Today, Theresa May and the Conservative Party officially released their 2017 Manifesto for the upcoming general election. A manifesto that features an uncompromising message from a money-savvy Conservative government.
With less than a month to go until the upcoming general election, the nation is sat on tender hooks; will Great Britain fall into financial demise with the coming Brexit negotiations, or will it rise to a level of dominance that has been a fleeting image since the British people became questionably friendly — something to do with Labour and their mollycoddling antics?
This is for Britons to decide. With that said, it would be handy if they actually decide to turn up — more specifically, my generation, the millennials. It is time to put down our console remotes, our phones, and our accessories; it is time to become adults and decide our future path. But remember… if the result doesn’t go your way, do not forget the attribute that makes you British: we keep a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity.
Side note: if you cannot manage that, you are most likely a Labour supporter, voted to Remain in the Brexit referendum and you should probably just move to Belgium now. With all due respect.
Anyway, I am here to talk about the brand new, shiny-ish Conservative Party manifesto. It is, as was to be expected, focusing strongly on figures — our figures to be exact. How much money the average British person does, or does not have. Whilst Labour are aiming to spend an astronomical amount of money that could pave a golden pathway all the way up to Uranus, where Jeremy Corbyn has most probably positioned himself, the Tories appear to be trying to save the British people a pretty penny!
Theresa May, British Prime Minister and lesser equivalent of Margaret Thatcher, today announced that:
‘We must take this opportunity to build a great meritocracy in Britain. It means making Britain a country that works, not for the privileged few, but for everyone’.
Now, we all know that this is an entirely unreachable goal — most certainly not under a Conservative government, and even less so under a Labour government. But, May, at least, is pushing for something viable which will benefit us and will not plunge us into an economic meltdown in the coming years.
Today it was announced that she and the Conservative Party have five priorities:
- A strong economy
- Facing up to the repercussions of Brexit and the global economic climate
- Sorting out the current divisions within society
- Utilising the power of new-age technology
- Responding to the challenges of Britain’s ageing demographic
Outside of that, we have some further key points of the manifesto:
- Balancing the budget by 2025
- No increase in VAT
- Increasing the national living wage to 60 per cent of the median earnings by 2020
- Increasing NHS spending by a minimum of £8bn in real terms over the next five years
- An extra £4bn on schools in England by 2022 — partly funded by an end to the current provision of free school lunches for infant pupils in England
- A pledge that a referendum on Scottish independence cannot take place until the Brexit process is completed
- Measures on immigration, including asking firms to pay more to hire migrant workers, who will in turn be asked to pay more to use the NHS
- Scrapping the ban on setting up new grammar schools
- Scrapping the current winter fuel payments to better-off pensioners — currently, all pensioners qualify for one-off payments of between £100 and £300 each winter.
- And finally, there will be a reduction of the ‘triple lock’ on pensions to a ‘double lock’ with the state pension to rise by the rise of average earnings or inflation — but to no longer go up by 2.5 per cent if they are both lower than that.
So, all in all, the Conservative Party are offering to us a manifesto that will benefit the future economy of the country that we will inherit; our coming earnings; the standard of education for our future children; the living standards of our grandparents and soon our parents; the quality of our medical care; the social cohesion within our towns and cities; and, the weight of the change in our back pockets.
I can’t really fault that too much; nor can you.
My advice to my fellow millennials … put the colour of the party aside and vote for the party that has a stronger history of financial stability for the sake of the United Kingdom’s future prosperity, and thus, our future way of life.
The full copy of the Conservative Party Manifesto can be found here — do read it to get a detailed description of each Tory pledge.
Do not forget that you need to be on the Electoral Register to cast your ballot in the upcoming election. You have until the 22nd of May to sign up.
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