Liberal Democrats Launch 2019 Election Manifesto

The Liberal Democrats have launched their 2019 General Election Manifesto, outlining a clear plan to build a brighter future for people and the planet. The first step will be to stop Brexit and use a £50 billion Remain Bonus to invest in public services and tackling inequality.
 
The Liberal Democrats' ambitious plan for a brighter future, where every person, every community and our planet can thrive, includes:

• Stopping Brexit and investing the £50 billion Remain Bonus in public services and tackling inequalities.
• Tackling the climate emergency by generating 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030
• Building a fairer economy, transforming opportunities by providing free childcare from 9 months and giving every adult £10,000 to spend on skills & training throughout their lives
• Giving every child the best start in life by recruiting 20,000 more teachers as part of an extra £10 billion a year for schools
• Transforming our mental health services by treating mental health with the same urgency as physical health.
• Adopting a public health approach to serious violence with investment in community policing and youth services.
• Fixing the broken immigration system by scrapping the Conservatives' hostile environment, ending indefinite detention and taking powers away from the Home Office.

The Liberal Democrats enter the election following their best-ever election results, with 700 seats gained in local elections, and more votes than both the Conservatives and Labour at the European Elections. Tens of thousands of people have joined the Liberal Democrats over the last few months, taking the Party's membership to the highest level on record.
 
Ahead of the manifesto launch Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson, said:

“This manifesto is a bold plan to build a brighter future for our country, and that starts with stopping Brexit.

“Labour and the Conservatives can’t offer the country a brighter future because they both want Brexit. We know that will be bad for our economy,  bad for our NHS and bad for our environment.

“Liberal Democrats will stop Brexit and invest in our mental health services, give free childcare to working parents, put 20,000 more teachers into classrooms and take ambitious action to tackle the climate emergency.

“Our politics has been dominated by the two, tired old parties for too long. This election provides an opportunity to change the future of our country and build a brighter future with the Liberal Democrats.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

Stopping Brexit and investing the £50 billion Remain Bonus in public services and tackling inequalities

• The Liberal Democrats are the only party standing up to stop Brexit and build a brighter future for the UK.
• Brexit has taken far longer and cost far more than anyone said it would. But any form of Brexit will damage our jobs, our economy and our public services, starving them of vital cash as the economy struggles along.
• Stopping Brexit will generate a Remain Bonus for the public finances because under Remain, the economy will grow faster than under Brexit, leading to higher GDP and consequently higher public sector current receipts. 
• The Liberal Democrats forecast that the economy will be 1.9% larger in 2024-25 if we stop Brexit than it would be under the Conservative Government’s Brexit deal. That means government receipts will be higher too, providing a £50 billion Remain Bonus over the next five years.
• The £50bn figure reflects the total extra current receipts over the next five years. In 2024-25, the Remain Bonus will be worth £18bn.
• The Liberal Democrat Remain Bonus is based on a conservative forecast of higher growth under Remain - just 0.4% a year higher on average. That is very much in line with -if not more cautious than-  forecasts produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in their Green Budget 2019.

• The Liberal Democrats have committed to raising the energy efficiency standards for new homes alongside investing £15 billion over the next Parliament to retrofit 26 million homes. This would save the average household £550 a year on energy bills.
• The party has also announced a Liberal Democrat government would prioritise accelerating the deployment of renewable power generation, including a new target of doubling solar and wind power by 2030.

• A Liberal Democrat government will build a fairer economy by providing free, high-quality childcare for every child aged two to four, for 35 hours a week, 48 weeks a year. The offer is extended to children aged between 9 and 24 months where their parents are in work. 
• The Liberal Democrats will make sure that childcare providers are adequately funded, increasing the rates paid by government to match the actual cost of nursery provision. This will be funded by fair tax changes, ensuring that big businesses pay their share, and aligning the tax treatment of income from wealth with income from work.
•  The Liberal Democrats have set out their vision for a “new era of learning throughout life” with the creation of an ambitious Skills Wallet. This will give every adult £10,000 to spend on education and training throughout their lives
• A Liberal Democrat Government will put £4,000 into people’s ‘Skills Wallet’ at 25, £3,000 at 40 and another £3,000 at 55. The grants have been designed to encourage saving towards the costs of education and training throughout adult life.
• Individuals, their employers and local government will be able to make additional payments into the wallets. Access to free careers guidance will also be provided.

• Liberal Democrats will give the NHS and social care services the necessary funding by putting a penny in the pound on income tax.
• Ringfencing funding for mental health will give a cash injection of £11bn fund over the next Parliament putting more investment into services such as:
  • child and adolescent mental health,
  • matching waiting time standards to those in physical health,
  • and expanding our mental health workforce
• Making mental health services accessible to all is fundamental, and no one should be forced to travel unreasonable distances away from home. By prioritising young people coming out of care, and supporting students from school through to colleges and universities, it is possible to ensure that no one will have to travel out of area for all but the most specialist mental health services.
• Providing real parity between mental and physical health care is critical. We want to make prescriptions for people with chronic mental health conditions available for free on the NHS, as is the case for conditions such as cancer and diabetes. 

Click here for the full manifesto. 

Click here for an overview of costings.