A FUTURE FIT FOR BRITAIN A message from the Prime Minister Working under Grant Kingston’s leadership has been a privilege. Grant possesses a rare duality in politics:: he is detailed, thorough and has a grasp of the minutiae of policy. He is also vigorous, energetic, able to work quickly and effectively to deal with emerging challenges. His fundamental success in the last year has been to chart a new course for the United Kingdom. Brexit delivered: a deal which respects the wishes of the majority to leave the European Union, and which addresses the legitimate concerns of those who wanted to remain. Thousands of new nurses, doctors, teachers and police officers; hundreds of new schools and health clinics. A housing revolution underway, with 600,000 new completions well on the way and the abolition of stamp duty making it easier than ever to get a foot on the property ladder. Taxes kept low for the many; businesses supported through turbulent times. Strong leadership on the global stage; a resolute defence of our values at home. But the current Parliamentary arithmetic makes delivering further crucial change for the British people impossible. For that reason, it falls to the public to once again decide who is best placed to lead Britain. On the one hand, a Labour Party committed to raising taxes, carving Britain out of the single market and accepting for the UK a slide into obsolescence. On the other, a Conservative government grasping opportunities with both hands: delivering real, tangible reform in education to make every child and young person count; investing in our NHS and driving up standards in our hospitals; tackling crime and its causes; delivering a green revolution which will power our economic growth into the new decade; investing in our critical infrastructure; and delivering a low-tax, business-friendly platform which will create jobs, upskill our workforce and deliver opportunity into the hands of the many - not just the few. i have no hesitation whatsoever in backing Grant to the hilt - will you? Yours juliet Manning A message from the Deputy Prime Minister Strong Britain, Great Nation Over the past year, the Conservatives have stood firm for Britain. We delivered a Brexit deal which worked for Britain; respecting the will of the people who voted to leave whilst addressing the legitimate concerns of those who voted to remain. Our deal saw the United Kingdom end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, leave the common agricultural and fisheries policies, end payments to the European Union, leave behind “ever-closer union” forever and leave the customs union, freeing us to do our own free trade deals around the world. When Russia launched a quasi-invasion of Latvia, it was Britain under the Conservatives which led the world in saying no to Vladimir Putin, with the toughest economic sanctions of any G7 state and a role at the very heart of NATO decision-making. Over the next five years, the Conservative vision is to continue to back Britain’s interests overseas, investing in our critical defence and promoting our values around the world. We will retain our close partnership with Europe, leading the European Free Trade Association in new free trade talks with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. We will work with our NATO allies and particularly the Vísegrad Group to station a permanent deployment of the British Army in Poland, guarding against furure incurcions by Russia into the Baltic States and the rest of eastern Europe. We will retain and increase our role in the international aid arena, providing essential infrastructure development to developing states. And we will win the battle between open and closed societies, expanding the BBC World Service and our other information resources to bring accurate, unbiased news coverage to more of the world’s oppressed peoples. The Conservatives will invest in the armed forces, increasing spending on defence to 3% of GDP by 2026 and fully funding the completion of two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft supercarriers, giving Britain the freedom and flexibility to operate simultaneously in all major theatres. We will support the acquisition of new equipment and technologies, and seek to develop the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet in consort with our allies. We will strengthen our ties in eastern Europe and in Africa, whilst engaging constructively with China on issues of mutual interest. We will never allow China to threaten the sovereignty of Taiwan or other far east states, and we will tackle Chinese intellectual property theft and economic warfare robustly. The Conservatives will promote peace and security around the globe, becoming a world-leading contributor to peacekeeping operations and seeking to play the role of an honest broker between Israel and Palestine. We will defend the rights of sovereign nations, and commit ourselves wholesale to the principles of international law. Opportunity for the young While Labour planned to put panic rooms into school staff rooms, it was the Conservatives who acted to improve education and opportunity in Britain. We delivered almost £20 billion of new investment in education, boosting school budgets by an average of £500,000 a year each. We recruited 40,000 new teachers and built 250 new schools. We delivered 45,000 extra apprenticeships and boosted government funding per apprentice by £2,000. The Conservatives believe firmly that our next generation should expect to live better lives than those who came before; that is why we are committed to an Opportunity Agenda which delivers a transformative impact in the lives of our young people. Our proposals to reinstate a selective system, bringing grammar schools back to Britain in earnest, will give children from poorer backgrounds the chance to thrive. And new technical colleges will mean that the more practically-minded are able to study the subjects which matter to them. Abolishing tuition fees isn’t easy, but it’s the right thing to do. No young person should be expected to pay up-front for their education; instead, they should repay a portion of their future earnings at a rate which works for them. The Conservatives’ proposals ensure that a university education is never out of reach. Delivering a million apprenticeships by 2030, introducing free school meals for all primary and secondary pupils and ensuring that every school employs a full-time student nurse are further steps that we can take to ensure that no child is left behind. Because their future is the future of all of us; and with unprecedented levels of investment, we can make sure that nothing is impossible for the dreamers of tomorrow. Parents should have the freedom to send their kids to any school they choose; and under our proposals, they will. Successful, oversubscribed schools will be supported to expand, and the funding will follow the pupil - not the Department for Public Services bureaucrats. Our vision is one in which every child and young person in Britain is able to aspire and achieve their dreams. It is a vision of hope and clarity, a creed which maintains that challenging our children is always better than talking them down. It is a vision which is, at is very heart, Conservative. Defending the NHS Over the past four years, the Conservatives have made major moves in investing in healthcare, and strengthening the NHS. We will look to continue this work, by investing in equipment procurement to ensure our health service is the best equipped it can be. Continuing on with our policy of building new hospitals, we will aim to build 40 new hospitals over the next 10 years. We will also look to deliver 40,000 new nurses, and 5,000 new doctors, as well as ensuring other roles within the health service are staffed to an effective level. We will continue to ensure student nurses and doctors receive support in their cost of living. Currently the United Kingdom faces a social care crisis. With advances in medicine, and quality of life, our population is naturally getting older, with more older people to care for than ever. It is clear now more than ever we must have better social care in place, and adapt with new challenges with more people living into later years. The Conservative Government has come together to create a Stronger Social Care Plan to address these issues. In this plan, we aim to provide a social care service that will be fair and efficient for all those who need it. For a start we will invest £10billion into social care, to bring it to the level it needs to be. We want the British public to see pensions that grow in fair terms, through our Double Lock scheme following on from the Triple Lock scheme, and continue to roll out auto-enrollment pensions that will see employers and the Government encourage people to save for their futures. Further to this we will promote long term savings plans to achieve this goal, as well as campaigns to help people understand and become more comfortable about saving for future care. We recognise the effects that the cost of care can have on a person, we will introduce measures to end the culture of selling off one’s assets to meet their needs. We will reorganise means testing, and set a £125,000 cap on assets, to ensure people do not have to sell their home to pay for care - protecting those in low income, and meaning people have to sell less to pay for their care. The cost someone will have to pay for social care in their lifetime will be capped at £45,000. However we recognise that not all those who need social care are pensioners, which is why we will be introducing a tiered system based on age for how much a person will have to pay, with those aged under 40 not having to pay a single penny. To balance this, people in social care will be expected to pay some of their living costs, however this will only be if they earn over the set threshold in pension income. Finance is not the only obstacle in social care we must address. We want to put an end to those in need, stuck in hospitals waiting on care packages, and get them back into comfortable and caring environments. We want to tackle loneliness, investing in programmes to help people living independently, and tackle the effects of loneliness, which can lead to problems such as dementia. On top of that we will be investing in tackling rising cases of mental health issues in Britain. In this plan we do not forget those who provide care. That is why we will be introducing statutory carer’s leave for all carers. Secondly we will be cutting red tape to help our NHS and local authorities work better together to provide more efficient social care. With this plan, through Government backed investment, assistance, and guidance, we believe that we will begin to finally address and take serious effective action on the social care crisis the United Kingdom faces. This plan will help make social care more affordable and accessible for the British public, whether they are in old age, or even a young person. No longer will people have to sell their homes and assets to meet care needs. People will see fairer pensions. People will get the help and encouragement to save for the future. People will get a fairer social care system that accounts for finance, age, and specific needs. People will get better access to care packages. People will get better help tackle major issues surrounding old age like loneliness. People will get better partnerships between the NHS and local authorities to provide better social care. Carers will receive the recognition they deserve for their hard work. People will get a strong social care plan that meets their needs efficiently, with compassion, and works for them.