Every week, we’re keeping tabs on the policy announcements of those candidates still in the race. New entries are in italics.
Jeremy Hunt
- No deal would be a “last resort” and his least preferred option
- Is willing to extend the Brexit date if Britain is on the cuff of achieving a better Brexit agreement
- Has claimed to have wanted Brexiteers, including the DUP and Tory hardliners to join the negotiating team
- Defend press freedoms
- Due to the threats of China and Russia – a future increase of £15 billion in defence spending over the next five years.
- Avoid General Election at all costs
- Cut Corporation Tax from 19 per cent to 12.5 per cent
- 1.5 million additional homes for young people over the next ten years
- Slashing unfair rates of interest on tuition fee debt
- Cancel tuition fee debts for those who become entrepreneurs who start businesses and employ people
- Provide more funding for the teaching profession in return for a guarantee that no one leaves the education system without a “rigorous qualification” enough to work up to at least the average salary
- Young entrepreneurs would be given more support and a new law to legislate for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. There would also be deliver charging points across the country for electric motors.
- Deploy mental health support teams in every school
- Crackdown on social media companies that fail in regulating their content
- Would like to see the legal time limit on abortions reduced from 24 weeks to 12
- Wants to put into a place an automatic system for people to save their social care costs in old age “in the same way that they save for their pension”. Hunt has said that people would have the option of opting out of the scheme, and the government would cap costs for those who “save responsibly” during their lives.
- Believes that Scotland do not want another referendum on Scottish independence
Boris Johnson
- Leave the EU by 31st October with or without a deal
- Is not prepared to pay the £39 billion Brexit leave fee unless the Withdrawal Agreement is improved
- Increase the levels of preparations in case of a No Deal Brexit
- Wants to remove the backstop from any deal and replace it with “alternative arrangements”
- Every member of his cabinet will have to be supportive of Britain leaving the EU on the 31st October, with or without a deal.
- Wants to put into place an Australian style point system for his immigration policy – as previously campaigned for during the 2016 EU referendum
- Increase funding per pupil in Secondary Schools to £5,000
- Increase number of police on the streets and increase numbers of stop and search following knife crime in London and elsewhere – pledges to “find the money” to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers over an unspecified period.
- Slash income tax for three million people by increasing the 40p tax rate threshold from £50,000 to £80,000
- Promises to speed up the delivery of “full fibre” internet connection, with the super-fast service available to all by 2025, eight years earlier than currently planned
- Has said that more money should be spent on social care, according to a cross-party “national consensus”
- Against another Scottish independence referendum and strongly opposed to Scottish independence