All our policies are costed and affordable. 

Unlike the other parties, we have consistently set out costings for our manifesto pledges, explaining how much money they will need and how they will all be paid for. So this manifesto includes a specific section outlining our main costings. Our package of tough choices on spending, and fairer taxes, means that most people will be better off. There is only one proposed net tax rise (to 50 per cent on the proportion of incomes over £100,000 a year, affecting just one per cent of taxpayers) which will pay for the abolition of student tuition fees, free personal care for the elderly, and lower local taxes. Most people’s tax will be cut by replacing Council Tax with a system based on ability to pay, saving the typical household around £450 per year.

Fairer taxes.

 Under Labour, ordinary hard-working families pay more as a share of their incomes in tax than the very rich. Under Labour, the elderly have to sell their homes to pay for their care, while rising Council Tax and university top-up fees are making the system even more unfair. Taking all taxes together, the poorest 20 per cent of the population pay 38 per cent of their income in tax, compared to just 35 per cent for the richest 20 per cent. That’s not what people expected from a Labour Government. Liberal Democrats will make the tax system fairer and simpler. As a first step towards reducing tax paid by low earners, we will axe the unfair Council Tax and replace it with a Local Income Tax based on people’s ability to pay. This will cut the typical household’s tax bill by over £450. To pay for our policies of abolishing student top-up and tuition fees, ending elderly and disabled people needing to pay for their care, and cutting Council Tax, the richest one per cent of the population will pay 50 per cent tax (up from 41 per cent) on that part of their income over £100,000 per year.

Cut the red tape that stops businesses from growing. 

Liberal Democrats will slash the red tape, bureaucracy and over-regulation that are holding British businesses – especially small businesses – back. We will start with these three measures: 

• No new regulation will be passed until a full assessment of its costs and necessity is published.

• New regulations affecting business will automatically be scrapped unless Parliament specifically approves their renewal after a period specified in a ‘sunset clause’.

• Endless visits by all sorts of inspectors will be replaced in most cases by one all-purpose inspection.

Link to full Manifesto