Conservative 2024 election manifesto: What it says on NHS, cost of living, tax and immigration

The Conservative Party has unveiled its general election manifesto, with plans for personal tax cuts, proposals to rewrite international migration rules, and a bolstered pensions triple lock at the heart of its offer. The Tories have also promised to increase NHS spending and recruit tens of thousands more doctors and nurses , but cut the number of managers in the organisation to pre-pandemic levels.

The 80-page document also includes a commitment to boost child benefits and off working parents 30 hours of free childcare a week. However, the party has also pledged to reform the benefits system with a forecast that 424,000 fewer people would receive them as a result.

Unveiling the manifesto today (June 11), Rishi Sunak also said his party would aim to 'halve' migration by setting caps on how many people can come into the country. The Prime Minister also said he still plans to remove illegal migrants to Rwanada if re-elected.

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It comes as the big political parties publish their general manifestos this week. The Lib Dems launched their manifesto on Monday (June 10), with the Greens set to reveal their policies on Wednesday (June 12), followed by Labour's launch on Thursday (June 13).

Nigel Farage's Reform UK will release its 'contract with the people' in full on June 17. George Galloway's Workers Party of Britain has already published its manifesto.

Here are some of the main headlines from the Conservative manifesto.

NHS

The Conservatives have promised to increase NHS spending above inflation every year, recruiting 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors. The manifesto also says the party would drive up productivity and move care closer to people's home.

This includes expanding the Pharmacy First programme including for menopause support, contraception and chest infection treatments. They also plan to build 100 new GP surgeries and modernise 150 more, which will be in part paid for by changes to the planning system.

But perhaps more eye-catchingly, the manifesto says the Tories would reduce the number of NHS managers to pre-pandemic levels with a commitment to cut 5,500 jobs. The party also promises to to invest £3.4bn in new technology, replacing tens of thousands of outdated computers, and use artificial intelligence (AI) to free up doctors' and nurses' time for frontline patients care.

The Conservative manifesto also commits to expand mental health support teams to cover all schools and colleges in England and open 'early support hubs' for those aged 11-25 by 2030. The party also plans to boost NHS Talking Therapies by 50 per cent to help people with anxiety, stress and depression.

Cost of living

The Conservatives have placed benefit reform proposals within their manifesto offer aimed at ensuring more economically inactive people of working age have a job. The shake-up includes giving new specialist work and health professionals the power to issue sick notes instead of GPs, and re-examining the criteria for work capability assessments.

High earners would also be able to keep more of their child benefit, with the high income child benefit tax charge threshold raised to £120,000 and charged to households rather than individuals. The Conservatives say they would also give working parents 30 hours of free childcare a week from when their child is nine months old to when they start school, saving families an average of £6,900 a year.

The Tories have also said they would reform disability benefits, promising a 'dramatic expansion' in mental health support to help people for whom treatment would be 'more appropriate' than a monthly cash payment. The manifesto also promises to tighten up how the benefits system assesses whether people can work, forecasting that 424,000 fewer people would be on benefits as a result.

The party has also promised to bring down green levies on household bills, maintain the energy price cap and force petrol retailers to share live information on their prices. At the same time, the Tories say they will treble offshore wind energy, ensure local areas that host onshore wind benefit directly - including through energy bill discounts - and support solar power 'in the right places'.

Taxes

Rishi Sunak’s party is offering a further 2p cut to national insurance in the manifesto. This will build on similar successive 2p cuts at the autumn statement and spring budget, which is estimated to cost an average of £10bn a year.

The main rate of national insurance for the self-employed would be abolished by the end of the next Parliament under the Tories, according to the manifesto. The document also promises no increases to income tax, national insurance or VAT.

The Tories have also pledged to scrap capital gains tax for landlords who sell properties to their tenants. The Conservatives have pledged to protect pensioners from having to pay tax on their state pensions.

Billed as the “triple lock-plus”, the policy would see the threshold at which pensioners have to pay income tax rise so that even if the state pension increases it will never rise above the income tax threshold. The Conservatives have also promised to clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion, claiming they will raise at least a further £6bn a year by the end of the next Parliament.

Immigration

Mr Sunak said at the manifesto launch his party would aim to “halve” migration. The manifesto meanwhile pledges a binding cap on legal migration as the main election offer to control the number of people coming to the country.

The 80-page document says that, under a Conservative government, MPs would get to vote in Parliament every year on the level of the cap which would be take into account the costs and benefits of migration. Despite saying that immigration is 'too high', the Tories say they still want to attract the 'brightest and best' skilled migrants and offer work and family visas so public services are protected.

The Conservatives would also call for an international summit in order to rewrite international immigration rules for the modern age, in a move aimed at placating Tory critics of the European Convention on Human Rights. The manifesto also says that the Tories would also 'stop the boats' by removing illegal migrants to Rwanada, with the Prime Minister promising the scheme will get going in July if his party remains in power.

The Tories also promise to 'crack down' on people smugglers and return people with no right to be in the UK to their own country. The party argues that with more border control, the country could do more to help refugees fleeing persecution, promising to give 'parliament control of how many places are offered on safe and legal routes for those in 'genuine need'.