The Tories’ manifesto, published today (14 April) unveiled plans to build 200,000 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 are setting an ambition to double the number of first-time buyers compared to the last five years – helping one million more people to own their own home,” it read.
The Conservatives also plan to extend Help to Buy to cover another 120,000 homes, continuing the mortgage guarantee until the start of 2017 and the equity loan until at least 2020.
This follows this morning’s announcement that they intention to extend the Right to Buy scheme for up to 1.3m tenants of housing associations in England, along with the creation of a £1bn Brownfield Regeneration Fund to unlock 400,000 new homes.
Forcing housing associations to sell properties is controversial and has been criticised by the National Hosuing Federation, among others, who claim it will reduce the stock of affordable housing.
The Tory manifesto said that the party will fund the replacement of properties sold under the extended Right to Buy by requiring local authorities to manage their housing assets more efficiently, with the most expensive properties sold off and replaced as they fall vacant.
The manifesto also reconfirmed plans to introduce a Help to Buy Isa to support people saving for a deposit, as announced in this year’s Budget.
Elsewhere plans on taxation include confirmation the party would raise the 40p tax threshold further, so that no one earning less than £50,000 pays the higher rate of income tax.
The manifesto stated that this would mean 800,000 people earning between £42,385 and £50,000 will no longer pay the 40p rate of tax. The party also pledged to not increase VAT, income tax or national insurance, as well as to raise the tax-free personal allowance to £12,500.
“That means by the end of the decade, one million more people on the lowest wages will be lifted out of income tax, and people who work for 30 hours a week on the increased national minimum wage will no longer pay any income tax at all.”
Critics will seek answers to how these and other promises, including to meet a demand for £8bn in additional NHS funding a year by the end of the parliament, will be funded, especially given previous attacks in the previous parliament on unfunded spending pledges by other parties.
The party has said it will reduce spending by £30bn a year, including £13bn in departmental spending, £12bn from the welfare budget and £5bn through a clampdown on avoided tax. Few details were offered beyond the headline numbers, however.
Turning to pensions, the ‘triple lock’ will be maintained under a Tory government and from next April they would stick with plans for a single tier state pension, effectively abolishing means-testing.
“We will maintain all the current pensioner benefits including winter fuel payments, free bus passes, free prescriptions and TV licences for the next parliament, while implementing the ‘temperature test’ for winter fuel payment, so that expats in hot countries no longer receive it,” read the manifesto.
It also mentioned the guarantee that Isas can now be passed on to a spouse tax-free, no longer subject to income or capital gains taxes.
The party also mentioned previous reported plans to increase the effective inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to £1m, with a new transferable main residence allowance of £175,000 per person.
This will be paid for by reducing the tax relief on pension contributions for people earning more than £150,000.
The party also promised to cap charges for residential social care from April 2016 and allow deferred payment agreements.
“For the first time, individual liabilities will be limited, giving everyone the peace of mind that they will receive the care they need, and that they will be protected from unlimited costs if they develop very serious care needs – such as dementia.”
peter.walker@ft.com
