Boris Johnson pledges 'new chapter' for Britain with 'radical' Tory manifesto
24 November 2019, 15:51
Boris Johnson has laid out his plans for a future Conservative government with a "radical" new manifesto that promises to "get Brexit done."
The prime minister told the crowd in Telford he will ensure Britain comes out of the EU by 31 January.
Among the promises made by Mr Johnson was the pledge of 50,000 new nurses for the NHS with bursaries for their study, as well as a "triple tax lock" on rates of income tax, national insurance and VAT.
The party has promised these will not rise under a re-elected Conservative government.
Other notable details in the manifesto are his well-publicised pledge to reinforce the police with 20,000 new officers, a £1 billion boost to social care in every year of the next Parliament and the introduction of an Australian-style points based system to control immigration.
Controversial policies such as cuts to the winter fuel allowance and the dementia tax have been omitted.
The prime minister used his speech to criticise Jeremy Corbyn, saying he did not want to wake up on 13 December with a "nightmare on Downing Street."
He added that the country could be "Corbyn-neutral" by Christmas under a Conservative government.
Mr Johnson was questioned on the recent scandal involving the Conservative Campaign Headquarters changing their Twitter profile to a fake fact-checking website that analysed Mr Corbyn's answers in the first TV debate.
The Tory leader stuttered and stammered, saying "the Twitter-sphere" was not really his "province" but claimed the Labour Party has "some kind of operation that is similar to this," however the foundation of this accusation is unclear.
He suggested that the upcoming election would be a battle between "retrograde destructive socialism" under Labour and "sensible one nation Conservatism" under the Tories.
"In this manifesto there is a vision for the future in which we unite our country," he said.
"It is time to unleash the potential of our country and forge a new Britain."
On the issue of the environment, the Conservative manifesto promises to make Britain carbon-neutral by 2050.
It also vows to put £2 billion into the "biggest ever" programme for repairing potholes as part of a national infrastructure strategy.
There were few major surprises in the document, with many of the party's ideas trailed out in the weeks leading up to the launch.
Nigel Farage responded to today's event claiming the manifesto resembles Ukip's in 2015.
He said he recognised much of the detail because they are things that he has "campaigned on for years, such as hospital parking charges."
"Much of the manifesto was in fact in the Ukip 2015 manifesto, even recent ideas that I've announced like not exporting plastic waste for dumping in landfill in China or elsewhere, that's in there," he added.
"So, I'm pleased that they are changing the agenda. They're even talking, maybe, about reducing immigration levels and of course Brexit.
"So, I do feel that I recognise a lot of it. My question is, do they mean it and are they going to deliver?"
