Public First: Conservative Leadership Election Policy Tracker


1	https://www.publicfirst.co.uk/	Rishi Sunak	Liz Truss	Penny Mordaunt	Kemi Badenoch	Tom Tugendhat	Suella Braverman	Jeremy Hunt	Nadhim Zahawi	Sajid Javid	Grant Shapps

2	Cost of Living	Would temporarily scrap VAT on household energy bills for a year from October (The Telegraph 26/07); would extend the winter fuel payments and cold-weather payments to vulnerable through welfare system (The Times 11/08) Would seek to reduce reliance on French ports to tackle supply-side issues that lead to increased prices by working with the UK’s biggest importers to build up trade with Dutch and Danish ports (The Telegraph 26/09) Would expand direct payments to households (inews 07/08)	Would introduce a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy for two years (The Spectator 13/07) Would review the Bank of England's mandate to "make sure it is tough enough on inflation" (The FT 03/08) No decisions on further financial support will be taken until after the end of the conservative leadership contest (Telegraph 30/08)	Immediate 50% reduction VAT on petrol and diesel to tackle fuel price increase (Twitter 11/07)	Cut fuel duty and hold an emergency budget (Daily Mail 15/07) Would bring forward universal credit and pension credit uplift from April 2023 to Autumn 2022 (Daily Mail 15/07) Pledged to maintain energy bills rebates - but clear this must be a one-off payment (Daily Mail 15/07)	Reduce fuel taxes by 10p a litre (Sky News 10/07)	Cut VAT on energy (The Telegraph 09/07) Consider temporarily abating tariffs to tackle cost of living (The Times 14/07)		Abolish VAT on energy bills temporarily for two years (CWF Speech 11/07) Extend council tax rebate to bands E and F (CWF Speech 11/07)	Pledged a £5bn package to help with cost of energy bills; Introduce a temporary "significant" cut in fuel duty (The Telegraph 10/07)
3	Tax, Spending & Economic Growth	Tax cuts should wait until inflation drops and should not be funded through borrowing (The FT 31/07) (at least not large-scale borrowing - The Times 11/08); would cut the basic rate of income tax from 20 per cent to 19 per cent (1p cut) in 2024, followed by further cuts (a further 3p) to eventually reach 16 per cent by 2029 (The FT 31/07) Would announce a "major" new business investment tax cut this autumn, to replace the so-called "super deduction" in 2023 (Campaign Press Release 29/07) Would continue with planned corporation tax rise from April (Campaign Video 08/07)	Ruled out introducing new taxes (London Hustings 31/08) Would reverse the planned National Insurance increase and "cut taxes from day one" (The Telegraph 11/07); "on day one", a new Budget and new Spending Review (Campaign Launch Speech 14/07) Would "immediately" review the taxation of families to allow a person taking time off work to care for their relative to transfer their personal tax allowance to a working member of the household (Campaign Launch Speech 14/07; The Telegraph 21/07) Would review inheritance tax (Leeds Hustings 28/07 - as reported by The Times) Would cancel the planned corporation tax rise (ConHome Hustings 15/07)	Commitment to raise basic and middle earner tax thresholds by inflation (Telegraph 11/07) Set up social capital funding pots for MPs to administer (Campaign Launch Speech 13/07)	Raise income tax threshold (for the £12570 threshold) and cancel rise in corporation tax (Daily Mail 15/07)		Reduce corporation tax rise (The Telegraph 09/07)	Reduce corp. tax to 15% in one go at the Autumn Budget; freeze business rates (tax on commercial property) for the poorest areas for five years; cuts to income tax should depend on achieving economic growth first (The Telegraph 09/07)	Would cancel planned corporation tax rise, cut income tax and review business rates (The Telegraph 10/07) Would cut base rate of income tax to 19p in 2023 and 18p in 2024 (CWF Speech 11/07)	A "New Conservative Economic Plan" (Campaign Launch Speech 11/07) Scrap the National Insurance rise planned for April; Bring forward the 1p income tax cut planned for 2024-25 to next year, lowering the basic rate from 20p to 19p; Reverse proposed corp. tax increase planned for next year, instead, gradually dropping the level by 1p per year from 19% to 15%; Total "static cost" of his tax plans would be £39bn (The Telegraph 10/07)	Would launch an emergency budget; stop planned corporation tax rise & enact immediate 1p cut to income tax; (Sky News 10/07)
4	Health and Social Care	Would create "a streamlined, single approval service for UK clinical trials" to speed up the approval process (The Telegraph 16/07) Plan to tackle NHS backlog (Campaign Website 25/07): 1. Would "immediately" set up a vaccines-style "Backlog Taskforce" with independent leadership to drive NHS reform 2. Would mandate all hospital Trusts to audit their waiting lists within one month; anyone waiting over 18 weeks for an appointment will be contacted within 100 days to advise on when they can expect treatment 3. Would increase the number of community diagnostic hubs to 200 by March 2024, using repurposed empty high street shops to offer more diagnostic services; expand the use of at-home testing, and utilise new diagnostic innovations (e.g. private sector equipment, new blood tests) 4. Would expand the network of specialist surgical hubs to undertake low complexity procedures; acelerate the use of virtual wards so people can recover in their own homes, and consider increasing the number of hospital beds, targeted by areas of need, like in the South-West and East of England 5. Would cut routine re-appointments every 3/6 months to allow patients to choose when they return to see a consultant (with advice from doctors); would return to a system where patients have a family doctor if they want one, and would expand the NHS App and NHS 111 to become the first port of call - the "NHS front door for patients" Would introduce a temporary £10 fine for patients who, for the second time, fail to attend a GP or outpatient appointment without providing sufficient notice to allow the surgery/hospital to offer the slot to another patient (The Sunday Telegraph 30/07)	“Completely committed" to current Government plans to increase NHS spending, "to the hospitals, to the doctors" (Today Programme, Radio 4 - as reported in The Guardian 21/07) Tackle issues around taxation rules for NHS pensions, particularly for GPs (Sky Hustings)	Establish a taskforce to address the "paralysis" in accessing NHS services (Campaign Launch Speech 13/07)		Reintroduce binding A&E and referrals target (Campaign Launch Speech 12/07)		Would keep the Health & Social Care levy, bring back family doctors and launch a new "conservative" mechanism to get people saving for their social care from an early age (The Telegraph 09/07)
5	Levelling Up	Pledged his support for Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen's five-point plan for levelling up (Chronicle Live 16/07) Committed to the Northern Research Group pledge card (Twitter 14/07)	Would create low tax zones with lower businesses rates and fewer planning restrictions in left-behind areas to encourage investment (The Times 14/07) Would amend the Levelling Up Bill to replace centralised targets with tax cuts and reduce red tape in “opportunity zones” to make it easier and quicker for developers to build on brownfield land in those areas (The Telegraph 17/07) Committed to the Northern Research Group pledge card (Twitter 14/07) Would reverse decisin to downgrade Northern Powerhouse Rail project (New Statesman 30/08)	Increase number of local development corporations to give mayors and local communities additional powers to raise funding (Telegraph 11/07) Committed to the Northern Research Group pledge card (Twitter 19/07) Deliver Northern Powerhouse rail alongside HS2 (Twitter 19/07) Ensure at least half new nuclear and hydrogen capacity is built in the north (Twitter 19/07)	Sets out a "broadened" levelling up agenda (e.g. to include not only inner cities, but large cities, rural and coastal communities) (see The Express 14/07)	Reform EU Solvency II regulations to allow further investment into regeneration (Campaign Launch Speech 12/07)				Devolution of tax powers including capital allowances and flexibility over business rates (New Conservative Economic Plan 11/07) Great British Towns and Cities Commission to open new municipal bond market (New Conservative Economic Plan 11/07) Launch a one in a century upgrade to infrastruture across the country + review green book to ensure infrastructure investment supports previously ignored areas (New Conservative Economic Plan 11/07)
6	Immigration	Would keep the Rwanda policy (The Times 11/07) 10-point plan for immigration (Campaign Website 25/07): 1. Would tighten definition of who qualifies for asylum and enhance powers to detain, tag and monitor illegal migrants 2. Would create a cap set annually by Parliament on the number of refugees accepted via safe and legal routes 3. Would create a new cross-Government Small Boats Taskforce 4. Would "make our Rwanda partnership work" 5. Would strengthen immigration enforcement, including tougher fines and custodial sentences for those exploiting illegal labour 6. Would set "clear targets" for France to stop boats setting off from France to the UK 7. Would send failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals back home and make aid, trade, and visas conditional on a country’s willingness to cooperate on returns 8. Would end the use of hotels to house migrants 9. Would set a target that 80% of asylum claims are resolved within six months of being lodged, "with more case workers, incentives, simplified guidance, and better use of technology" 10. Would commission reform of the Home Office and Border Force Would double the number of overseas offenders who are deported each year by considering deportation orders if people had been jailed for at least six months continuously (change from 12 months) and overseas offenders jailed for any period of time three times would be deported (The Guardian 28/07) Would scrap the (now scrapped) plan to open a new asylum seeker centre in North Yorkshire (The Yorkshire Post 08/08)	Would keep the Rwanda deportation policy and expand it to more countries involved in a Rwanda-style deal (The Daily Mail 24/07) Would increase frontline border staff by 20% and double Border Force Maritime staffing levels (The Daily Mail 24/07); would appoint a single Home Office Minister to oversee the Border Force and explore ways of deterring illegal crossings (The Express 07/08) and implement the findings of the Downer Report (The Express 08/08)	Cut fuel supplies and boats from people smugglers in France to halt channel crossings (The Sun 14/07) Would keep the Rwanda policy (The Sun 14/07)		Would keep Rwanda deportation policy (The Sunday Times 10/07)	Would keep the Rwanda policy (Twitter 11/07) Improve reciprocal working visas with countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore (The Times 14/07)	Would keep the Rwanda policy (The Telegraph 09/07)	Would keep Rwanda deportation policy (The Telegraph 10/07)	Would keep Rwanda Policy (BBC 10/07)
7	Climate Change & Energy	Would commit to the Net Zero 2050 target (1992 Hustings 13/07) Committed to the Conservative Environment Network pledge card (Twitter 15/07) Would temporarily scrap VAT on household energy bills for a year from October (The Telegraph 26/07); would extend the winter fuel payments and cold-weather payments to vulnerable through welfare system (The Times 11/08) Would keep the ban on building any new onshore windfarms, but start "a massive expansion" in offshore wind (The Telegraph 19/07) Would introduce a legal target to make Britain energy self-sufficient by 2045 (The Telegraph 19/07) Would re-establish a separate Department of Energy and create a new Energy Security Committee tasked with reforming the market to cut future bills (The Telegraph 19/07)	Would commit to the Net Zero 2050 target (1992 Hustings 13/07) Committed to the Conservative Environment Network pledge card (Twitter 15/07) Would introduce a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy for two years (The Spectator 13/07) Would lift the ban on fracking, leaving local residents to decide whether fracking takes place in their area (The Telegraph 17/07) Would review the EU's habitat directive and develop a stronger British biodiversity target focused on the animals and plants endangered here, rather than the whole of Europe (Conservative Environment Hustings - as reported by The Guardian 18/07) Would approve a series of oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea in one of her first acts as prime minister, inviting applications for as many as 130 drilling licences to explore new fields (The Times 30/08)	Has said she is committed to Net Zero 2050 pledge (Bloomberg 12/07) and suspend green levies (1922 hustings 13/07) Committed to Conservative Environment Network pledge card (Twitter 15/07) Increase investment in marine renewable energy (Guardian 18/07) Ensure at least half new nuclear and hydrogen capacity is built in the north (Twitter 19/07)	Critical of "arbitrary" net zero target (The Telegraph 09/07); would support a more accountable delivery plan for delivering net zero (1922 Hustings 13/07) - e.g. working to increase capacity of the electricity grid (The Times 14/07) Committed to Net Zero 2050 at CEN Hustings event ( Guardian 18/07)	New energy resillience plan to produce dependable power in the UK or from allies (Campaign Launch Speech 12/07) Would delay Net Zero 2050 target (1992 Hustings 13/07) Committed to Conservative Environment Network pledge card (Twitter 15/07)	Would suspend UK's current aim to achieve net zero by 2050 (Express 09/07)	Would maintain commitment to net zero 2050 target (BBC 10/07)	Would maintain net zero 2050 target (CWF Speech 11/07)	Would maintain commitment to net zero 2050 target (BBC 10/07) New taskforce to accelerate energy revolution and push for new sources of energy supply (New Conservative Economic Plan 11/07)
8	Brexit & Europe	Would create a new "Brexit delivery unit" tasked with scrapping/reforming all EU law and bureaucracy still on the statute book by the next General Election; Brexit Minister would produce an annual report on progress (The Telegraph 16/07)	Would review all EU law, including Solvency II, by the end of 2023, with industry expers tasked with creating “better home-grown laws” to replace those that fail the test of whether it stimulates domestic growth or investment, if not ditched altogether (The Independent 24/07); vowed to overturn the trading bloc’s MiFID 2 directives that regulate the financial sector (City AM 22/07) Would seek reform of the European Convention of Human Rights (over the Rwanda deportation policy), but would be prepared to leave (The Sun 13/07)		"Open to withdrawal" from the European Convention on Human Rights (Politico London Playbook 13/07)	Would continue NI Protocol Bill (The Sunday Times 10/07)	Would change Northern Ireland Protcol; EU would have "no more say over taxes in Northern Ireland" and would stop direct flow of dynamic EU law (Twitter 11/07) Would leave the European Convention of Human Rights (Twitter 10/07)	Would continue Northern Ireland Protocol Bill (The Telegraph 10/07)	Would continue NI Protocol Bill (The Telegraph 10/07) "Open to withdrawal" from the European Convention on Human Rights (Politico London Playbook 13/07)
9	Housing & Infrastructure	Would scrap EU financial services regulations, including Solvency II rules, to encourage investment in British infrastructure, energy projects and the high-tech industry (The Telegraph 16/07) Would seek to improve country's housing stock, particularly energy efficiency (The Guardian 18/07) Would review planning laws to stop local authorities from requesting changes to green belt boundaries in order to release land for development under the forthcoming refresh of the National Planning Policy Framework (The Telegraph 28/07) 3-point plan to build more housing (The Telegraph 04/08): 1. Would require developers to build on unused land before they were granted planning permission for any more plots in the same area 2. Would introduce a beefed-up compulsory purchase order scheme allowing councils to buy land back at a discount if it was not developed within an agreed timeframe to tackle landbanking; such developers could also face a hefty 'build-out' levy 3. Would establish an "infrastructure first guarantee" to ensure all new homes are supported by enough local GP capacity, schools and road networks, funded by an “infrastructure levy” on companies	Would implement supply side reforms, including reforming Solvency II and The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFid) regulations to encourage investment in British infrastructure, energy projects and the high-tech industry (The Evening Standard 05/08) Would scrap local authority housing targets and would amend the Levelling Up Bill to legislate for new low-tax "investment and building zones" for new homes (The Telegraph 17/07) Would legislate for minimum service levels on critical national infrastructure in the first 30 days of Government; would raise ballot threshold for strike action from 40 to 50 per cent of employees; would increase the minimum notice period for strike action from two to four weeks (The Guardian 25/07) Pledged to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail in full (Chronicle Live 28/07). Would scrap smart motorways, and review mandatory speed limits as to whether they should be advisory (LBC London Hustings - as reported in The Guardian 31/08)	Establish a taskforce to address stagnation in house building (Campaign Launch Speech 13/07) Introduce infrastructure delivery incentives & break up infrastructure delivery bodies - i. e Department for Transport, National Highways and Network Rail - into regional bodies (The Times 19/07) Champion a "brownfield building boom" (Telegraph 19/07) Abolish mandatory housing targets for councils and replace them with incentives (Telegraph 19/07) Extend permitted development rights to allow building "up not out" in urban ares (Telegraph 19/07) Support councils to set up their own house-building companies (Telegraph 19/07) End land banking and speed up building for sites that already have planning permission (Telegraph 19/07) Require credit lenders to recognise rental payments as part of someone's credit history (Campaign Website 20/07) Launch government backed deposit loans for renters which will require you to have rental credit history to access (Campaign Website 20/07)	Opposes "ever-higher inflexible top-down housing targets" (The Telegraph 16/07) Opposes land banking (The Telegraph 16/07)	‘Street votes’ planning policy,to give local communities more control over new housing (The Economist 13/07) Adopt a brofield first hosuing policy - ensuring the definition of brownfield land is periodically reviewed to ensure areas are correctly categorised. (Telegraph 17/07) Change business reates treatment of undeveloped brownfield sites to incentivise development (Telegraph 17/07)		No commitment to reducing the stamp duty (The Telegraph 09/07)		House building programme: more Garden Villages and New Towns using development corporations and "build upwards" in cities (Campaign Launch Speech 11/07) Supports proposals for Street Votes and "vision of the Oxford Cambridge Arc to create a new hotbed of growth" (New Conservative Economic Plan 11/07) A "strengthened ombudsman" to tackle rogue landlords + new incentives to offer longer-term tenancies to give families security (New Conservative Economic Plan 11/07)
10	Defence	Would maintain NATO target for defence spending of 2 per cent of GDP "as a floor, not a ceiling" (Campaign Launch Event 12/07) Would create a new "Nato-alliance" to counter China's "nefarious activity and ambitions" with moves to influence international standards on cybersecurity and help British businesses and universities counter Chinese industrial espionage with the help of MI5 (The Guardian 25/07)	Would bring forward the target for defence spending to increase to 2.5 per cent of GDP target to 2026 (The Times 19/07); and, by the end of the decade, would increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 (Campaign Launch Speech 14/07) Would review Government plans to cut the size of the army to 72,500 in 2025 (The Times 19/07) Would declassify more MI6 intelligence on Russia to further expose Putin (Telegraph 23/08)	Commitment to Conservative Manifesto pledges on defence and NATO spending and pledged to set up a Civil Defence Force to take tasks away from Armed Forces "that they don't need to do" (Campaign Launch Speech 13/07)		Commitment to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP (The Sun 13/07)		Pledged to spend 4% of GDP on defence, aid and foreign policy, at least 3% will go to defence (The Telegraph 09/07) Increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2028 (inews 12/07) Reversing armed forces cuts set out in 2021 spending review (inews 12/07)	Would increase defence spending (Twitter 12/07)	Pledge to increase defence spending in total to 2.5% GDP by 2025 and ambition to reach 3% "in due course" (New Conservative Economic Plan 11/07)	Increase defense spending to 3% of GDP (Sky News 10/07)
11	Crime & Policing	Four-part plan for law and order (The Telegraph 19/07): 1. Would create a new criminal offence for belong to or facilitating grooming gangs and create a database of such groups; would also “ringfence” from any future spending cuts for police forces’ child sexual exploitation teams 2. Would rename the Victims Bill to become the Victims and Sentencing Bill and would create a new criminal offence for taking pictures down women's tops ("downblousing"); would introduce extended sentences for criminals who refuse to attend court for sentencing 3. Would give the Justice Secretary powers to veto parole board decisions of dangerous offenders 4. Would oversee a “crackdown on prolific career criminals who commit a disproportionate amount of crime" through “a range of interventions, including longer sentences, GPS tagging and targeted reintegration into society through work" Would double the number of overseas offenders who are deported each year by considering deportation orders if people had been jailed for at least six months continuously (change from 12 months) and overseas offenders jailed for any period of time three times would be deported (The Guardian 28/07) Would expand police powers to tackle anti-social behaviour by allowing officers to disperse people behaving in a certain way more freely; would give local authorities the option to double the fine for littering and graffiti; would toughen laws so those who damage public property would have tougher sentences (Metro 30/07)	Would bring back national crime targets for police to cut homicide, serious violence and neighborhood crime by 20 per cent by the end of the current Parliament (2024), including the publication of performance league tables - Chief constables of failing forces would have to attend a meeting of the National Policing Board chaired by the home secretary to explain how improvements would be made (The Telegraph 27/07) Would outlaw wolf-whistling and catcalling, making it an offence to harass women on the street (The Times 27/07) Would introduce a register of domestic abusers (The Times 27/07) Would give PCCs greater powers to veto training that focuses on identity politics; would tell forces to stop investigating online discussions as possible hate crimes, and would check new guidance on 'non-crime hate incidents' protects freedom of speech (The Daily Mail 26/ 07) Would review whether not paying the BBC licence fee should be a criminal offence (The Mail+ 02/08) Would deliver on manifesto commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers, with a focus on frontline policing. (The Telegraph 27/07)	Introduce a Victims' Bill to Parliament enshrining the Victims' Code in law which would incorporate reforms in the Root and Branch Review of the Parole System (Express 20/07) 20% increase in the Victim Surcharge (Express 20/07) Create a Community Payback COmmissioner to tackle backlog of community payback hours (Express 20/07)		Tougher sentences for county lines gang leaders (The Sun 17/07) Empower the National Crime Agency with counter terrorism responsibilities (The Sun 17/07) Declare cyber cirme a national securty threat, with a dedicated individual on the National Security Council (The Sun 17/07)			Drug dealers would be banned from driving for two years, and offenders convicted of "vehicle-enabled" crime would also have their licence revoked (The Times 12/07) Tougher penalties for persistent users of Class A drugs, including confiscating passports (The Times 12/07) Police powers to use body cameras to record interviews, rather than having to take suspects to a police station (The TImes 12/07) New policing apprenticeship, ending degree requirement for police officers (The Times 12/07)
12	Welfare & Pensions	Would seek to bring down costs by expanding the labour force and reducing the number of people on benefits by doubling the number of hours someone on welfare has to work a week in order to avoid having to look for a full time job from nine to 18 (The Telegraph 27/07) Would extend the winter fuel payments and cold-weather payments to vulnerable through welfare system to help with rising energy costs (The Times 11/08)	Would "reform welfare" (The Spectator 13/07) Would reinstate the currently suspended state pension triple-lock (The Telegraph 02/08)		Would bring forward universal credit and pension credit uplift from April 2023 to Autumn 2022 (Daily Mail 15/07)		Reform welfare provision and tackle the 'long tail of welfare dependency (TalkTV 11/07)
13	Education & Childcare	Plan to reform post-16 education (The Guardian 07/08): Would phase out university degrees that do not improve students earning potential; would assess trough their drop-out rates, numbers in graduate jobs and salary thresholds, with exceptions for nursing and other courses with high social value Would create a Russell Group of new "world class" technical colleges; would strengthen networks of technical institutions and their links with industry, as well as giving them powers to award degrees Would introduce a new "British Baccalaureate" that would see pupils study English and Maths to age 18 Would expedite the Higher Education (freedom of speech) Bill Would ban all of the 30 Confucius Institutes in the UK and implement an amendment to the Higher Education Bill that would force universities to disclose foreign funding partnerships of more than £50,000 (The Times 25/07) In schools, Sunak has pledged he (The Guardian 07/08): Would improve professional development for teachers and expand use of artificial intelligence and digital technology in classrooms to reduce teacher workload Would open 75 new free schools Would give academy trusts an “accountability holiday” for two years after taking on underperforming schools Schools would be required to open after the school day/over summer holidays to allow communities to use sports facilities and schools with poor PE provision would be marked down by Ofsted (The Sun 25/07)	Would lift the ban on new grammar schools (Sky News 13/07) Five-point plan for education (The Times 30/07): 1. Would expand high performing academy schools, and replace failing ones with a new wave of free schools and grammars; 2. Pledged to drive up the quality of maths teaching and meet the 'target for 90% of primary children to reach the expected standard in literacy and numeracy; 3. Would give parents greater flexibility to use Government money available on wraparound childcare and on a wider range of providers; 4. Would bring current childcare ratios for those looking after three and four year olds in line with Scotland; 5. Would move subsidies from poor quality degree courses to vocational training. Every pupil in the country who gets straight As at A-Level would be offered an Oxbridge interview [would also “look at” changing the system so students only apply for university after they have their results] (The Times 30/07) Would review whether schools are doing enough to educate pupils and teachers about antisemitism” and “rid university campuses” of it (The Telegraph 12/08)	Appoint a cabinet level minister with overall responsibility for family policy (Times 13/07) Move away from fixed entitlements to tax-free childcare, instead creating a new system of personalised budgets (Times 13/07) Supports the continued rollout of family hubs (Times 13/07) Launch a new international engineer training course to address labour market shortages (The Times 19/07) Quadruple the number of degree apprenticeships available in the North, and double the number of skills bootcamps (Twitter 19/07)	Reduce subsidy for low quality degrees (Sun 12/07) Requirement for schools to focus resources on effective whole class teaching in rigorous subjects (Campaign Launch Speech 12/07) and have a "relentless focus on coasting schools" (The Express 14/07) Make it easier to move into areas such as nursing, social care and policng without a degree (Sun 12/07) Opposed to apprenticeship number caps (The Express 14/07) Scrap busines rates for all nurseries & review regulation around childcare. (The Sun 17/07)	Institute of Technology in every region (Economist 13/07) "Oxbridge of the North" focused on vocational training (Campaign Launch Speech 12/07) Would lift the ban on new grammar schools. (Sky News 13/07) New skills levy (The Economist 13/07)	Offer commonwealth students discounts on university fees (reciprocally with countries that can afford it and unilaterally for those that can't) (The Times 14/07) Recognise professional qualifications from countries "on par" with the UK, making it easier for engineers, doctors and lawyers to work in the UK (The Times 14/07)		9% pay increase for junior teachers (Sky News 11/07 - 00:58) Opposed ending ban on new grammar schools (Telegraph 10/07)	New wave of FE colleges with new leadership models, industry partnerships and improvements in recruitment, retention and governance A long term plan for skills including commitent to contine lifelong learning entitlement and turn into "right to retrain" for adults. Focus on small group tuition in schools for post pandemic catch up Backs new free schools and academies Reforms to childcare including regulation on ratios and review of market, funding and workforce to encourage new entrants" ("A New Conservative Economic Plan" 11/07)
14	Technology & Digital	Would replace GDPR with a new dynamic data protection regime (The Telegraph 16/07) Sunak on China's threat to security (Twitter 25/07): Would create a NATO-style international alliance of free nations to tackle Chinese cyber-threats and share best practice in technology security Would expand MI5's support to British businesses, universities and build a toolkit to help them protect their IP Would examine the need to prevent Chinese acquisitions of key British assets including strategically sensitive tech firms	Overhaul EU Solvency II rules to allow pensions fund to invest in high tech start ups (The Telegraph 17/07)	Would continue with the Online Safety Bill (Twitter, 14/07)	Would ensure online safety bill did not "over-reach" (Twitter 13/07)		Would "rethink" online harms bill. (The Times 12/07)			New Global Digital Markets AUthority for cross border digital markets to regulate big tech and AI between counties ("A New Conservative Economic Plan" 11/07)
15	Devolution & the Union	Committed to the Northern Research Group pledge card, which includes a right to devolution for all areas of the UK (Twitter 14/07) Would reform the UK Government’s Union unit to ensure “every single” Government department operates UK-wide, despite key policy areas like education and health having been devolved to the governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and pledged to put an end to “the Whitehall mentality of devolve and forget” (Nation Cymru 06/08)	Committed to the Northern Research Group pledge card, which includes a right to devolution for all areas of the UK (Twitter 14/07) Would not agree to a second Scottish independence referendum (The National 31/07) Would undertake herself the role of Minister for the Union and seek to strength it (Sky News 16/08)	No to second independence referendum in Scotland (BBC 17/07) Empower local mayors to raise infrastructure bonds and create regional rail corporations (The Times 19/07) Committed to Northern Research Group pledge card (Twitter 14/07)		Committed to Northern Research Group pledge card (Twitter 14/07)		Would block another Scottish independence referendum for a decade (BBC 10/07)		Would block another Scottish independence referendum for a decade (BBC 10/07)	New public watchdog to scrutinise effectiveness of mayors (Campaign Letter 11/07)
16	Identity / "Culture Wars"	Pledged a "manifesto for women's rights", including opposing biological men being allowed to compete against women in sport and guidance for schools on teaching issues of sex and gender (The Mail 09/10)	Would give Police and Crime Commissioners greater powers to veto training that focuses on identity politics (The Daily Mail 26/07)		Opposed to self-identification - "I don't think we should allow that to happen" (The Times 14/07)
17	Foreign Affairs & Trade	On China (Twitter 25/07): 1. Would ban all 30 of China’s Confucius Institutes in the UK 2. Would establish a new international alliance of free nations to tackle Chinese cyber-threats and share best practice in technology security 3. Would expand MI5’s support to British businesses and universities, and build a toolkit to help companies protect their IP 4. Would examine need to prevent Chinese acquisitions of key British assets including strategically sensitive tech firms Would designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation [in response to the stabbing of Salmon Rushdie] (The Telegraph 13/08)	Would publically recognise genocide in China (Sun 12/07) ‘New Commonwealth Deal’ to strengthen economic ties across the Commonwealth and expedite bilateral trade agreements with Commonwealth partners (The Times 28/07) Would seek to secure a free trade deal with Israel and curb high roaming charges imposed by UK mobile phone operators (The Jewish Chronicle 11/08)		Reduce amount spent on international aid (Campaign Launch Speech 12/07)	Would publically recognise genocide in China (Sun 12/07) UK import ban on cotton products made in Xinjiang (Sun 12/07)	Strengthen 5EYES and collective security cooperation (The Times 14/07) Lead on a new international Common Low Rights Charter (The Times 14/07)		Would put an end to all Government departments sending aid to China (The Sun 13/07)	Renew international economic policy frameworks - UK to lead a "new Bretton Woods" modernising institutions of global economic policy ("A New Conservative Economic Plan" 11/07) New global debt architecture to reolve global solvency challenges ("A New Conservative Economic Plan" 11/07)
18	Culture & Sport	Would scrap the BBC licence fee in future (Common Sense Conservatives Hustings - as reported by London Politico Playbook 13/07) Would implement all ten recommendations of the Crouch review of football in time for the World Cup (The Sun 20/07) Would accelerate the Government’s review of women’s football (The Telegraph 26/07)	Would review whether not paying the BBC licence fee should be a criminal offence (The Mail+ 02/08)
19	Research and Development	Would ban all Confucius Institutes in the UK (The Times 24/07) Would implement an amendment to the Higher Education Bill that would force universities to disclose foreign funding partnerships of more than £50,000 (The Times 24/07) Would review of all UK-Chinese research partnerships which might assist them technologically or have military applications, as well as expanding MI5’s reach to provide greater support to British businesses and universities to counter allegations of industrial espionage (The Times 24/07) Would seek to speed up the research grant process and has pledged to increase annual spending on public R&D investment to £20bn by 2024/5; has set a target to increase the amount of laboratory space and would adopt a cross-government taskforce-style approach towards science and technology (stv News 23/08)		A "New Deal for Innovation" to drive innovation particularly in the public sector (The Times 19/07) Deregulate pension funds and abolish capital gains tax on R&D companies (The Times 19/07) Expand Enterprise Investment Scheme for scale ups (The Times 19/07) Launch retail UK Tech Individual Savings Accounts (The Times 19/07) Set a new target that over 50% of industry funding required to hit 2.4% GSP on R&D investments will be outside London and the South East (Twitter 19/07)						Review research funding bureaucracy including the REF ("A New Conservative Economic Plan" 11/07)
20	Civil Service & Shape of Government	Would re-establish a separate Department of Energy and create a new Energy Security Committee (The Telegraph 19/07) Would create a new "Brexit delivery unit" (The Telegraph 16/07) Committed to the Northern Research Group pledge card, which includes a Minister for the North (Twitter 14/07) Would re-instate the Government's "Union unit" (The National 06/08)	"Long term plan to bring down the size of the state" to grow private sector faster than public sector (Telegraph 11/07) Committed to the Northern Research Group pledge card, which includes a Minister for the North (Twitter 14/07) Would review mandate agreed between Government and Bank of England on inflation (Telegraph 17/07) Would reform the civil service by implementing regional pay boards to tailor pay to the cost of living where civil servants work (could be extended to all public sector workers, including nurses and teachers) for new recruits; would seek to move more civil servants out of London; would scrap the role of Diversity Officers; would bring civil servants' holiday entitlement down from 27 to 25 days (Exeter Hustings - The Financial Times 02/08) (Policy scrapped - The Guardian 02/08)	Committed to smaller cabinet; align Government planning cycles with business and charity sector (Campaign Launch Speech 13/07) New National Strategy Council to complement the National Security Council to work across departments on long term challenges and opportunities (The Mail 14/07)	Would break up Treasury, with a new Office for Economic Growth run out of No.10 (Twitter 13/07)				Will cut every government department's head count by 20% (Sky News 11/07)	An efficiency savings programme that would see 1% cut from all Whitehall spending (including on the NHS) - e.g. by folding departmental quangos (The Telegraph 10/07)	Pledged to improve government efficiency and cut red tape (Sky News 10/07)
21	Food & Farming	Would set new targets for domestically produced food and regulations to prevent high quality farmland from being given over to “rewilding” and solar farms; would ban farmland from being sold to property developers for housing, to prevent Britain’s stock of agricultural land from shrinking and would launch an advertising campaign to encourage shoppers to “buy local” and hold an annual “food security summit” in Downing Street (The Telegraph 29/07) New Buy Local target for public sector to help British livestock and arable farmers. (Campaign Press Release 29/07) Support for farmers in all future UK trade deals (Campaign Press Release 29/07) Would relax rules around farmers markets (Metro 30/07)	Would extend the seasonal workers scheme allowing farmers to recruit unskilled migrants to pick fruit and vegetables to allow migrants can stay longer if they are needed; abolish all remaining EU “red tape” on farmers, allowing them to use drones to spread fertiliser and chemicals and would promote the use of precision breeding technologies to increase food production, to include gene editing (The Times 1/08) Would scrap plans to restrict multi-buy deals on food and drink high in fat, salt, or sugar and would not impose any new levies on unhealthy food (Reuters 02/08)
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