Party Policies Compare Plaid Cymru policies against Conservative policies

Start a 'buy local' campaign, including legislation to improve public procurement, as well as improving opportunities for Welsh based business within the procurement chain to create 50,000 new jobs.

A Business bank for Wales to support SMEs and with promotion of the Welsh economy as a priority

Support new infrastructure projects which create jobs now and increase connectivity, such as the Valleys Metro, and special purpose investment vehicles such as Build 4 Wales.

Promote co-operative and mutual forms of business, including social enterprises, to develop and improve business and entrepreneurial skills in our communities.

Plaid Cymru would extend the Business Rate support scheme we established during our time in Government to cover all businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or less. The scheme would cover 80,000 businesses across Wales and would relieve 70,000 businesses of having to pay business rates at all.

Businesses with a rateable value of up to 10,000 would receive 100% relief from business rates with tapered relief for businesses between £10,000 and £15,000.

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

We believe that crime and justice policy should be decided here in Wales, so that we can set our priorities for keeping our streets safe.

Plaid Cymru calls for a Justice (Devolution of Powers Wales) Bill. We will continue to campaign for Welsh control over our crime and justice system in its entirety, including policing and youth justice, so that Wales can fully tackle the complex problems of individual and community safety and rehabilitation.

We call for the building of juvenile and women's prisons and we fully support a prison in the north of Wales. We are also committed to the campaign for bilingual juries in Wales and a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales.

We believe that crime is committed for a wide number of interlocking reasons and so can only be dealt with through a full range of policies for the economy, education, social justice and the regeneration of communities.

We call for a National Community Safety Strategy for Wales, more drug rehabilitation places and programmes, drugs and alcohol education in every school in Wales and better amenities for young people in their communities.

We also want to see the introduction of stricter controls on how drinks are advertised and marketed, greater support for victims and witnesses to help people feel safer in their communities and a political commitment to restorative justice and community sentencing where appropriate.

Plaid Cymru has noted the disproportionate number of ex-service personnel in prison and has called for a strategic review of the ways in which welfare support is administered to veterans.

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

Plaid Cymru did not support the war in Iraq; in fact, we vociferously opposed it. Moreover, our MPs led the campaign to impeach Tony Blair for war crimes.

We also opposed the invasion of Afghanistan from the beginning and we now call for a move towards a situation in the country where Afghans can be safe to develop their own country without external political influence. Plaid Cymru therefore call for a sufficient humanitarian framework following the gradual withdrawal of troops.

We do, of course, believe that while they are there, the young men and women in the armed forces should be protected and cared for, so we have called for a Military Well-Being Act to promote and safeguard the physical and mental health and wellbeing of military personnel.

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

Plaid Cymru propose a new Green Skills Construction College that would specialise in green energy.

The party would establish a publicly-owned energy company.

A Plaid Cymru government would rebuild our economy around our strengths and create an environment in which the private sector can flourish. Rather than hand out individual support packages to individual businesses, we would make Wales an attractive place to do business through creating a skilled workforce specialising in high value sectors, investing in our internal and external infrastructure and making finance more accessible.

Plaid Cymru has called for a new arm’s length, publically-owned Bank of Wales business investment bank. The bank would make finance available to small businesses at competitive rates, encouraging existing businesses to invest in themselves, potentially boosting employment and encouraging new business startups.

Plaid believes that we should abolish the unfair and outdated council tax system and introduce a local income tax. A local income tax would be based on the ability to pay, not on the value of property. It would be fairer and more efficient.

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

A single national curriculum will provide for core learning whilst enabling greater flexibility for schools and professionals to innovate, e.g. outdoor learning, third foreign language, Information Technology.

We will respect the professionalism of teachers and assistants, expect Continuous Professional Development and reward good practice with less bureaucracy

Examinations should be independently regulated, including a reduction in the confusing range that pupils are allowed to sit.

There should be a closer alignment between under-graduate and vocational skills, especially at the higher level.

We call for a study into the feasibility of providing every infant school child in Wales with free school meals as there is a clear link between poor diet and educational attainment.

We will continue to oppose foundation schools, academies and free schools, which lack public accountability and in many cases have poor staffing practices, including lack of union recognition and weaker conditions of service for staff, as well as introducing the private sector into our education system.

We strongly believe that every child in Wales has the right to education in the Welsh language, including pupils with Special Educational Needs and we will continue to push for strengthened targets.

We support the recommendations made in the review of qualifications for 14-19 year olds to retain GCSEs and A Levels and to develop and enhance the Welsh Baccalaureate as a framework for learning for this age group.

We will call for the Welsh government to look at moving from a per-pupil funding mechanism to a funding model based on the catchment area. It is crucial that education authorities have sufficient resources to provide Welsh medium education and adequate services for children with special educational needs.

The Party of Wales will not support any further increases in tuition fees for our higher education students, and will seek the abolition of tuition fees as and when public finances allow.

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

The National Assembly has agreed, with cross-party support, to reduce emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. Plaid will work to ensure that this decision is turned into meaningful and effective action to achieve the full reduction.

Plaid Cymru demands the full devolution of all powers over energy policy to the National Assembly.

Wales must take full advantage of our renewable energy resources and support micro generation and other small-scale sustainable power generation schemes, including tidal, wave-power, on-shore and off-shore wind, hydro and biomass.

Our preferred option for harnessing the energy of the Severn is a combination of lagoons and tidal-stream turbines which would minimise environmental damage while maximising zero-carbon electricity generation at a cost affordable to consumers.

We call for emission performance standards for all new power stations and we reaffirm our opposition to the construction of any new nuclear power stations in Wales.

Plaid in Westminster will continue to campaign for a windfall tax on energy companies to help pay for grants for insulation for lower income families.

We will continue to oppose the use of waste incinerators and support binding targets for waste prevention. We support recycling targets of 80% of domestic waste by 2020 and the introduction of a higher landfill tax.

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

We are committed to an independent Wales as a full member of the European Union.

We will continue to support further democratic reform of the EU.

We are committed to increased representation for Wales in the EU. This includes a fair number of MEPs for Wales, a European Parliament office in Wales, a rotating European Commissioner and most importantly, a vote for Wales in the Council of Ministers.

Plaid will continue to fight for transitional European financial support to continue after 2013.

We support further enlargement of the EU provided that those countries that wish to join improve conditions of democracy, justice and the rule of law. We support ongoing membership negotiations with Turkey as a means to encourage democratic reform in that country, improve women's rights and promote the democratic interests of the Kurdish people.

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

Plaid Cymru has three policy options for childcare: 1) Free optional full-time Foundation Phase place for all three and four year olds, 2) Top-up the existing ten hours Foundation Phase place offered to three and four year olds with twenty hours free childcare, and 3) Ten hours free childcare for three year olds on top of the existing ten hour Foundation Phase place and twenty hours free childcare for two year olds.

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

We oppose the micro management of local councils by central government and are committed to ensuring that local councils have the freedom and funding to respond appropriately to local issues.

In the long term, Plaid would create an All-Wales Civil Service, with civil servants and officers able to move freely between the National Assembly for Wales, Local Government in Wales and The National Health Service in Wales. We believe that this model will encourage cooperation, the sharing of best practice, and will result in more joined-up thinking.

We will make sure that voluntary groups, local businesses and individuals have every opportunity to share their views on decisions impacting their local community. We will support the campaign for participatory budgeting in our local authorities to ensure that local citizens have a voice in how money is spent.

Plaid is committed to a fairer voting system and will continue to campaign for the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote for every election in Wales including local authority elections. We will also continue to call for the right to vote at 16 as a way of encouraging young people to take part in the political process.

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

Plaid Cymru wants to train, retain and recruit a well-motivated, caring and expert NHS and social care workforce. We want to increase our capacity to train the future medical workforce and we will incentivise training in hard-to-recruit areas and specialisms.

We want to see the Welsh NHS participate in more clinical trials and research. We want to see improved availability of diagnostics for cancers and chronic conditions. We want to see a medical service that is judged on its outcomes for people, not on inputs.

Where individuals have developed substance addictions, then we want to provide a service to enable people to conquer their addiction.

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

The next Plaid Cymru government would introduce several schemes designed to help young people in Wales get onto the housing ladder.

We would change planning laws to ensure that local people benefited from housing developments, and that young people were no longer forced to move away from their communities due to second home owners pushing up prices and lack of high wage employment in many parts of Wales.

We will reform the way in which social housing is allocated to stop abuses in the system and ensure fairness.

We will improve the quality of housing in the private rented sector through better regulation and tenancy reform that ensures both landlords and tenants are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

We will invest in the retro-fitting of older homes to ensure that families keep their fuel bills low and stimulate the local economy.

Plaid Cymru also believes that VAT for home repairs should be cut to 5% - people should not be paying excessive tax simply to ensure their home is a healthy and safe place to live.

Empty Properties are also an issue we want to tackle. We will extend the empty properties scheme to ensure more derelict and empty homes are brought back into use, and no longer will communities have to deal with the crime and anti-social behaviour that can accompany such housing.

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

Plaid Cymru recognises the invaluable contribution that migrants have made to Wales. Our civic nationalism celebrates tolerance, mutual understanding and difference. Equally, we recognise the potential shared benefits of greater co-operation in asylum and immigration at EU level, and the important role that Europe could play in assisting the integration of new migrants including in the languages of the stateless nations.

We condemn the point-scoring used by other parties and the pandering to unfounded xenophobic prejudices in the debate on immigration.

We oppose a points-based system, which we know would take no account of the skills requirements in different parts of Wales.

Plaid Cymru also supports the right of asylum seekers to work in Wales while they wait for status decisions to be made and we call for the speeding up of the unnecessarily complicated asylum system.

We condemn the practice of housing recently-arrived asylum seekers, especially children, in "detention" or "removal" centres as punitive and cruel, and we will continue to lobby the Westminster government to ensure that they keep their promise to shut these centres.

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

We now have major plans for the future of public transport in Wales. We recognise that the rail network will never help us to achieve our environmental objectives unless it is both cheap and attractive to use, and that will not happen without significant and ongoing commitment of public funds.

We reiterate our call for the railway system to be brought back into public ownership. While we will pursue this objective, we will also pursue other socially useful options such as not-for-dividend or co-operative rail services, and greater devolution of rail infrastructure powers and responsibilities to Wales.

Plaid Cymru also supports providing alternatives to the car. Walking and cycling, particularly in urban centres, needs to be protected in legislation, and the right infrastructure provided in terms of routes, signage, and information.

Rural areas also need the right transport solutions, including demand-led bus services and the ongoing expansion of the Traws Cymru bus network, which aims to compensate for the disastrous Beeching rail cuts inflicted on Wales in the past.

To function as an economy and be recognised internationally, Wales needs an international airport of its own, as well as connections to hubs in neighbouring countries. Plaid Cymru suggested the idea of taking Cardiff Airport into public ownership, in order to prevent it from closing down.

We would look to use more of the annual Welsh Government budget to make rail fares more affordable, viewing this not as additional subsidy but as investment that also would benefit road users and the environment.

We will continue to campaign on the issue of “Barnettising” HS2 and in favour of spreading rail investment across the state, as part of a wider rebalancing of the United Kingdom and a state-level economic policy for the nations and regions.

Plaid Cymru is committed to maintaining the concessionary fares scheme which is a lifeline for many of our older citizens and accounts for over 40% of all local bus journeys.

Plaid Cymru is of the view that the case for a new M4 motorway is not sustainable or affordable.

Our proposal on the Severn Tolls is for ownership to transfer to the Welsh Government, and a reduction in tolls to cover maintenance levels only.

Plaid Cymru supports increasing the number of 20mph zones, especially around schools, but in whichever neighbourhoods where there is local demand.

We support the devolution of speed limits. Plaid Cymru does not see the case for changing the existing motorway speed limit, but notes that the UK Government has considered increasing the motorway speed limit for England and Wales.

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

Plaid Cymru is opposed to the welfare reform which links benefit payments to work and threatens benefit sanctions for those unable to meet unfair and unrealistic government demands. Plaid believes that this will simply result in a vicious cycle of people who live between in-work and out-of-work poverty.

Plaid Cymru in government will make the abolition of child poverty a top priority. We will press for a move away from complex and expensive means testing for child-related benefits.

Because legislation on pensions is not devolved, Plaid will instead continue to campaign for the introduction of a living pension during the period of the next parliament for those aged 80 and over. In the longer term, when the state of the public finances allows, we would lower the qualifying age.

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

Plaid Cymru would enforce a living wage for all.

Create apprenticeships and job opportunities by investing in training and working with both large and SME businesses and training providers to ensure that young people have market-ready skills.

Tackle under-employment by supporting people into work, supporting higher value jobs, flexible working patterns and childcare assistance.

Plaid calls for stringent implementation of labour laws for all workers, including enforcement of a living wage to address the injustice of poor pay and unfair working conditions.

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

Plaid will press the UK government to honour the commitment to delivering 0.7% of GDP as international aid and we will continue to campaign for the cancellation of developing countries' unaffordable debts.

We also reaffirm our support for the international Fair Trade movement. We will continue to campaign for the rights of minority nations and minority language speakers in Europe and in future possible accession countries such as Turkey.

We support a global tax on financial transactions as a means of encouraging more responsibility and stability in the global markets.

We support urgent and far-reaching reforms of the World Bank and IMF in order to improve regulation and accountability.

Source: Plaid Cymru party website, existing manifesto or officially-published 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.