The Conservatives have launched the manifesto their supporters hope will return them to power after 13 years in opposition. Here are its key points from the BBC website, with some of my thoughts added:

IN A NUTSHELL

Sticking to the theme of “Big Society”, rather than big government, the Conservatives call on the UK electorate to play a part in changing the country. (the public has in the past been ignored many times over consultations and petitions, let’s hope it will really happen this time, but that changes will not only happen for those who speak the loudest as many in need do not know how to get their voices heard).

The manifesto encourages parents and charities to set up new academy schools, pledges to give people the power to veto council tax rises through local referendums, and promises communities the right to buy their local pub or post office.  (I am concerned that local communities may not have the skills to run academy schools, local pubs and post offices, that we need to be more creative about the expertise used to run these facilities. Interesting challenge for charities s they have to become much more financially savvy to survive the economic downturn).

Following the theme of encouraging local responsibility, it promises directly-elected police commissioners to hold forces to account.
Economic measures include the big early issue in the election campaign – the plan to reverse the government’s proposed National Insurance rise – and promises to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m, freeze council tax for two years and to increase NHS spending in real terms every year.

ON THE ECONOMY
    •    Reverse Labour’s planned National Insurance rise for anyone earning under £35,000 and raise payment thresholds (yes please).
    •    Conduct emergency budget within 50 days of taking office to eliminate bulk of deficit over five years and freeze public sector pay for a year in 2011, excluding one million lowest paid workers
    •    Freeze council tax for two years by reducing spending on government advertising and consultants and scrap plans for band evaluation
    •    Incorporate an allowance recognising marriage and civil partnerships
    •    Consider bringing forward the date at which the state pension age starts to rise to 66 to as early as 2016 for men and 2020 for women (my concern about this is the focus today on youth employment and will there be enough jobs for our 60plus?)
    •    Cut Whitehall policy, funding and regulation costs by a third, saving £2bn a year by 2015, and save a further £1bn by cutting quangos (yes please)
    •    Save £12bn with measures such as freezing major new IT spending, renegotiating contracts and limiting public sector recruitment (yes, and particularly look at the guided bus scheme in Cambridge which is a dead duck; the delays and repair works already undertaken have moved the cost of the busway from a target price of £87 million to an estimated final actual cost of £140 million).
    •    Make small business relief automatic. Small and medium-sized firms to get £2,000 bonus for hiring apprentices and government contracts broken up to make bids from small business easier. (What about support/retraining for those in their 50s and 60s who have lost jobs and need to keep earning?)
    •    Restore Bank of England’s supervisory role, seek international agreement to prevent retail banks pursuing risky practices and give people a chance to buy shares in banks part-owned by the state
    •    Cut headline rate of corporation tax to 25p and lower small companies’ rate to 20p
Big difference from Labour:
That pledge to reverse Labour’s planned rise in National Insurance that dominated the first week’s campaigning.

ON SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES
    •    Raise entry requirement for taxpayer-funded primary school teacher training, with new graduates having at least a 2:2 degree
    •    Give state schools freedom to offer international exams used by private schools and all pupils to have chance to study single sciences
    •    Create 20,000 additional young apprenticeships and allow schools to offer workplace training – (great idea as it gives young people confidence).
    •    Parents to get power to save schools threatened by closure, allowing communities the chance to take over and run good small schools (do parents have enough knowledge/skills to run a school? What happens if they fail?)
    •    Failing schools to be inspected more often – with the best schools visited less frequently
    •    Provide 10,000 extra university places this year, paid for by giving graduates incentives to pay back their student loans. (Let the places be for UK students, I’m worried about whether my son will be offered a place next year.)
    •    Extend right to request flexible working but in the longer term, after consultation with business. (more workplace nurseries are needed).
    •    Flexible parental leave which lets parents share maternity leave between them. (businesses have to continue working competitively, let’s not forget their needs).
    •    Increased use of mediation when couples break up and review access rights for non-resident parents and grandparents. (so sad that it has come to this for grandparents. What about more thought given to the rights of fathers who suffer injustices?)
    •    Clamp down on marketing aimed at children (we need more parents who can say, ‘no’)
    •    Provide 4,200 more Sure Start health visitors, with Sure Start providers pay partly based on results, with Early Years Support Team to look after early intervention and parenting support. (more health visitors a great idea, especially for first time mums).
Big difference from Labour:
No extensions to free nursery care, tax credits for families with toddlers or paid paternity leave, with the Tories instead focusing on improving school standards through parent power and better teaching.

ON HEALTH
    •    Power for patients to choose any healthcare provider that meets NHS standards, within NHS prices (does this included going to Europe for treatment?)
    •    Decentralise power, getting rid of target-led culture and publishing healthcare providers’ results. Introducing payment by results system for GPs and other health services. (and no payment made for hospital infections passed on to patient….)
    •    Patients put in charge of decisions about their care, including control of their health records (will these decisions be based on cost, ie cancer treating drugs? And yes, great idea regarding health records, as long as we can understand them!)
    •    Doctors and nurses to get more decision-making powers. Independent NHS board to allocate resources and provide commissioning guidelines. Power for GPs to commission local health services. (sounds fine, but we shouldn’t require all nurses to have a degree as the work involves so many tasks).
    •    More single rooms in hospitals, an end to mixed-sex wards and an end to “forced closure” of accident and emergency wards (most definitely).
    •    Cancer drug fund to give more access to medication for rare cancers and more clinical trials encouraged. (most definitely, and also more clinical trials and research for Alzheimer’s).
    •    No compulsory levy to pay for social care. More support for older people to live independently at home and voluntary insurance to protect home from being sold to pay for residential care. (excellent idea, and more support for carers!!)
    •    Public health funding directed to poorest areas with the worst health outcomes (and increased education about poor health issues).
Big difference from Labour:
Fundamental disagreement over social care for the elderly. The Conservatives prefer voluntary insurance schemes to Labour’s National Care Service, funded by a compulsory levy

ON CRIME, JUSTICE AND IMMIGRATION
    •    Councils and police to get powers to shut shops or bars persistently selling alcohol to children and to charge more for late-night licences to cover policing costs (why not also take away the drinks licence from troublesome shops?)
    •    Double the maximum fine for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000 and ban off licences and supermarkets from selling alcohol below cost price (yes, and cut back and cheap price drink offers as a bottle of mineral water can cost more than a bottle of wine).
    •    Social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups to deliver more public services aimed at tackling deep-rooted social problems (they should not be doing the work of government, but supporting needs of local service users with government support).
    •    Education, mentoring and drug rehabilitation programmes to help young offenders “go straight”. (and on-going support and helping find them work).
    •    Annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants to UK, with access only for those who bring “most value to British economy”. (it has to happen).
    •    Foreign students to pay bond on entering the country, to be repaid when they leave (how much will this be, and what if students go AWOL and faked documents to gain entry into UK ?)
Big difference from Labour:
Disagreement over immigration, with the Conservatives supporting a points system but with an annual limit, while Labour prefer the points-based system with no cap.

ON POLITICAL REFORM
    •    Reduce the number of MPs by 10% and cut ministers’ pay by 5%, followed by a five-year freeze. (I do not think we should be scared of paying MPs a decent wage for the hours they work. I think a 5 year freeze is too long. Politics in danger of attracting only those from well-off backgrounds).
    •    All items of spending over £25,000 published online, along with salaries of senior civil servants in central government (I think the online spending to be published could start from £5,000).
    •    Clear financial performance targets for senior civil servants
    •    Ban ex-ministers from lobbying government for two years after leaving office. (a good idea, but I am sure they will find a way around it).
    •    Stop central government bodies using public money to hire people to lobby other government bodies (how ludicrous that it was ever allowed to happen).
    •    Any former minister found to have broken rules on appointments forced to give up some or all of their ministerial pension (I would like to see the parliamentary/ministerial pension totally reviewed).
    •    More power for backbench MPs, more free votes and use of government Royal Prerogative subject to greater democratic control so that Parliament is properly involved in all big national decisions. (yes, excellent idea).
Big difference from Labour:
Action from both on lobbying but Labour aspire to an elected upper house and alternative voting methods, while the Tories want to cut the number of MPs and focus on their pay.

ON PERSONAL FINANCE (I agree with all the points below).
    •    Stop tax credits for families with incomes over £50,000, cut government contributions to Child Trust Funds for all but the poorest third of families and families with disabled children
    •    More support for employers to encourage auto-enrolment into pensions, while addressing “growing disparity” between private and public sector pensions. Cap public sector pensions above £50,000
    •    Raise inheritance tax threshold to £1m
    •    Launch a free national financial advice service, funded by a new “social responsibility levy” on financial services
    •    No-one to be forced to sell their home to pay unsecured debts of less than £25,000
    •    Re-link the basic state pension to earnings and protect the winter fuel payment, free bus passes, free TV licences, disability living and attendance allowances and pension credit.
Big difference from Labour:
The Conservatives’ pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold, which Labour have frozen.

IN OTHER AREAS
    •    Reduce welfare dependency by creating single Work Programme for unemployed – including those on Incapacity Benefit, who will be reassessed (I’m concerned about the lack of confidence these young people have after long term unemployment).
    •    Service Academies to offer pre-employment training for the unemployed. The first, for hospitality and leisure, to provide up to 50,000 training places
    •    Immediate start to high-speed rail line linking London, Heathrow Airport, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds (do not exclude rural areas).
    •    Block plans for third Heathrow runway and second runways at Gatwick and Stansted (I don’t think the need is going to be so great as fewer of us as flying these days).
    •    More flexibility for councils on business rates to encourage growth
    •    Powers for employee-led co-operatives to bid to take over the services they run (great idea).
    •    Reform the Climate Change Levy to encourage investment in low-carbon energy production, with proportion of tax revenues generated by environmental taxes increased (more action needs to be taken to prevent climate change. Very little mention regarding the environment).
    •    Big Society Bank, funded from unclaimed bank assets, to provide new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities and social enterprises
    •    Voluntary National Citizen Service to give 16-year-olds skills to be “responsible citizen” (a lot of parents could probably do with learning these skills too).
Big difference from Labour:
On transport, both support high-speed rail – albeit in different formats – but the Conservatives have set themselves against airport expansion.