Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dave Burke

Rishi Sunak pledges to deliver Tory 2019 manifesto - what to look out for

Rishi Sunak has pledged to deliver on the promises of the 2019 Tory manifesto - which could force him into a number of tricky U-turns.

In his first speech after being appointed Prime Minister without a single vote cast, the PM claimed the three-year-old pledges gave him a "mandate" as he resisted calls for a snap General Election.

"I will deliver on its promise," he pledged - rubbishing claims by Boris Johnson's supporters that only he had the authority to lead the country.

"I know he would agree that the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual - it is a mandate that belongs to and unites all of us," Mr Sunak said.

If he delivers on this, he will have to scrap his own decision as Chancellor to increase National Insurance next year.

And Liz Truss's controversial reversal on fracking could be undone as well - as the Tory Party of 2019 said this would not go ahead until it could be proved to not cause earthquakes.

Here we look at what was actually in the manifesto, and what to expect if Mr Sunak does swerve back to it.

Rishi Sunak delivering his first speech as PM outside No10 (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

What did Mr Sunak say about the manifesto and why?

In today's speech outside No10, Mr Sunak attempted to deal with one of his most stubborn problems - Boris Johnson.

There is a view among some Tory MPs that only the shamed ex-PM has the mandate to lead the country and stave off calls for a general election.

But Mr Sunak rubbished the idea, saying the entire party was responsible, not just its leader.

"I will always be grateful to Boris Johnson for his incredible achievements as Prime Minister, and I treasure his warmth and generosity of spirit.

"And the heart of that mandate is our manifesto. I will deliver on its promise."

Boris Johnson launching the Tory manifesto back in 2019 (Dan Kitwood)

Six key things to look out for

If Rishi Sunak does shift his focus back to the 2019 manifesto, it could mean a U-turn on his National Insurance plans.

As Chancellor earlier this year he announced a 1.25% rise for businesses and staff, due to come into effect in April next year. But the move - designed to bolster the coffers for social care - broke a key manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, NI or VAT.

Liz Truss reversed the decision, one of the few parts of her disastrous mini-Budget that escaped the axe. Will he stick to his guns?

Fracking will also be a big decision for the Prime Minister. In her brief spell in charge, Ms Truss took the controversial decision to lift a ban put in place due to fears it could cause earthquakes.

But back in 2019 the Tories pledged not to let fracking go ahead unless scientists could confirm it does not.

Another crunch debate ahead for the PM is over defence spending . The 2019 manifesto included a pledge to exceed the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP a year. But Ms Truss vowed to go further by increasing it to 3% by 2030. Will Mr Sunak scrap this?

Is Rishi Sunak setting his sights on any U-turns? (REUTERS)

The new Prime Minister also has a big decision about the triple lock on state pensions . This protection - meaning that state pensions would rise by inflation, wages or 2.5%, whichever is highest - was withdrawn last year, in what the government said was a temporary move.

However in the 2019 election pledges, the Tories said the triple lock would remain in place. In her confusing time as PM, Ms Truss said she would reinstate it, then Chancellor Jeremy Hunt suggested it might not come back after all, before Ms Truss told MPs it would definitely be brought back.

The 2019 manifesto included a pledge to recruit a further 50,000 nurses by 2024 . The government said in March it was halfway there - but unions say the number leaving the profession has reached an alarming level..

Big spending projects such as Northern Powerhouse Rail will also be worth looking out for. In 2019 the Tories pledged to fund the project in full, but Boris Johnson's government decided to downgrade this, slashing nearly £25bn from the project's cost.

In her efforts to woo northern voters, Ms Truss said she'd find this money once more, and there will be plenty of people watching to see if Mr Sunak decides to break this manifesto promise during an economic crisis.

Mr Sunak has his work cut out after Liz Truss's disastrous spell in charge (Andrew Parsons / No10 Downing Street)

These are the Tory promises in full from 2019

NHS and health

  • Bring back maintenance grants for student nurses in partial U-turn four years after bursaries were scrapped. They will be worth £5,000 to £8,000 a year - but student nurses will still have to pay tuition fees
  • Commit to have 50,000 more nurses - even though 18,500 are already working in the NHS now
  • £34bn a year in extra funding for the NHS by 2024
  • 40 'new' hospitals - many of which do not have guaranteed funding yet, or are rebuilds
  • Hospital parking charges scrapped for some - including disabled, sick kids' parents and NHS staff working overnight. But Labour goes further by scrapping all charges for patients and staff
  • Upgrades and new machines to boost early cancer diagnosis across 78 hospital trusts
  • 6,000 more GPs, 50million more GP appointments and 6,000 more primary care professionals
  • 'Promote the uptake' of vaccines, extend social prescribing and improve hospital food
  • Extend the Cancer Drugs Fund
  • Treat mental and physical health with same urgency
  • Budget doubling for 'health tourism enforcement unit'
  • NHS 'not for sale' in Brexit trade talks

Social care

  • £1bn a year to plug immediate gaps in social care
  • But no long-term plan now despite Boris Johnson saying he would solve the crisis
  • Instead Tories pledge to seek cross-party consensus
  • One red line: No one will have to sell their home
  • Dementia research funding doubled
  • Unpaid carers to get a week of leave entitlement

Education and childcare

  • Teachers' starting salaries rise to £30,000 - though previous announcement suggested it'd take some years
  • An 'arts premium' worth just over £100m a year for secondary schools
  • No new cash for schools in manifesto - but £14bn already announced
  • Improve the Troubled Families programme and review the care system to ensure kids have support
  • £1bn fund spread over three years to provide more childcare with focus on activities in school premises, including during the holidays
  • £3bn National Skills Fund
  • New law to let parents take extended leave for neonatal care

Welfare

  • Universal Credit rollout to continue
  • No pledge to axe five-week wait or two-child limit
  • Benefit freeze to end in April 2020
  • Minimum PIP award to double from 9 to 18 months to spare disabled people as many benefit tests
  • National Strategy for Disabled People by end of 2020 including looking at how to improve benefit system
  • Child benefit banned for kids living overseas

Brexit and migration

  • Refuse to extend Brexit transition period beyond 31 December 2020 - opening a 'trapdoor' to no deal
  • Keep the UK out of the EU single market and 'out of any form of customs union'
  • Start putting Brexit deal through Parliament before Christmas
  • 'Aim to' have 80% of UK trade covered by free trade agreements within the next 3 years - starting with US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan
  • An Australian-style points system for migration
  • NHS Visa to fast-track staff into the health service
  • But Immigration Health Surcharge hiked from £400 a year to £625 including for immigrants who work in the NHS themselves - this is dubbed the 'nurse tax'. It will raise more than half a billion pounds per year by 2024
  • Immigration to fall overall - but manifesto refuses to say by how much
  • 'Leaders in their field' actively recruited to the UK and new start-up visa and student visa, allowing students to stay on after they graduate
  • EU citizens already here allowed to stay
  • But EU nationals only able to access key benefits after living in UK for five year

Mr Sunak pledged to deliver on promises made when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister (AFP via Getty Images)

Economy and public services

  • No rises in Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT until 2024
  • Minimum wage for over-25s rises to £10.50 by 2024 and expands to over-21s
  • National Insurance threshold to rise to £9,500
  • No borrowing to fund day-to-day spending
  • But borrowing to fund £100bn infrastructure fund - less than the £400bn pledged by Labour - with public sector net investment of up to 3% of GDP
  • Pledge that debt will be lower at the end of the Parliament
  • Towns Fund going to an initial 100 towns
  • £500m in new youth clubs, £150m Community Ownership Fund and a safer streets fund
  • £4bn in new funding for flood defences
  • 'Intend' to bring full-fibre and gigabit broadband to every home and business in the UK by 2025 - including £5bn to connect non-commercially-viable properties
  • Review of business rates with view to cutting them
  • Increase Employment Allowance for small businesses costing £500m a year by 2024
  • Raise Tax Credit rate to 13% for research and development, and review and reform Entrepreneur's Relief
  • Implement the Digital Services Tax
  • Give workers the right to a more predictable contract

Transport

  • All-out rail strikes banned with a minimum service having to be operated
  • Northern Powerhouse Rail to be built between Manchester and Leeds - then focus on Liverpool, Tees Valley, Hull, Sheffield and Newcastle
  • Investment for the Midlands Rail Hub strengthening links between Birmingham, Leicester and other cities
  • But HS2 still up in the air as Tories have not yet responded to the Oakervee Review
  • Manifesto washes its hands of Heathrow Airport expansion, saying it's now a private project
  • City regions get funding to upgrade bus, tram and train services
  • £28.8bn to be spent on 'strategic' and local roads
  • Electric car charging point within 30 miles of any point in the country

  • £500m to restore some rail lines axed under Beeching in the 1960s

  • Contactless PAYG ticketing to 200 more stations in the South East

  • £500m a year over four years to fill potholes

  • £350m Cycling Infrastructure Fund

  • Upgrade the A55 and deliver M4 relief road - if the Tories take power in Wales

Environment and animal rights

Boris Johnson on the campaign trail before teh last General Election (PA)
  • Commit to net zero UK carbon emissions by 2050
  • End excessively long journeys for slaughter. Elsewhere the manifesto claims this means ending live animal exports
  • 'Prioritise the environment' in the next Budget
  • 'Consult on earliest date' to phase out petrol and diesel cars - but no actual date given
  • Guarantee current annual budget to farmers in every years of the next parliament
  • Create new National Parks and AONBs, new Office For Environmental Protection, legal targets on air quality
  • £640m Nature for Climate fund
  • Great Northumberland Forest with 75,000 acres of trees extra per year
  • Make the coast to coast path in north a national trail
  • Levy targeted at recyclable plastics in packaging
  • Higher penalties for fly-tipping
  • Guaranteed no return to fox hunting
  • Tougher sentences for animal cruelty and new laws on animal sentience
  • Ban on keeping primates as pets
  • Enact ivory ban and extend it to cover more species

  • £500m Blue Planet Fund

Women and equalities

  • Abolish VAT on sanitary products (the Tampon Tax)

Housing and homelessness

  • Build 1million homes
  • End rough sleeping by 2024 - three years earlier than promised in the 2017 manifesto
  • Maintain commitment to Right to Buy for all council tenants
  • Scrap 'no fault evictions'
  • Give renters a 'lifetime deposit' they can carry over from one tenancy to the next
  • Stamp duty surcharge of 3% on foreign home buyers
  • Social Housing White Paper to examine system

Pensioners

  • Keep the triple lock
  • Keep the winter fuel payment
  • Keep the older person's bus pass
  • But no funding for free TV licences for over-75s
  • And no offer to 3.8million 'WASPI' women born in 1950s whose pension age rose without warning

Energy

  • Keep the existing energy price cap
  • Extend the water rebate for those in the South West
  • 40GW from offshore wind by 2030
  • £800m for first fully-deployed carbon capture storage cluster by mid-2020s

Democracy

  • Force through plans to make voters show ID despite warnings they will disenfranchise thousands - to tackle a crime for which there's almost no evidence
  • Scrap the 15-year limit on expats being able to vote after they move out of the UK
  • Scrap the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act that blocked Boris Johnson getting an election 3 times
  • Keep the voting age at 18 and keep first past the post
  • Repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act and scrap second stage of the Leveson Inquiry
  • Public bodies banned from imposing their own BDS (boycott, divest or sanctions) movements

Armed Forces

  • No pledge to maintain troop numbers - though Boris Johnson then made it in person at manifesto launch
  • New laws to stop 'vexatious' legal claims against veterans over historic alleged injustices
  • Wraparound childcare for Forces families - but no new funding to pay for it
  • Veterans' railcard giving a third off rail travel
  • Guaranteed job interview for any veteran applying to any public sector job

Foreign policy

  • Keep spending 2% of GDP on defence and 0.7% on foreign aid
  • Support construction of UK Holocaust Memorial and a Windrush memorial
  • 'Further develop' Magnitsky-style sanctions
  • Maintain the Trident nuclear deterrent

Police, crime and justice

  • Hiring 20,000 more police officers - almost replacing the 21,000 cut under the Tories
  • New powers to stop and search those suspected of knife crime
  • Knife crimes to be rushed through courts with prison sentences for those convicted
  • End automatic release for serious criminals halfway through their jail terms
  • Life imprisonment without parole for adults who kill children
  • 'Consult on' doubling jail term for people who assault emergency services
  • Expand electronic tagging including 'sobriety tags' for those driven by alcohol addiction
  • New National Cyber Crime Force and National Crime Laboratory
  • 10,000 more prison places
  • Prisoners will still be banned from voting
  • Travellers to be criminalised by making intentional trespass a criminal, not a civil offence
  • Worst tax fraudsters' jail terms double from 7 to 14 years
  • Single beefed-up anti-tax-evasion unit in HMRC

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.