AT-A-GLANCE: Here's everything new that the Conservatives announced at 2019 conference
9 min read
All eyes were on Boris Johnson unveiling his Brexit plan at this year's Tory conference - but the party also laid out a string of domestic policies over the four-day affair.
HEALTH
The Government pledged £13bn to build and revamp 40 hospitals within a decade, hailing it as the “biggest hospital building programme in a generation”. Six hospitals will receive £2.7bn for the first phase of the project aimed to be completed by 2025, while a further 34 hospitals will receive £100m in seed funding.
Facilities such as Whipp's Cross University Hospital in London, which Boris Johnson visited last month, and Leeds General Infirmary are among those in line for the upgrades, while Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and community hospitals around the UK have also been earmarked.
A further £200m has been set aside for replacing MRI, CT scanners and breast cancer screening equipment.
But Health Secretary Matt Hancock was accused of “spin” as he admitted that funding for 34 out of 40 hospitals “will come in future” rather than immediately.
Ministers also announced a renewed focus on mental health support, with trials of extra housing, work and psychological support in 12 areas across the country.
The pilots will receive a £70m cash boost and an extra 1,000 specialist staff are expected to be recruited for the trial.
Meanwhile Mr Hancock also hinted that vaccines for school children could become compulsory, saying there was a “very strong argument” for forcing parents to get their kids immunised after the UK lost its measles-free status earlier this year. Number 10 was less firm, however, in a briefing to reporters the following day.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
In a spending splurge, Sajid Javid committed cash to bring on an “infrastructure revolution”, boost youth services and up the national living wage by 2024.
In his keynote speech, the Chancellor vowed £220 million to transform bus services, as part of a £25bn infrastructure upgrade that will also see 14 new local road schemes and a £5bn initiative to roll-out 5G and other gigabit-capable networks in the hardest-to-reach 20% of the country.
“Infrastructure is the foundation of everything," Mr Javid said.
Labour blasted the commitment’s focus on roads over public transport as making a “mockery of the Tories’ so-called green credentials.''
Elsewhere, Mr Javid meanwhile promised a £500m fund to support youth centres and programmes.
Through a new ‘Youth Investment Fund’ the Government wants to build up to 60 new youth centres, 100 new mobile facilities and upgrade a further 360 existing hubs.
The Chancellor pitched it as providing “somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to” alongside investing in the youth workforce.
Young people also are set to benefit from the party’s pledge to increase National Living Wage to £10.50 an hour by 2024.
Mr Javid confirmed the hike from the current rate £8.21 per hour, and it will be expanded to those aged 21 to “reward the hard work of all millenials”.
It currently applies to those aged 25 and over.
He said the policy would make the UK "the first major economy in the world to end low pay altogether".
Meanwhile, at a fringe event the Chancellor also dropped a hint that he could scrap inheritance tax.
He told the audience that his first Budget, which will take place this year, will “include tax changes”.
"Sensible changes have already been made, but it is something that’s on my mind,” he added.
HOUSING
Social housing tenants were also promised a foot on the property ladder as part of a wider housing shake-up unveiled at conference.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrik said those living in new housing association homes would be given the right to shared ownership under new plans.
The 2.6 million households affected will be given an automatic right to buy a share of their home, from 10% upwards, which can increase over time.
A sped-up ‘user-friendly approach’ to the planning system has also been proposed to make it easier for families to extend their homes as well as replace empty high street “eyesores” with modern houses.
“All too often the planning system proves complicated, outdated and bureaucratic and is too complex and costly for people and small businesses to navigate,” Mr Jenrick said.
The Housing Secretary also vowed to bring in a new building design guide, to introduce a national standard for councils to follow in delivering “beautiful” homes and communities.
EDUCATION
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson set out his ambition for Britain to overtake Germany on the number of further education opportunities open to those on non-academic routes.
The Cabinet minister pledged £120m to be invested in ‘Institutes of Technology’ planned across 20 cities in England, and vowed to focus on the “forgotten 50%” of the population who do not go to university.
The colleges will offer technical and vocational courses suited to the needs of local business.
Mr Williamson said a further eight specialist maths free schools, to boost “elite maths teaching” for 16-19-year-olds across England, would be set up, bringing the total number of such schools from two to 11.
“We’re going to super-charge Further Education and set our sights high," he said. "We will ensure equal focus is given to all young people, whether they choose the technical, vocational or academic routes.”
But the National Education Union said ambitions for better technical education “will come to nothing” unless more funding is found.
“Yet again announcements on education which are not backed up with the necessary funding to see their implementation or continued existence," the union warned.
WELFARE
Two pilot schemes to help disadvantaged young people into work were also confirmed during the Manchester conference.
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey pledged £4 million to help job seekers “find that dream job”, and tackle youth employment - starting with a trial programme in Manchester.
Extra time and resources will be pumped into helping young people facing the biggest barriers to getting a job, she said, including a focus on care leavers and young offenders.
The package also included investment for jobs apps to recommend the best positions, and offer skills training to users. The apps will also show local job centres and businesses useful information on the skills supply and demand in the region.
HOME AFFAIRS AND JUSTICE
Home Secretary Priti Patel confirmed plans to boost police taser powers, with £10m ring-fenced money for the move to roll out the devices to 60% of officers.
The Home Secretary said pledges from Boris Johnson’s Government will make sure the Tories are “re-established as the party of law and order”.
A further £20m was awarded to tackle county lines drug networks that exploit vulnerable people and children.
The fund will invest in technology to monitor vehicle registration plate data and assign teams within the British Transport Police to disrupt gang activities.
More powers will meanwhile be given to police to make it easier to seize cash obtained through crime.
And a further £25m was pledged for a “safer streets fund” to beef up CCTV and street lighting to curb crime hotspots.
Ms Patel also used her keynote speech to re-sell the party’s plans for 20,000 extra police officers and to introduce an Australian-style points system to end free movement after Brexit.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland meanwhile pledged to scrap automatic early release for violent and sexual offenders, as a part of a headline-grabbing blitz on soft sentences.
The Government vowed to bring an end to such offenders being released halway through their sentences, intead forcing them to serve two-thirds of their time behind bars.
It is estimated the policy will increase the prison population by 3,000 inmates. Mr Buckland said the move will “restore faith in the sentencing system” and keep the most dangerous criminals off the streets.
“Punishment and rehabilitation are not opposites," he said. "We have to do both."
ANIMAL WELFARE
A ban on keeping monkeys and other primates as pets will be phased in as part of a package of new measures to end animal cruelty.
Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers also unveiled plans to end long journeys of animals for slaughter, and work to end the import and export of trophies from hunting endangered animals.
Meanwhile, consultations will take place on the compulsory micro-chipping of pet cats, bringing them in line with safety rules for dogs.
Ms Villiers said: “High standards of animal welfare are one of the hallmarks of a civilised society...
“The measures we are announcing today will protect our animals in our homes, in agriculture, and in the wild."
ENVIRONMENT
Ministers also used the conference to talk up the Tories' green credentials and sell the party's “ambitious” plan to hit net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In a cross-department pledge, £1 billion will be invested into the auto industry to help it research and develop electric cars.
There was also a commitment to more green spaces and a fund for more ‘pocket parks’ across the UK.
The Government laid out plans to create a new ‘Great Northumberland Forest’ - where it aims for one million trees to be planted by 2024.
On housing, a new ‘Future Homes Standard’ was also unveiled to boost energy efficiency by 2025.
Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: "Today’s announcement is further evidence of the benefits of going green. The Conservatives are doing this properly: creating hundreds of thousands of low carbon jobs and growing our economy while successfully reducing emissions."
DEVOLUTION
The UK regions also got a look-in among the party’s new policies.
Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has announced that those in the mid-South west and the Causeway Coast and Glens will benefit from £163 million to boost economic growth, job creation and investment in local projects.
Scotland Secretary Alister Jack also pledged £25m for a new Growth Deal for Argyll and Bute, with deals for Falkirk and the Islands “to be announced in the near future”.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Overseas aid spending isn't always popular with the Tory grassroots, but this year's conference saw a committment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, children and new-born babies in the developing world by 2030.
International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said the Government would invest in vaccines, fund research into treatments and diagnoses for deadly diseases, and boost access to healthcare for women and girls to help meet the pledge.
It comes after the Government promised £600m to support family planning for women and girls at the United Nations General Assembly last month.
“Every 11 seconds, a pregnant woman or new-born baby dies somewhere in the world. These deaths are mostly preventable, and we should not allow this needless loss of life to continue,” Mr Sharma said.
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