https://www.ft.com/content/603caae8-4a0b-11e7-a3f4-c742b9791d43...

https://www.ft.com/content/603caae8-4a0b-11e7-a3f4-c742b9791d43

With the UK general election ending in a hung parliament, there will be a period of bargaining and horse-trading before a government can be formed. This means the manifestos of both Labour and the Conservatives will be subject to renewed scrutiny.
Here is a summary of the policies the main parties have pledged to implement if they win.

Brexit

Conservatives
The UK will leave the single market and the customs union.
“No deal is better than a bad deal.”
The manifesto gives no details of how large a “Brexit bill” is acceptable but says that “vast annual contributions” would end.
The government will “secure the entitlements” of EU citizens living in the UK and Britons living in the EU.

Labour
Labour also accepts the results of the Brexit referendum.
The party has put forward “fresh negotiating priorities” on Brexit that have a “strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the single market and the customs union”.
Guarantees existing rights for all EU nationals living in Britain and secure reciprocal rights for UK citizens.
Seeks to retain membership of various EU bodies such as Euratom, Europol and the European Medicines Agency.
Wants to replace the “Great Repeal Bill” with an EU Rights and Protections Bill.

Immigration

Conservatives
“Reduce and control” the number of people who come to Britain from the EU.
Reduce net migration to “the tens of thousands”.
Increase the immigration skills charge on employers to £2,000 a year for each skilled worker.
Introduce tougher visa rules for non-EU migration, including for students and family members.

Labour
Set up a new immigration system that would include EU nationals, but without a fixed migration target.
Not include students in immigration figures.
Guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in the UK.

Infrastructure and housing

Conservatives
Build 1m homes by the end of 2020 — a 2015 manifesto commitment — and an extra 500,000 by the end of 2022.
Build new fixed-term social houses that will be sold privately after 10-15 years, with an automatic “right to buy” for tenants.

Labour
Build 1m homes, including 100,000 council and housing association homes a year over the next five years.
Nationalise railways as private franchises expire.
Replace privatised water companies with a network of regional, publicly owned companies.
Borrow to invest £250bn over 10 years in energy, transport and digital infrastructure,
Improve 4G mobile coverage and invest to bring uninterrupted 5G to all urban areas, major roads and railways,

Economy and Taxation

Conservatives
Eliminate the deficit by 2025.
Launch a £23bn productivity investment fund.
Increase the income tax personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000 by 2020.
Cut corporation tax from 19 to 17 per cent by 2020.
No increase in VAT but an end to the “tax lock” that guarantees no rise in national insurance, VAT or income tax.

Labour
Eliminate the deficit within five years.
Increase corporation tax from 19 to 26 per cent.
Raise taxes for top earners. People who earn more than £80,000 a year to face a 45p marginal rate of income tax and a new 50 per cent rate on earnings above £123,000.
Introduce an “excessive pay levy” — a 2.5 per cent charge on personal earnings above £330,000 and a 5 per cent charge on earnings above £500,000.

Work and education

Conservatives
Increase schools budget by £4bn by 2022.
Lift ban on selective schools and ask universities and independent schools to help run state schools.
Build at least 100 new free schools a year.
Provide free breakfast to all schoolchildren.
Increase national living wage to 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020.
Protections for those working in the “gig” economy, subject to findings from the Taylor report.

Labour
Create a Ministry of Labour.
Ban unpaid internships and zero-hours contracts.
Increase the minimum wage to at least £10 by 2020.
Put a 20:1 limit on gap between the lowest and highest paid workers in companies that are contracted by the government.
Abolish university fees and reintroduce maintenance grants for university students.
Provide free meals to schoolchildren, paid for by removing the VAT exemption on private school fees.

Health and social care

Conservatives
Increase NHS spending by a minimum of £8bn over the next five years.
Introduce a means test for winter fuel payments for pensioners.
Recover the cost of medical treatment from people not resident in the UK.

Labour
Commit to more than £30bn in extra funding over the next parliament.
Invest more than £8bn in care services in the next five years.
Scrap the NHS pay cap.
Establish a National Care Service to operate alongside the NHS.
Keep the winter fuel allowance as universal benefit.

Foreign affairs and defence

Conservatives
Retain the Trident deterrent.
Meet Nato target of spending at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence and increase the defence budget by at least 0.5 per cent above inflation every year.
Commit to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on foreign aid.
Invest £178bn in military equipment for the armed forces in the next 10 years

Labour
Meet Nato target of spending at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence.
Focus on conflict resolution and human rights, as well as alleviating the refugee crisis.
Cease arms exports to countries accused of violating humanitarian law.
Support the renewal of Trident but work for a nuclear-free world.

Policy promises from the smaller parties

Scottish National party
Push for Scotland to remain in the EU single market after Brexit.
A second Scottish independence referendum after Brexit.
Return the deficit to its “pre-crash long-term average” of 2.3 per cent of GDP.
Scottish parliament to have control over immigration.
Push for selective pledges for Scottish residents, such as increasing NHS Scotland budget by £2bn.
No selective schools in Scotland.

Liberal Democrats
Call a second referendum over the terms of Brexit. Push to maintain freedom of movement and guarantee the rights of EU nationals in the UK.
Eliminate the deficit by 2020.
Increase income tax by 1p.
Reintroduce maintenance grants for university students but no decrease in tuition fees.
Introduce a new “rent-to-own” scheme to make house purchasing easier for first-time buyers.
Introduce a legal, regulated market for cannabis.

UK Independence party
Introduce a “one in, one out” immigration system. Ban low-skilled immigration for five years after Brexit.
Refuse to pay Brussels in any Brexit deal.
By 2021-22 provide an extra £9bn a year for NHS England and £2bn a year for social care.
Repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act and support an energy market based on fossil fuels, nuclear and some renewables.
Abolish tuition fees for science undergraduates and aim to scrap all tuition fees.