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Lib Dem manifesto: 31 key things you need to know

PA Wire/PA Images - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

The Liberal Democrats have put fighting Brexit at the heart of their manifesto.

Banning diesel cars and helping young people buy their first home through rent payments are among other key policies.

The party expects to raise £1 billion in revenue by legalising cannabis, but says it will not scrap tuition fees, insisting that the NHS is a bigger spending priority.

The party says it will pump an extra £6 billion a year into health and social care through a 1p rise in income tax.

Opposing Brexit will be the key aim of the Lib Dems after the General Election which leader Tim Farron has predicted will see a Tory landslide victory.

The Lib Dems say they want to keep free movement of people, stay in the single market and hold a referendum on any final EU exit deal.

The party plans to bring in a diesel scrappage scheme and ban the sale of diesel cars and small vans by 2025.

Motorists also face new levies as ultra-low-emission zone charges would be introduced in 10 towns and cities across the UK.

Local councils would decide how much to charge drivers.

A rent-to-own scheme would see monthly rents used like a mortgage with working tenants owning their own home over a 30-year period.

The party would use a Housing and Infrastructure Development Bank to help firms and housing associations fund the building of rent-to-own homes.

Lib Dems say they will restore housing benefit to young people, bring in bus passes for 16 to 21-year-olds with a two-thirds discount, and lower the voting age to 16 if they gain power.

The party has also pledged to boost education spending by £7 billion over five years, double the number of businesses that take apprenticeships, and extend free school meals to all primary school pupils.

Farron said: ‘You don’t have to accept Theresa May and Nigel Farage’s extreme version of Brexit that will wreck the future for you, your family, your schools and hospitals.

‘In the biggest fight for the future of our country in a generation, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour has let you down by voting with Theresa May on Brexit, not against her.

‘The Liberal Democrats want you to have a choice over your future.

‘You should have your say on the Brexit deal in a referendum. And if you don’t like the deal you should be able to reject it and choose to remain in Europe.

‘We want to give all our children a brighter future in a fairer Britain where people are decent to each other, with good schools and hospitals, a clean environment and an innovative economy.

‘Not Theresa May’s cold, mean-spirited Britain.’

Here are the key points:

BREXIT AND IMMIGRATION

1 Second referendum on final EU withdrawal deal.

2 Support for continued UK membership of the single market and customs union and continued freedom of movement after Brexit.

3 Unilateral guarantee of rights for EU citizens in the UK.

4 Defend EU social rights, equalities, environmental standards and maximum law enforcement co-operation after Brexit.

5 Sanctuary for 50,000 Syrian refugees over the lifetime of the next parliament and reopening scheme to take in 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children from Europe.

6 Remove overseas students from immigration statistics and allow high-skilled migration to support the economy.

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

7 A penny on income tax to fund £6.3 billion boost in spending on NHS and social care.

8 Waiting time standards for mental health to match physical health care.

9 Integration of health and social care systems.

EDUCATION AND CHILDREN

10 Extra £7 billion spending on education, increasing school budgets and the pupil premium for disadvantaged children.

11 A fairer national funding formula.

12 Opposition to new selective schools, and democratic control for local councils over admissions and new schools.

13 Free childcare for all two-year-olds.

14 Additional month of paid paternity leave.

ECONOMY

15 Programme of capital investment to stimulate growth across the UK.

16 Eliminate deficit on day-to-day spending by 2020 to control the national debt, and then borrow only to invest.

17 One percentage point rise in all bands of income tax to 21% for the basic rate, 41% for the higher rate and 46% for the top rate. Increase in corporation tax to 20%.

ENVIRONMENT

18 Diesel scrappage scheme, with a ban on diesel car sales by 2025.

19 Ultra-low-emission zones in 10 more towns and cities.

20 Zero-Carbon Britain Act with legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2040 and to zero by 2050.

21 Insulation retrofits for four million properties by 2022.

CRIME AND JUSTICE

22 Additional £300 million for community policing in England and Wales.

23 Require all front-line police to wear body cameras.

24 Scrap the Prevent anti-terrorism strategy and end the indiscriminate bulk collection of communications data.

25 Create a legal, regulated and taxed market for cannabis.

26 Victims’ Bill of Rights, improving access to information and allowing victims to request restorative justice rather than a prison sentence.

27 Increased use of non-custodial sentences, with presumption against short jail sentences.

INTERNATIONAL

28 Maintain commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid.

29 Control arms exports to countries of concern over human rights, and suspend sales to Saudi Arabia.

DEMOCRACY

30 Votes at 16 for Westminster elections.

31 Devolution on demand for English regions.

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