Unveiling their party’s manifesto today at Battesea Power Station, the Conservatives also promised to raise the secondary threshold at which employers start paying National Insurance by £21 a week, countering what it calls Labour’s ‘job tax’ of a 1% NI increase.
The Tories claim seven out of 10 working people – those earning between £7,100 and £45,400 – and almost every employer will save up to £150 a year per person compared to under Labour.
Lower earners will get the greatest benefit as a percentage of their earnings, it says, adding nobody will be worse off as a result of these changes.
“One thing is clear,” the party states, “we can’t go on with the old model of an economy built on debt.
“Irresponsible public spending, an overblown banking sector and unsustainable consumer borrowing on the back of a housing bubble were the features of an age of irresponsibility that left Britain badly exposed to the economic crisis.
“Now, with the national debt already doubled and in danger of doubling again, it is this debt – together with the jobs tax that Labour will introduce to help pay for it – that threatens to kill the recovery.”
Other key measures include capping public sector pensions above £50,000 and a promise to raise the Inheritance Tax (IHT) threshold to £1m and freeze Council Tax for two years.
As part of its plans to ensure economic stability, the Conservatives also today outlined plans to cut £6bn of what it calls “wasteful” departmental spending in the financial year 2010/11.
It said it would freeze public sector pay for one year in 2011, excluding the one million lowest paid workers and stop paying tax credits to families with incomes over £50,000.
It added that, over the course of a Parliament, it will cut Whitehall policy, funding and regulation costs by a third, saving £2bn a year, and save a further £1bn a year from quango bureaucracy.
Cameron unveiled the list of key policies, entitled “Invitation to Join the Government of Britain”, one day after the ruling Labour Party launched its manifesto.
In his foreword to the manifesto, Conservative leader David Cameron says the country must “pull together” to solve its problems.
Opinion polls suggest the party is still ahead of Labour, but the huge lead it enjoyed has narrowed in recent weeks and commentators predict next month’s vote could be the closest for decades.
Labour launched its manifesto yesterday with pledges to more than halve the national deficit by 2014, and cut £6bn out of the cost of business regulation by 2015.
The party also said it would realise stakes in publicly-controlled banks, introduce a global levy and reform banking.
It also promised to create UK Finance for Growth, bringing £4bn together to provide capital for growing businesses.
Under Labour the national minimum wage would rise at least in line with average earnings, with a pledge to create one million more skilled jobs.
The Lib Dems will launch its manifesto tomorrow.
