UK GENERAL ELECTION
PARTY MANIFESTOS
All of the major political parties in England have released
their manifestos but what are they all saying and what actually
is a manifesto?
A manifesto is a list of promises that a political party makes before the election.
In it, they say what they will do if they are elected as the government. Often manifestos
are really long but they will have shorter versions that are easier to look at so it can be
easier to see which party you like most.
On the following pages are the top three promises from each party and two that we think you
will be interested in. We have adapted the ‘top policies’ from this BBC article.
An important thing that pops up with all of the different parties is taxes and money. Governments
have to spend a lot of money on things like hospitals, schools and roads. That money is
either borrowed from banks or other countries or it is earned in taxes. In the past 7 years, the
government realised that they had borrowed a lot more money than they could pay back from
banks and other countries. We had an ‘economic crisis’ which meant we have had to think really
hard about how we are either going to stop spending as much or how we are going to earn more
money. The different parties have different opinions about how to do that.
The Conservatives want to save money by spending less on things like doctors, teachers and
roads. That would mean they can pay off all the money we owe and probably wouldn’t need
to borrow any more for a while. The Green Party wants to make money by putting up taxes and
then spending that on things like building more houses. That will give people like builders,
estate agents and plumbers more jobs and then they’ll pay more taxes until slowly, the money
we owe can be paid back. That might mean we end up owing even more money.
UK ELECTION 2015 | PARTY MANIFESTOS
LABOUR’S MAIN PROMISES
1
Responsibility “triple lock”: fully funded manifesto,
cut the deficit every year, balance the books as soon
as possible in next Parliament
What they mean in a sentence:
We won’t spend more money than we have and we can pay for everything we
are promising.
This is a fancy way of saying that Labour won’t spend more money than they have.
Britain has been in an ‘economic crisis’ since 2007. That means that the country hasn’t
been making any money and the government has had to borrow a lot of money from
banks and other countries. People blamed the Labour party for that and said that they
had been ‘irresponsible’ with their money when they were the government and spent
too much. This promise is their way of showing that they won’t do it again.
2
An extra £2.5 billion for the NHS
What they mean in a sentence:
We will give doctors, nurses and hospitals more money so they can carry on making
us better.
Every time you go to the doctor or see your school nurse, you are using an ‘NHS service’.
NHS stands for National Health Service and it means that we can all go to the doctor
when we are ill and not have to pay for it. A lot of countries like America don’t have a
national health service and everyone has to pay for their doctor. That means a lot of poor
people get much more ill than they should because they don’t have the money to pay.
This promise means that doctors and hospitals will be given more money so they can
carry on making us better if we get ill.
3
Access to childcare from 8am-6pm for parents of primary
school children
What they mean in a sentence:
You will be looked after for free if your parents need to go to work.
Some parents need work before or after school so they can afford to make you warm,
healthy and happy but you can’t stay at home on your own and it can be really expensive
to pay for a babysitter or a club. That means that some parents can’t work as much as they
need to. Here, the Labour party are promising that you would be kept safe for free while
your parents were at work, so they can earn the money that they need.
UK ELECTION 2015 | LABOUR MANIFESTO
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
Give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote
What they mean in a sentence:
You would be allowed to vote when you are 16.
As you know, you are allowed to vote when you are 18 years old at the moment. This means that
you would be able to vote when you are 16 years old instead. Labour says that this will make more
young people interested in politics. However, other people say that Labour want to get younger
people voting because they are more likely to vote for Labour.
FOR:
Read this article by St Mary’s and St John’s School about why young people
should be allowed to vote
AGAINST:
Read this article by Ravenscroft Primary School about why young people
shouldn’t be allowed to vote
Guarantee an apprenticeship for every school leaver who attains
the grades
What they mean in a sentence:
If you work hard in school, we will help you get a job.
When you leave school, most people either find a job or go to university. At the moment, it is
quite difficult to get a job if you haven’t got lots of experience. Imagine if you wanted to be a
actor but you had never been in a play or performance. Nobody would take you seriously! It is the
same when you are looking for a job. Your boss wants to know that you can do the work they give
you. An ‘apprenticeship’ means that you are taught by a company how to do the work, making it
a lot easier to find work. Here, Labour promises that as long as you work in school, you can get an
apprenticeship if you want one.
UK ELECTION 2015 | LABOUR MANIFESTO
CONSERVATIVE’S MAIN PROMISES
1
Eliminate the deficit and be running a surplus by the end of
the Parliament
What they mean in a sentence:
We will not spend all of the money we earn, we will save some.
At the moment, the UK owes a lot of money to countries and banks because we spent too
much and didn’t save any money from taxes. The Conservatives want to save £1 for every
£100 they make in taxes. That will mean they can pay back some of the money we owe
and have some saved in case we want to spend money on something else. This is a really
good idea but in real life, it can be very hard. Very few people want Britain to owe a lot of
money but they also don’t want the government to stop paying for things like hospitals
and schools. If the government saves £1 from every £100, they will have to spend less
money on these things.
2
Keep people working 30 hours on minimum wage out of tax
What they mean in a sentence:
We won’t take any money from the people who can’t afford it.
Minimum wage is £6.50 an hour (if you are 21 years old or more). Imagine your 22 year
old cousin gets a new job at a cafe. Her boss has to pay her £6.50 an hour or they are
breaking the law. If she is working 30 hours a week, which is about same amount of time
you spend in school, she will earn £195 a week. If she lives on her own, she might pay
£110 every week to live in her house. That means she just has £85 to pay for food and her
oyster card and anything nice she wants for herself.
This promise means that she won’t have to give the government any money out of her pay
packet because the government knows she won’t have enough to live on.
In case that doesn’t make sense, let’s change money to sweets.
Imagine you swept your kitchen floor at the weekend. You are given 10 sweets by your
parents. You then have to give 7 to your friend because that’s how much you give them to
use their bike every day. That means you only have 3 for yourself. With this promise, the
government says that they won’t take any more sweets off you because then you would
have none for yourself!
UK ELECTION 2015 | CONSERVATIVE MANIFESTO
3
30 hours of free childcare per week for working parents of
3 and 4-year-olds
What this means in a sentence:
All 3 and 4 year olds will be looked after for free while your parents are at work.
This is really similar to the Labour promise saying you can be looked after for free while
your parents are at work. The Conservatives are only promising that 3 and 4 year olds will
be looked after, instead of all primary school children.
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
Turn every failing secondary school into an academy
What this means in a sentence:
Secondary schools that aren’t doing well will be able to improve faster.
An ‘academy’ school is a little bit different from a normal secondary school. An ‘academy’ can
teach its pupils what it wants instead of following the national curriculum. It can also be given
money by charities, businesses or religious groups. The Conservatives think these are good things
because it means a bad school can change how they are teaching you much faster than if they
had to stick to the same rules as everyone else.
Make sure foreign criminals can be more easily deported
from Britain
What this means in a sentence:
If a foreign person commits a crime here, they will be sent away from this country.
At the moment, it can be very hard to send foreign criminals away from the UK. There is a law
for every country in the European Union that people have a ‘right to a private and family life’.
That means that if a foreign person commits a crime but they have a family here in the UK, they
cannot be sent away because they won’t be near their family and friends. The Conservatives think
that we are spending too much money on foreign criminals. They want to get rid of that law so
that people can be sent away if they commit a crime. However if they do get rid of that law, they
have to get rid of a lot of other laws that protect our human rights. That means that some people
don’t agree with The Conservatives on this.
UK ELECTION 2015 | CONSERVATIVE MANIFESTO
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT’S MAIN PROMISES
1
Balance the budget fairly through a mixture of cuts and taxes
on higher earners
What this means in a sentence:
We’re going to take some money away from hospitals and schools but also ask for
more money from people who earn a lot.
As we’ve heard, the UK has got a lot of money problems. This means that the Liberal
Democrats want to stop spending quite so much on things like hospitals and schools but
they are also going to ask for more money from people who earn a lot. This promise will
probably be quite popular with people who don’t earn a lot but it might not be so popular
with the very wealthy workers in Britain.
2
Equal care for mental & physical health
What this means in a sentence:
Illnesses inside your head will be treated as just as important as problems that a
doctor can see.
If you fall over and really hurt your head, you might go to hospital. All of your friends
would ask you if you were okay, the doctor would try and fix you as fast as they could and
you would probably get a lot of sympathy from your parents! What if you were ill inside
your head, instead of on the outside? That can be just as dangerous and needs hospital
treatment, care from your friends and sympathy from your family but for a long time, no
one would say that. This promise is about making sure that people who are ill inside their
head will be treated with the same care in hospital as the people who have illnesses that
you can see.
3
Five new laws to protect nature and fight climate change
What this means in a sentence:
Before the last election, the Liberal Democrats were known as a very ‘green’ party,
meaning that they really cared about the environment. That has disappeared quite a
lot since then but they have still made some big promises. Here, they have made five
laws that will help protect the environment and make sure the earth is looked after
by Britain.
UK ELECTION 2015 | LIBERAL DEMOCRATS MANIFESTO
THEY ARE:
1. There are people who tell the government how to look after the environment.
With this promise, what they say could become law.
2. The government will have to make a plan about how to save the countryside and
turn it back into a natural place for animals and insects. The plan will last for 25 years.
3. All of the business that the government runs like schools and hospitals and road
building companies, will have to slowly become better and better for the environment.
4. The forests in Britain need to be looked after. This is a promise that a special
government group will do that.
5. The EU has given us some laws about how much pollution we can have. Instead of that
being an EU law, the Liberal Democrats want to make it a British law which will mean
we definitely have to stick to it.
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
Make sure every child can read by the time they go to secondary
school
What this means in a sentence: By the time you get to secondary school, everybody in
your class will be able to read a book.
Children from rich families are around 12% more likely to be able to read and write well than
children from less wealthy families. That makes a lot of difference to what kind of education you
can get and then your chances later on. This promise will try and get rid of that difference so
that everyone can have equal chances.
Let people vote in elections when they are 16 years old
This is the same as the Labour promise but it is important that you see more than one party is
promising this!
What they mean in a sentence: You would be allowed to vote when you are 16.
As you know, you are allowed to vote when you are 18 years old at the moment. This means
that you would be able to vote when you are 16 years old instead. Labour says that this will
make more young people interested in politics. However, other people say that Labour want to
get younger people voting because they are more likely to vote for Labour. Why do you think
the Liberal Democrats want to do this?
FOR:
Read this article by St Mary’s and St John’s School about why young people
should be allowed to vote
AGAINST:
Read this article by Ravenscroft Primary School about why young people
shouldn’t be allowed to vote
UK ELECTION 2015 | LIBERAL DEMOCRATS MANIFESTO
UKIP MAIN PROMISES:
1
Rapid referendum on Britain’s membership of the
European Union
What this means in a sentence:
We will let you vote on whether we should be part of the European Union or not.
There is a lot of discussion about whether we should be part of the European Union.
The European Union is a collection of countries in our part of the world who make laws
and do business together.
Some people say we should not stay part of the the European Union because:
• It is very expensive to be part of the European Union
• It takes some power away from Britain because we have to follow laws set by the
European Union
• It means that a lot of migrants come to work in Britain. Some people say this is a
bad thing.
Some people say that we should stay part of the European Union because:
• It means we can do business with all of the other European countries really easily
• If we left, we would still have to follow some EU laws if we wanted to do business
with EU countries but we wouldn’t be able to have our say on what the laws are.
• Having migrant workers is a good thing that our economy relies on. If we didn’t
have immigrants coming in, a lot of stuff wouldn’t get done and we would lose a
lot of money.
2
Control immigration with points system, limit of 50,000
skilled workers a year and a five-year ban on unskilled
immigration
What this means in a sentence:
People will only be able to come and live in Britain if we need them here.
UKIP are well-known for not liking immigration. They think it is ruining our country and
meaning that there are fewer jobs for British people. This promise means that no one
would be able to come to live in Britain unless we need them here. Australia has this
system and it does work in keeping down the number of people going to Australia.
Some experts argue that it has made Australia a lot more racist than other countries.
UK ELECTION 2015 | UKIP MANIFESTO
3
Extra £3bn a year for the NHS in England
This is very similar to the Labour promise, except UKIP are promising 0.5 billion more
than Labour
What they mean in a sentence: We will give doctors, nurses and hospitals more
money so they can carry on making us better.
Every time you go to the doctor or see your school nurse, you are using an ‘NHS service’.
NHS stands for National Health Service and it means that we can all go to the doctor
when we are ill and not have to pay for it. A lot of countries like America don’t have
a national health service and everyone has to pay for their doctor. That means a lot of
poor people get much more ill than they should because they don’t have the money to
pay. This promise means that doctors and hospitals will be given more money so they
can carry on making us better if we get ill.
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
End sex education for primary school children
What this means in a sentence:
You won’t be allowed to learn about sex in primary school.
Most primary schools teach a bit of sex education. This means that you are more informed about
things that might affect you in the future and that you can keep yourself safe.
UKIP argue that by teaching primary school children about sex, we are encouraging you to think
about it too early and that is making everyone grow up too fast. They want to stop primary school
children learning about sex.
Tightly regulate animal testing and keep the ban on animal testing
for cosmetics
What this means in a sentence:
Animals will be looked after better.
UKIP want to make sure animals are looked after better. They will make sure that companies don’t
test things on animals unless they absolutely have to, for example if they are making medicine.
They will also make sure that companies never test things like makeup or shampoo on animals.
UK ELECTION 2015 | UKIP MANIFESTO
GREEN PARTY’S MAIN PROMISES
1
End austerity
What they mean in a sentence:
Instead of saving money on hospitals and schools, we will spend money on them.
‘Austerity’ means saving money on things like hospitals, schools and benefits.
That can lead to some people losing jobs and the quality of those things going down.
Instead of saving money on schools and hospitals, the Green Party wants to increase taxes
and spend money on it. That would mean owing more money to begin with but would
give people more jobs and then mean that they can give the government more money.
2
End privatisation of the National Health Service
What they mean in a sentence:
We will make the government run the NHS again.
The National Health Service is mostly run by the government. That is why it is called
the ‘National’ Health Service, because it is run by a group owned by the nation (the
government!). Recently, lots of different parts of it have been given to companies to
run. The Conservatives say that the companies are good at running the National Health
Service because they are experts in it and the government isn’t. They also say that
because companies have to make money to stay running, they will try harder.
The Green party is worried that if we let companies run the National Health Service,
it will be more focused on money than making people better. They think that the quality
of the NHS will go down.
This promise means that they will make sure the government starts running the NHS
again, so that it isn’t about money anymore. It will be more about making people
better again.
3
Work with other countries to ensure global temperatures
do not rise by more than 2C
What this means in a sentence:
We will help to stop climate change all over the world.
The Green Party are very interested in the environment. This promise is saying that they
will make sure Britain does its part to stop climate change but also that Britain helps other
countries stop climate change.
UK ELECTION 2015 | GREEN PARTY MANIFESTO
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
Bring empty homes back into use to ensure everyone has access
to an affordable place to live.
What this means in a sentence:
People will be able to live in all of the empty buildings around London and the rest of
the country.
If you walk around London and look closely at each building, you will see that a lot of them are
empty. This happens for lots of reasons, like people buying homes from abroad and never moving
in or somebody dying who has no family to give the house to.
As you are walking around, you’ll also notice a lot of homeless people. They live on the streets,
usually because they can’t afford a home. The Green Party want to stop this happening so much
by letting people live in all of the empty houses.
Promote walking and cycling to help reduce pollution and improve
people’s health.
What this means in a sentence:
We will encourage everyone to walk and cycle more.
The Green Party want to encourage people to walk or cycle everywhere they can. This will save
them money because people will be healthier and need to see doctors less. It will also mean there
is less pollution which will help the environment! At the moment, it can be dangerous to cycle
in some places though, so they will have to build cycle lanes and spend quite a lot of money on
teaching people to cycle properly.
UK ELECTION 2015 | GREEN PARTY MANIFESTO