclear non-proliferation treaty commitments.

Improve the care of members of our armed forces by re-affirming the Military Covenant, improving mental health service provisions for serving personnel and veterans, and introducing a Veterans Commissioner.

Invest in our security services and act to counter cyber-attacks.

Work to engage with and strengthen multilateral institutions worldwide including global bodies such as the UN and regional groupings.

Support the UN principle of 'Responsibility to Protect'. This principle focuses on the security of individuals, rather than states.

Implement a policy of 'presumption of denial' for arms exports to countries listed as countries of concern in the Foreign Office's annual human rights report.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Raise the Personal Allowance to at least £12,500, cutting your taxes by around £400 more

Secured the biggest ever cash rise in the state pension with our ‘triple lock’ policy on uprating

Legislate to make the ‘triple lock’ permanent, guaranteeing decent pensions rises each year

Cut the cost of childcare with more free hours for 3 and 4 year olds, and help for disadvantaged 2 year olds too.

Extend free childcare to all two year olds, and to the children of working families from the end of paid parental leave

Helped people balance work and family life with Shared Parental Leave and the Right to Request flexible working for all

Expand Shared Parental Leave with a ‘use it or lose it’ month for fathers, and introduce a right to paid leave for carers

Kept welfare spending under control, while blocking plans to cut off young people’s benefits

Make sure it pays to work by rolling out Universal Credit, and invest in back-to-work and healthcare support for those who need it

Raise the tax-free Personal Allowance to at least £12,500 by the end of the next Parliament, putting around £400 back in the pockets of millions of working people and pensioners. We will bring forward the planned increase to an £11,000 allowance to April 2016.

Consider, as a next step, and once the Personal Allowance rise is delivered, raising the employee National Insurance threshold to the Income Tax threshold, as resources allow, while protecting low earners’ ability to accrue pension and benefit entitlements.

Ensure those with the highest incomes and wealth are making a fair contribution. We have identified a series of distortions, loopholes and excess reliefs that should be removed, raising money to contribute to deficit reduction. These include reforms to Capital Gains Tax and Dividend Tax relief, refocusing Entrepreneurs’ Relief and a supplementary Corporation Tax for the banking sector. In addition, we will introduce a UK-wide High Value Property Levy on residential properties worth over £2 million. It will have a banded structure, like Council Tax.

Take tough action against corporate tax evasion and avoidance, including by:

Levying penalties on firms proven to facilitate tax evasion, equivalent to the amount of tax evaded by their clients.

Restrict access to non-domiciled status, increasing the charges paid to adopt this status and ending the ability to inherit it.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Protect early years, school, sixth form and college budgets – investment from nursery to 19 to raise standards for all

A million more children now taught in good or outstanding schools

Parents’ Guarantee: core curriculum in every school and every child taught by qualified teachers

Driven up standards and narrowed the attainment gap between rich and poor children

End illiteracy and innumeracy by 2025, with action in nurseries to get all four year olds ready for school by 2020

Free school meals for the youngest children in primary school

Extend free school meals to all primary pupils

Two million apprenticeships, training our young people for 21st century jobs, and record numbers going to university

Raise the quality of early years provision and ensure that by 2020 every formal early years setting employs at least one person who holds an Early Years Teacher qualification. Working with organisations like Teach First, we will recruit more staff with Early Years Qualified status, and extend full Qualified Teacher status, terms and conditions to all those who are properly trained.

Increase our Early Years Pupil Premium – which gives early years settings extra money to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds – to £1,000 per pupil per year.

Continue to support Local Authorities in providing Children’s Centres, especially in areas of high need, encouraging integration with other community services like health visitors, and in particular reviewing the support and advice available for parents on early child nutrition and breastfeeding.

Improve the identification of Special Educational Needs and disability at the earliest possible stage, so targeted support can be provided and primary schools are better prepared for their intake of pupils.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Pass a Zero Carbon Britain Act to set a new legally binding target to bring net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.

Realise the full potential of the Green Investment Bank by increasing its capitalisation, expanding its remit, allowing it to raise funds independently and enabling it to issue green bonds.

Place the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) on the same statutory footing as the Committee on Climate Change through our Nature Act. We will task the NCC with identifying the key natural resources being used unsustainably and recommending legally binding targets for reducing their net consumption; and introduce incentives for businesses to improve resource efficiency.

Help incentivise sustainable behaviour by increasing the proportion of tax revenue accounted for by green taxes.

Grow the market for green products and services with steadily higher green criteria in public procurement policy, extending procurement requirements more widely through the public sector including to the NHS and Academy schools. In particular we will deliver ambitious reductions in energy use.

Increase research and development and commercialisation support in four key low-carbon technologies where Britain could lead the world: tidal power, carbon capture and storage, energy storage and ultra-low emission vehicles.

Ensure UK Trade and Investment and UK Export Finance can prioritise support for key sectors identified in our Industrial Strategy, including exports of green products and technologies, and press for higher environmental standards for export credit agencies throughout the OECD.

Encourage the creation of green financial products to bring consumer capital into green industries.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Remain a committed member of the EU so we can complete the Single Market in areas including online industries, the energy market and services, and help negotiate EU international trade agreements, opening opportunities for British businesses.

Support Single Market disciplines in relation to competition and state aid rules while creating a stronger public interest test for takeovers in research-intensive activities.

Continue to allow high-skill immigration to support key sectors of the economy, and ensure work, tourist and family visit visas are processed quickly and efficiently.

Ensure the UK is an attractive destination for overseas students, not least those who wish to study STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). We will reinstate post-study work visas for STEM graduates who can find graduate-level employment within six months of completing their degree.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Commit to an ambitious goal of 20 hours’ free childcare a week for all parents with children aged from two to four years, and all working parents from the end of paid parental leave (nine months) to two years. This will not only help parents afford to work, it will help all children start school confident, happy and ready to learn.

Start by providing 15 hours a week of free childcare to the parents of all two year olds. We will then prioritise 15 hours free childcare for all working parents with children aged between nine months and two years.

Complete the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare, which will provide up to £2,000 of childcare support for each child and include childcare support in Universal Credit, refunding 85% of childcare costs so work pays for low earners.

Protect your privacy by updating data laws for the internet age with a Digital Bill of Rights.

Complete the roll-out of high speed broadband, to reach over 99% of the UK.

Build on the Green Deal with a national programme to raise the energy efficiency standards of all Britain's households and eradicate fuel poverty cutting people's council tax bills if they take part. All new homes will be Zero Carbon by 2016, and we will help tenants afford to stay warm, with new energy efficiency standards for private rented homes.

Help people to form new energy co-operatives so they can benefit from group discounts and cut their bills.

Help people cut their energy tariffs by forcing energy companies to allow customers to change to any cheaper supplier in just 24 hours.

Give people easier to understand information about their own personal energy use with a national roll-out of smart electricity and gas meters. We will guarantee that anyone on a prepayment meter can choose a smart meter instead by 2017.

Promote the 'double price tag' approach where the customer sees both the purchase price and the annual running costs for all cars and domestic appliances.

Protect the independence of the BBC, funded by the Licence Fee, as the cornerstone of public service broadcasting in this country, and protect the funding and editorial independence of Welsh language broadcasters.

Require the Sports Ground Safety Authority to prepare guidance under which domestic football clubs, working with their supporters, may introduce safe standing areas.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Return power from the stifling grip of Whitehall to the citizens and communities of our nation, so the next generation have the power to shape the society in which they live.

Fixed Term Parliaments, taking away the Prime Minister's power to call elections when it suits the governing party.

Reform party funding, electoral reform and an elected House of Lords.

New financial powers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, City Deals and Growth Deals to enable local people to drive local economic growth.

A new wave of devolution to the nations of the UK and 'Devolution on Demand' to transfer more power and control to local areas.

Reduce the powers of the Department of Communities and Local Government to interfere in democratically elected local government in England.

Remove the requirement to hold local referenda for Council Tax changes in England.

Build on the success of City Deals and Growth Deals, to devolve more power and resources to groups of local authorities and local enterprise partnerships, starting with back to work support.

Introduce 'Devolution on Demand', enabling even greater devolution of powers from Westminster to councils or groups of councils working together (for example to a Cornish Assembly).

Establish a commission to explore the scope for greater devolution of financial responsibility to English local authorities, and new devolved bodies in England.

Take big money out of politics by capping donations to political parties, at £10,000 per person each year.

Introduce votes at age 16 for elections and referenda, and make it easier to register to vote in schools and colleges.

Reform the House of Lords with a proper democratic mandate starting from the 2012 Bill.

Reform our voting systems for elections to local government and Westminster.

Make Parliament more family friendly, and establish a review to pave the way for MP job-sharing arrangements.

Strengthen the role of MPs in amending the budget and scrutinising government spending proposals.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Guarantee the NHS budget will rise by at least the rate of inflation every year. We will commission a Fundamental Review of NHS and social care finances in 2015, before the next Spending Review, in order to assess the pressures on NHS budgets and the scope for efficiencies. This will allow us to set multi-year budgets that will be sufficient to maintain and improve the current standard of NHS services, including keeping waiting times down.

We will always ensure access is based on need and not on ability to pay and that that NHS remains free at the point of delivery.

Reform the NHS payment system to encourage better integration of hospital and community care services and better preventative care for people with long term conditions. This would include more use of personal budgets for people who want them and better access to technology and services to help people get care closer to home.

Secure local agreement on and pooling of budgets between the NHS and social care.

Encourage GPs to work together to improve access and availability of appointments, including out of hours.

Incentivise GPs and other community clinicians to work in more disadvantaged areas.

Act to improve the mental health of children and young people promoting wellbeing throughout schools and ensuring that children and young people can access the services they need as soon as a mental health problem develops.

Deliver genuine parity of esteem between mental and physical health, including by improving access and waiting time standards for mental health services and establishing a world-leading mental health research fund to improve understanding of mental illness and treatments.

Do more to tackle the causes of ill health, including promoting healthy eating and exercise, making people aware of the dangers of smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol and other drugs, and helping to improve mental health and well-being.

Invest in research and set ambitious goals to improve outcomes for the most serious life-threatening diseases like cancer and long-term conditions like dementia.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Set an ambitious target of increasing the rate of house building to 300,000 a year, and build to the Zero Carbon Standard.

Within the first year of the next Parliament, publish a long term plan which sets out how this goal will be achieved.

As part of this plan, publish proposals for at least ten new 'Garden Cities' in England, in areas where there is local support, providing tens of thousands of high quality new homes, with gardens and shared green space, jobs, schools and public transport.

Bring forward development on unwanted public sector sites through the Homes and Communities Agency.

Help social housing providers including councils to build more affordable homes to rent, with central government investment and local flexibility within the Housing Revenue Account.

To maximise total house building we will work with housing providers to design new models of affordable housing, to sit alongside the traditional social rented sector, including models that offer a path to ownership for lower income working families.

Require local authorities in England to allocate land to meet 15 years' housing need in their local plans, and work with local authorities to pilot techniques for capturing the increase in land value from the granting of planning permission.

Tackle overcrowding with a new system to incentivise social landlords to reduce the number of tenants under-occupying their homes, freeing up larger properties for larger families. We will reform the policy to remove the spare room subsidy. The subsidy will continue to be removed for new tenants in social housing but existing social tenants will not be subject to any housing benefit deduction until they have received a reasonable offer of alternative social rented accommodation with the correct number of bedrooms.

We will ensure that tenants who need an extra bedroom for genuine medical reasons or whose homes are substantially adapted do not have their housing benefit reduced.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Restore full entry and exit checks at our borders, to rebuild confidence in immigration control, and allow targeting of resources at those who over-stay their visas.

Remove students from our immigration targets given their temporary status, while taking tough action against any educational institution which allows abuse of the student route into the UK.

Double the number of inspections on employers to ensure all statutory employment legislation is being respected.

Require all new claimants for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) to have their English language skills assessed, with JSA then being conditional on attending English language courses for those whose English is poor.

Encourage schools with high numbers of children with English as a second language to host English lessons for parents.

Work in the EU to tighten up benefit rules for migrants, including reducing, and ultimately abolishing, payment of child benefit for children who are not resident in the UK.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Set out 10-year rolling capital investment plans.

Develop a comprehensive plan to electrify the overwhelming majority of the UK rail network, reopen smaller stations, restore twin-track lines to major routes and proceed with HS2, as the first stage of a high-speed rail network to Scotland.

Invest in major transport improvements and infrastructure. We will:

Deliver the Transport for the North strategy to promote growth, innovation and prosperity across northern England.

Develop more modern, resilient links to and within the South West peninsula to help develop and diversify the regional economy

Complete East-West rail, connecting up Oxford and Cambridge and catalysing major new housing development.

Ensure London’s transport infrastructure is improved to withstand the pressure of population and economic growth.

Work to encourage further private sector investment in rail freight terminals and rail-connected distribution parks. We will set a clear objective to shift more freight from road to rail and change planning law to ensure new developments provide good freight access to retail, manufacturing and warehouse facilities.

Ensure our airport infrastructure meets the needs of a modern and open economy, without allowing emissions from aviation to undermine our goal of a zero-carbon Britain by 2050. We will carefully consider the conclusions of the Davies Review into runway capacity and develop a strategic airports policy for the whole of the UK in the light of those recommendations and advice from the Committee on Climate Change. We remain opposed to any expansion of Heathrow, Stansted or Gatwick and any new airport in the Thames Estuary, because of local issues of air and noise pollution. We will ensure no net increase in runways across the UK.

Ensure new rail franchises include a stronger focus on customers, including requirements to integrate more effectively with other modes of transport and a programme of investment in new stations, lines and station facilities. We will continue the Access for All programme, improving disabled access to public transport.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Introduce a 1% cap on the uprating of working-age benefits until the budget is balanced in 2017/18, after which they will rise with inflation once again. Disability and parental leave benefits will be exempt from this temporary cap.

Encourage landlords to lower their rent by paying them Housing Benefit directly, with tenants’ consent, in return for a fixed reduction. Our plans for a major expansion of house building and new ‘family friendly’ tenancies, which limit annual rent increases, will also help reduce upward pressure on rents. We will review the way the Shared Accommodation Rate in Local Housing Allowance is set, and review the Broad Rental Market Areas to ensure they fit with realistic travel patterns.

Improve links between Jobcentres and Work Programme providers and the local NHS to ensure all those in receipt of health-related benefits are getting the care and support to which they are entitled. In particular, as we expand access to talking therapies we expect many more people to recover and be able to seek work again.

Work with Local Authorities to tackle fraud and error in a more coordinated way, in particular on Housing Benefit.

Help everyone in work on a low wage step up the career ladder and increase their hours, reducing their need for benefits, with tailored in-work careers and job search advice.

Withdraw eligibility for the Winter Fuel Payment and free TV Licence from pensioners who pay tax at the higher rate (40%). We will retain the free bus pass for all pensioners.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Given an £800 tax cut to low and middle income earners by letting you earn £10,500 tax free.

Raise the personal allowance to at least £12,500, cutting your taxes by an extra £400.

Consider, as a next step, and once the personal allowance rise is delivered, raising the employee national insurance threshold to the income tax threshold, as resources allow, while protecting low earners' ability to accrue pension entitlements.

Encourage employers to provide more flexible working, particularly for parents and carers, expanding shared parental leave with a 'use-it-or-lose-it' month for fathers to encourage them to take time off with young children.

Use transparency to drive fair pay: require companies with over 250 employees to publish information on gender pay differences, declare the number of people they employ on less than the living wage, and provide information comparing the top and median pay levels of their staff. We will also require companies to consult employees on executive pay as recommended by the High Pay Commission.

Ask the Low Pay Commission to look at ways of raising the National Minimum Wage, without damaging employment opportunities, and improve enforcement action.

Establish an independent review to consult on how to set a fair Living Wage, working with stakeholders such as the Living Wage Foundation. We will ensure this Living Wage is paid by all central government departments and executive agencies from April 2016 onwards, and encourage other public sector bodies including local authorities to do likewise.

Clamp down on any abusive practices in relation to zero hours contracts.

Continue the drive for diversity in business leadership and encourage women entrepreneurs.

Encourage employers to provide more flexible working, expanding Shared Parental Leave with an additional ‘use it or lose it’ month to encourage fathers to take time off with young children. While changes to parental leave should be introduced slowly to give business time to adjust, our ambition is to see Paternity and Shared Parental Leave become a ‘day one’ right.

Ensure swift implementation of the new rules requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish details of the different pay levels of men and women in their organisation. We will build on this platform and, by 2020, extend transparency requirements to include publishing the number of people paid less than the Living Wage and the ratio between top and median pay. We will also consult on requirements for companies to conduct and publish a full equality pay review, and to consult staff on executive pay.

Ask the Low Pay Commission to look at ways of raising the National Minimum Wage, without damaging employment opportunities. We will improve enforcement action and clamp down on abuses by employers seeking to avoid paying the minimum wage by reviewing practices such as unpaid internships.

Establish an independent review to consult on how to set a fair Living Wage across all sectors. We will pay this Living Wage in all central government departments and their agencies from April 2016, and encourage other public sector employers to do likewise.

Improve the enforcement of employment rights, reviewing Employment Tribunal fees to ensure they are not a barrier. We will ensure employers cannot avoid giving their staff rights or paying the minimum wage by wrongly classifying them as workers or self-employed.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Work with our partners in the EU, NATO, the UN and the Commonwealth to tackle security challenges and seek peaceful solutions to conflicts worldwide.

Act globally to tackle the threats of climate change and environmental degradation.

Argue for a 50% reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, while ensuring that the UK meets its own commitments and so can play a leadership role within Europe and internationally on efforts to combat climate change.

Work to secure agreement on a global climate treaty at the 2015 UN Climate Conference.

Argue for EU and global commitments to zero net deforestation, globally, by 2020 and provide greater resources for international environmental cooperation.

Ensure that UK and EU development aid, free trade and investment agreements support environmentally sustainable investment.

Maintain our commitment to spend 0.7% of UK Gross National Income on international aid and enshrine this in law. We will adhere to the OECD's definition of what activities count as Official Development Assistance.

Respond generously to humanitarian crises wherever they may occur.

Work to ensure the post-2015 development goals fully take into account the need to leave no one behind and to safeguard the sustainability of the planet.

Continue to support free media and a free and open internet around the world, championing the free flow of information.

Lead international action to ensure global companies pay fair taxes in the developing countries in which they operate.

Invest to eliminate within a generation preventable diseases such as TB, HIV and malaria; ensure that people do not suffer discrimination or disadvantage because of gender, sexual orientation, disability or ethnic origin, including pursuing an International Gender Equality Strategy, including recognition of women's rights to education and freedom from enforced marriage, and an international LGBT strategy; and aim to end female genital mutilation worldwide within a generation.

Source: Liberal Democrat party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.