General Election 2015: David Cameron declares the Tories the 'party of working people' as he unveils tax giveaways and goodies in manifesto
PM makes clear pitch for low-paid workers and young parents with pledge to take minimum wage out of income tax and doubling free childcare
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Your support makes all the difference.David Cameron declared the Conservatives the "real party of working people" as he unveiled a string of giveaways in the party's manifesto launch in Swindon.
He pledged to pass a law to take all those on the minimum wage out of income tax altogether and vowed to double the amount of free childcare for parents of three and four year-olds to 30-hours a week.
These offers aimed at the low-paid and young families added to his pledge to extend the right to buy housing association properties in a move designed to dispel the image of the Conservatives as the "party of the rich", allowing 1.3 million families in social housing to buy their homes.
As he attempted to change the tone of the Conservative party campaign, which has been criticised for its negativity so far, he said the Tories were the party to deliver "the good life" for British workers and families and claimed the Conservatives were "not just the party of low tax [but] the party of no tax".
Unlike his previous speeches on the campaign trail, Mr Cameron did not mention Ed Miliband and Labour, determined to put across a more positive message to voters.
Offering voters "a plan for every stage of your life," the Tory manifesto outlined the following key pledges:
Take everyone earning less than £12,500 out of income tax altogether
A 7-day a week access to a GP to deliver a “truly 7-day NHS”.
£8 billion fund for the NHS by the end of the Parliament
Extension of the right to buy scheme to housing association and council house tenants, which will allow 1.3 million people buy their homes.
A freeze in rail fares for five years
Double the amount of free childcare to 30 hours a week for parents of three and four year-olds, worth £5,000 for families, paid for by cutting back on pension relief for high earners.
No rise in VAT, national insurance contributions or income tax
Increase the 40p income tax threshold to £50,000
Extend income tax threshold to £500,000, giving married couples a combined tax-free inheritance to pass on of £1 million
3 million new apprenticeships
After a campaign which has been criticised as too negative, the Prime Minister was relentlessly positive, insisting that his plans offered renewed hope after the years of austerity.
"They're about realising the potential of Britain, not as a debt-addicted, welfare-burdened, steadily declining, once-great nation, which is what we found, but a country where a good life is there for everyone who is willing to work for it," he said.
"In Britain we've always shown that we have the ingredients, the will, above all the people, to overturn what is inevitable. And with a strengthening economy behind us, this buccaneering world-beating can-do country we can do it all over again.
"This is a great country and we can be a greater country still."
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