Below is a summary of the general election pledges made by the main political parties in England, Scotland and Wales. We have read them in full and pulled out the headlines across science, education and the economy relevant to Members and the wider science community. The prospect of a multi-party Government after 7th May means that none of the manifesto pledges below can be dismissed out of hand. The Coalition Agreement in 2010 shows there is no guarantee that an individual party’s manifesto pledges will become Government policy. The Science Council will keep Members updated of all post-general election policy activity.
On Jobs and Economic Growth
- Ring-fence health, education and international development budgets
- Maintain support for High-Speed 2
- Create a million green jobs over next ten years
- Greater powers to British Investment Bank and Green Investment Bank
- Limit unpaid internships to 4 weeks
- £30 billion to city and county regions for economic development, skills, employment, housing, and business support
- Increase the National Minimum Wage to over £8 by 2019
- Ring-fence health, education and international development budgets
- Deliver the National Infrastructure Plan
- Maintain skilled economic migration cap from outside the EU at 20,700 during the next Parliament
- Business Improvement Districts and Coastal Communities Fund to help cities and regions
- Raise target for SMEs’ share of central government procurement to one-third
- Real-term rise in National Minimum Wage in the next Parliament
- Permit borrowing to invest in national infrastructure
- Limit reductions in departmental spending to less than half the rate agreed for 2015/16.
- Continue to support Regional Growth Fund, Local Enterprise Partnerships, City Deals and Growth Deals
- Support the Green Investment Bank and create 250,000 low carbon jobs by 2020
- Supports Low Pay Commission to look at ways of raising the National Minimum Wage
United Kingdom Independence Party
- Not support High-Speed 2
- Limit highly-skilled work visas to 50,000 per annum
- Work Visas issued to skilled and key workers under an Australian-style points based system
- End EU relocation grants of up to €1,000 for migrants to come and work in Britain
- Enforce the National Minimum Wage
- Replace Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with Adjusted National Product (ANP) as a measure of economic success
- Create over 1 million jobs through programme of green investment
- Borrow £338 billion (in real 2015 terms) over the Parliament
- Limit unpaid internships to 4 weeks
- Investment in high-value manufacturing research and development including a manufacturing strategy
- 1% increase in capital infrastructure projects
- Increase the National Minimum Wage level to the Living Wage
- “Responsible increases in public spending” focused on Investment, Innovation, Inclusive Growth and Internationalisation
- Increase investment in infrastructure as part of job creation plan
- Commitment to greater dependence on renewable energy sources
- Seed-funding for Scottish Business Development Bank for investment in growth and innovation
- Support more City Deals
- Additional investment for superfast broadband and 4G
- Reduce employer National Insurance contributions and increase the National Minimum Wage to £8.70 by 2020
On Science and Innovation
- Committed to “reinforce Britain’s status as one of the world’s greatest centres of science and engineering”
- Introduce long-term funding policy framework for science and innovation – Science Council submission
- National Infrastructure Commission to assess science capital spending requirements
- Commitment to invest in science and make Britain “the technology centre of Europe”
- Further resources for the Eight Great Technologies and Catapult Centres
- Greater regional capital investment
- An NHS at the frontier of science, offering you new drugs and treatments
- Implement findings of the Innovative Medicines and Medical Technology Review
- Ring-fence science capital and revenue budgets
- Investment in more Catapult centres
- Greater support for green innovation giving a higher priority to R&D for low carbon innovation
- More funding for dementia research and publish a Mental Health Research Strategy
United Kingdom Independence Party
- Invest extra £130 million a year into researching and treating dementia by 2017
- Support GM research
- Increase public spending on scientific research to 1.0% of GDP over the next ten years
- Greater public funding for research on climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss
- Support a moratorium, at national and EU level on the use of genetically modified organisms
- Use government purchasing power to support open standards in information technology
- Oppose GMO research
On Science in Government
- Greater application of digital technology to reform public services
- Support a science-led approach to GM foods and the use of pesticides
- Move more government services online
- Introduce Technology Impact Assessments to evaluate implications of Government activity
- Cabinet Committee to coordinate action on cross-cutting challenges such as climate change
- Evidence-based policy for NHS targets, health screening programmes and other health issues
- Establish a new Ministerial-led Innovation Forum
On Schools and Education
- A new system of careers advice, offering face-to-face guidance on routes into university and apprenticeships
- All teachers will need to gain qualified teacher status
- An end to the Free Schools programme
- Establish a network of Directors of School Standards at a local level
- Commit to creating a profession-led Royal College of Teachers
- Continue to expand programme of academies, free schools, studio schools and University Technical Colleges.
- Train extra 17,500 maths and physics teachers to 2020 and introducing bursaries for the most in-demand subjects
- Commit to creating a profession-led Royal College of Teachers
- Encourage schools to have more science specialists among the staff
- Independent Educational Standards Authority (ESA) responsible for curriculum content and examination standards.
- Funded entitlement to professional development for all teachers
- Require every teacher in a state funded school to hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or be working towards it by Sept 2016
- Promote the take up of STEM subjects in schools and retain coding on the National Curriculum
- Commit to creating a profession-led Royal College of Teachers
United Kingdom Independence Party
- Require every primary school to nominate (and train if necessary) a science leader
- Re-introduce GCSE Mathematics Intermediate tier
- Abolish AS level exams
- Allow institutions to become vocational schools or colleges
- Restore education funding to 2010 levels in real-terms
- Place academies and free schools under Local Authority control
- No introduction of higher education tuition fees for STEM subjects
- Re-introduce post-study work visas for two years for students who have qualified from Welsh universities
- Expand Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for an extra 10,000 school pupils and 12,000 college students
On Apprenticeships and Further Education
- A guarantee that every school leaver that gets the grades will be offered an apprenticeship
- Improve employer control over apprenticeships funding and standards
- Large government contracts will require companies to offer apprenticeships
- Focus spending on new entrants with apprenticeships lasting at least two years at Level 3
- Transform high performing FE colleges into new specialist Institutes of Technical Education to deliver the Technical Baccalaureate and higher-level skills
- Gold-standard Technical Baccalaureate for 16 to 18 year olds
- Create 3 million new apprenticeships in the next Parliament including trebling those in food, farming and agri-tech sectors
- Eliminate employers' National Insurance contributions for those under 25
- Double the number of employers who take on apprentices
- Improve employer control over design and delivery of apprenticeships
- Extending Apprenticeship Grant for Employers for the remainder of the next Parliament to deliver 200,000 grants to employers
- Expand the number of degree-equivalent Higher Apprenticeships, foundation degrees, HNDs/HNCs
- Establish a cross-party commission on reskilling and lifelong learning
United Kingdom Independence Party
- Introduce an option for students to take an apprenticeship qualification instead of four non-core GCSEs
- Prioritise skills needed to build a low-carbon economy
- Extra £1.5 billion a year for FE funding
- Reinstate duty to provide an apprenticeship to all qualified young people under 25 and increase funding for apprenticeships by 30%
- Reinstate Education Maintenance Allowance for 16 and 17 year olds
- Establish a Green Skills College to support skills in the ‘green’ economy
- Provide training or employment to all 25’s that are out of work for more than four months
- Introduce a Citizens’ Service, focusing on skills and learning
- Increase Modern Apprenticeships from 25,000 to 30,000 each year by 2020
- Increase minimum wage for Apprenticeships
On Higher Education
- Reduce tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 a year
- Prioritise new Technical Degrees co-funded, co-designed and co-delivered by employers
- Toughen immigration controls but continue to attract international students to the UK
- Continue with existing tuition fees policy
- Review highly trusted sponsor system for student visas
- Introduce a national postgraduate loan system for taught masters and PhD courses.
- Encourage universities to offer more two-year courses
- Improve the Key Information Set and explore the option of a standardised student contract.
- Legislation to reform regulation of the higher education sector
- Develop a comprehensive credit accumulation and transfer framework to help students transfer between and within institutions
- Establish a review of higher education finance within the next Parliament
- Reinstate post-study work visas for STEM graduates who can find graduate-level employment within six months of completing their degree
- Separate students within official immigration statistics
United Kingdom Independence Party
- Waive tuition fees for science; technology; engineering; maths or medicine students (STEMM)
- No increase in number of undergraduate courses until sufficient vacancies in the economy to provide at least two-thirds of students with skilled graduate jobs
- Adjust the number of STEMM subjects funded to allow for a greater uptake of STEMM subjects.
- International students categorised separately in immigration figures and will require private health insurance for the period of their study
- Review of institutions eligible to enroll international students
- End undergraduate tuition fees, cancelling student debt and re-introducing student grants
- Re-introduce the block grant to universities to support teaching and learning across the sciences and humanities
- Continue with free university education
- Re-introduce post-study work visa for international students
Other Manifesto pledges of note
- All police officers will be required to become Chartered Officers, holding a registration with the College of Policing
- Replace the House of Lords with a Senate of the Nations and Regions
- Ban MPs from holding paid directorships and consultancies
- Elected House of Lords not a priority in the next Parliament and a pledge to “shrink the Civil Service”
- Complete the network of Marine Conservation Zones to create a UK Blue Belt of protected sites
- Develop a 25 Year Biodiversity strategy
- Halt further building of onshore windfarms
- Give more devolve powers to Scotland and Wales
- European Union referendum in 2017
- Reduce the number of peers in the House of Lords and further reform based on the proposals in the 2012 House of Lords Reform Bill and reduce the number of MPs
- Undertake a post-legislative review of the 2013 Defamation Act
- “Raise the professional status and training of care home managers through statutory licensing”
United Kingdom Independence Party
- Reduce House of Commons and the number of secretaries of state, ministers and parliamentary undersecretaries-of-state
- Commons Select Committees power to approve and veto appointment of ministers, senior civil servant or senior diplomats
- Abolish Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Department for International Development, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and cut departmental running costs where they do not deliver value for money
- Elected House of Lords through Proportional Representation
- Repeal the Lobbying Act to remove restrictions on civil society organisations
- Welsh Migration Service to track skills shortages not currently met by Welsh workers
- Remove restrictions on campaigning charities on their activities as ‘non-party campaigners’
