It’s been dubbed the Brexit election but the general election on 12 December 2019 is as much about tax, spending and competing visions for Britain’s economic future as anything else.
The main parties have all now released their manifestos and continue to outline their plans for the UK: ranging from Labour’s vision of a better socialist future, to the Liberal Democrats’ cornerstone policy of revoking Brexit, and the Conservatives mantra of Get Brexit Done and then reverse much of their own austerity measures.
Challenging the three main national parties for your vote – depending on where you live – are the Greens, Brexit Party, SNP, DUP, Plaid Cymru, independents and more.
There will be many things that make Britons decide on how to cast their vote, but a key element for many will be plans for tax, spending and the national finances – and how they will affect them and others.
In our election manifesto round-ups we look at what the main parties’ plans mean for your money and the nation’s finances
We look at the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos in the articles linked below.
This is Money won’t tell you how you should vote, but we have three tips for deciding:
- Do your own research
- Always question what you are told
- Don’t just be tribal in your thinking – consider other people’s point of view
Labour, Lib Dem and Tory plans and your money
Labour
The Labour manifesto includes radical tax overhauls, nationalisation of key utilities including water, energy and the railways, compensation for state pension age-hit Waspi women, free broadband for all and more new build homes.
It would try to negotiate a new Brexit deal with the EU – most likely involving staying within a customs union or similar – but then put it to a second referendum vote where MPs could campaign to remain and Jeremy Corbyn would remain neutral.
Labour plans to spend an extra £82.9billion, but claims it can fund this with £82.9billion in extra tax income. A Funding Real Change document explains how this would work.
The plan to reimburse women caught out by the rising state pension age is not included in this and Jeremy Corbyn says this would be funded from government reserves and extra borrowing.
New income tax bands would come in, with people paying 45 per cent above £80,000 and 50 per cent above £125,000.
The removal of the personal allowance would therefore mean an effective 67 per cent income tax rate under Labour between £100,000 and £125,000.
Corporation tax would rise from its current 19 per cent back up to 26 per cent and stock market listed companies would have to hand over 10 per cent of their shares to an employee ownership fund. Dividends from this up to £500 would go to workers, the rest to the state.
Other measures include shoring up workers’ rights, a rent cap and more childcare.
We run the rule over what Jeremy Corbyn is offering voters and what it would potentially mean for your personal finances.
> What would a Labour government mean for your money?
The IFS has provided analysis of how and where Labour would raise taxes – although it says that some of these plans are more likely to be successful than others
Labour’s tax plans would shift tax as a percentage of national income from the UK’s current position just above a third of the way up major developed countries to about a third of the way from the top, the IFS says.
Crucially, however, the IFS adds that Labour’s plan is rare in that it thinks that this will be done by targeting only higher earners
Lib Dems
The cornerstone of the Liberal Democrat campaign is to revoke Brexit if they were elected as a majority party.
Elsewhere, the Lib Dem manifesto includes a skills wallet, council tax hike on second homes, a cap on social care costs, keeping the state pension triple lock and more hours of childcare.
They would tax capital gains as income and add 1p in the pound to basic rate income tax to help fund social care and the NHS, delivering 21p, 41p and 46p rates.
Councils would be able to impose big council tax hikes on second homes and a rent to own scheme allowing tenants to gradually buy their homes would be introduced.
The Lib Dems would raise corporation tax from 19 per cent to 20 per cent.
The party would keep the popular state pension triple lock, which guarantees rises of at least 2.5 per cent a year for the elderly.
But while the Lib Dems have expressed sympathy with the Waspi women affected by the state pension age increase from 60 to 65, it hasn’t made them the kind of big compensation offer Labour is touting.
We run the rule over what Jo Swinson is offering voters and what it would potentially mean for your personal finances.
> What would a Lib Dem government mean for your money?
The IFS has analysed where the Liberal Democrats would raise taxes
Conservatives
The Conservative manifesto was thinner than others and contained less promises: the main one in case you haven’t noticed is to ‘Get Brexit Done’.
The Tories would seek to get Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal through in time to leave the EU on 31 January 2020.
They have also committed not to extend the implementation period beyond December 2020, a move that has drawn some criticism due to the disadvantage the Article 50 time limit has already put on the UK in negotiations.
The Tories say: ‘We will keep the UK out of the single market, out of any form of customs union, and end the role of the European Court of Justice.’
What is in the manifesto includes, a rise in the National Insurance threshold, a social care promise, new superbus networks, more help for tenants and a crackdown on abusive employers.
The Conservatives have promised to spend big on the NHS, schools and infrastructure, a so-called ‘transport revolution’, and target improving the environment.
The Tories issued a triple pledge on tax: they will not raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT in the next parliament.
But they would raise the NI threshold, cutting tax bills as it is shifted up towards the personal allowance. At first the effect would only be about £100 a year, rising towards £500 as it approaches the personal allowance threshold at £12,500.
The Conservatives will forge ahead with a digital services tax, which will slap a 2 per cent levy on the revenues of large search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces derived from UK users (above the first £25million) from next April.
Those hoping for a cut to stamp duty have been disappointed, although this could potentially be deliberately left out so as not to be seen to be benefiting the wealthy and then brought in at a Budget.
Boris Johnson does appear to have found a magic doctor tree though, with a promise of 5,000 more GPs and 50,000 extra nurse, although 18,500 of those will be existing ones persuaded not to quit.
We run the rule over what Boris Johnson is offering voters and what it would potentially mean for your personal finances.
> What would a Conservative government mean for your money?
The IFS has analysed how the different parties plans would mean extra money for the health service, with Labour and the Lib Dems offering more than the Conservatives
Although the Conservatives have pledged to spend more on public services and investment, their figures are dwarved by both the other main parties’ plans to spend
Despite major spending plans, only the Labour manifesto would see more money spent in real terms on public services than compared with 2010, once health is excluded
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