General Election 2010: Tory manifesto to focus on shares and youth savings

Published on Monday 12 April 2010 02:48

DAVID Cameron will unveil his party's manifesto tomorrow with promises to give incentives to young people to save and confirmation of plans to sell discounted shares in bailed-out banks.

The Tory leader will have a manifesto themed on replacing "Labour's big government" with the concept of the "big society" and hark back to some of the more popular proposals of the 1980s such as "the share-owning democracy".

The plan on the banks, trailed earlier this year, would see a similar nationwide campaign to the British Gas sell-off in 1986, encouraging people to buy shares in the banks which the government has part ownership of, such as the Royal Bank of Scotland.

It will be accompanied by proposals to give incentives to young people to start saving money for the future.

"The idea is that we will not only be offering a change of government but a change of philosophy," a spokeswoman said. "We want to encourage people to start saving for the future and taking a stake in society."

The Conservatives have already announced pledges from their manifesto to introduce a tax break for married couples worth about 150 a year to encourage commitment.

And their most prominent pledge has been to reverse plans by Labour to increase National Insurance (NI) contributions, which has won wide backing from the business community who have described the NI hike "as a tax on jobs".

In spending, they have also promised to ringfence health money, which means about a third of the Scottish block grant is protected through the Barnett formula. They have also promised to protect international aid.

For pensioners, the Conservatives have promised to restore the link of pensions with earnings and not scrap winter fuel payments or free TV licences.

They will also legislate in order to allow much more flexibility in the private pension schemes. On democracy they intend to unveil a "People's Power" manifesto giving constituents power to recall MPs for election as well as ending MPs working for lobbying firms. They would also reduce the number of MPs, which would almost certainly see Scottish MPs cut again.

Mr Cameron has also pledged to introduce a bill to implement many of the reforms strengthening devolution recommended by the Calman Commission.

Last week, with the help of Hollywood legend Sir Michael Caine, the Tories unveiled proposals for a national citizens service for school leavers, offering them a chance to do unusual activities and create their own programmes to help communities.

However, the scheme is not likely to be introduced in Scotland because of opposition from SNP ministers.