As we’re sure you already know, the Conservatives won the general election. So whether you voted for them or not, it’d be a good idea to brush up on your knowledge of their policies, current achievements and potential plans for the country.
We were looking at our own local manifesto for Milton Keynes, but if you live in a different area, you can find out about your local manifesto by clicking here.
On the subject of jobs, the conservatives have been trying to help to create more job opportunities in Milton Keynes South. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits has gone down by a chunk of 59% since 2010. That means that there are more people who have found work and are now employed, providing for themselves and their families. They have also helped to create 4650 apprenticeships in Milton Keynes South since 2010, helping young people to gain the skills they need to go into the career they want to in. We have hands on experience with the apprenticeship scheme, our own employee Jade came from an apprenticeship supplied in Milton Keynes and has been kept on, securing a job with us. So we can back the idea of the continued growth of apprenticeships.
More than £49,733,030 has been invested in creating new schools in Milton Keynes South to help young people get the best start in life that they can with their education. The Conservatives pledged that if they were to win, which they have, they would continue to give every child the best start in life by securing more good school locations and creating 3 million more apprenticeships by 2020.
The Conservatives started a scheme called “Help to Buy”, this scheme has already helped 312 families in Milton Keynes South to buy their own homes and pledged to extend it so that more families can get the security of their own homes. They also pledge to build 200,000 Starter homes and extend the “Right to Buy” to 1.3 million Housing Association tenants.
They also helped with gaining an investment of £140 million in the Southeast through the Regional Growth Fund, supporting 45,000 jobs. They say that they will improve the broadband for Brighton and Hove, Oxford, Portsmouth, Chelmsford, Southend, Milton Keynes, Reading and Southampton. They want to put £686 million of funding into various flooding defence projects in the South East and will support the £900 million redevelopment of Reading Station, they also want to put £778 million into the funding for improving local roads between 2015 and 2021.
The Conservatives have helped to cut income tax, 54,278 citizens of Milton Keynes South are now paying less income tax and keeping more of their wages to spend as they wish. They plan to keep cutting income tax by raising the tax-free allowance to £12,500 and increasing the 40p tax threshold so that nobody earning below £50,000 has to pay it.
There are 103,900 more businesses in the South East than there were in 2010, and 24 businesses in Milton Keynes South have received start up loans helping them to grow and create more jobs for our area. Conservatives want to keep backing businesses with lower taxes, less red tape and more start up loans.
So there is the basic rundown of schemes that the conservatives hope to put into action for Milton Keynes. If you need more information on any of the schemes above, here are some useful links to follow:
Help to Buy Scheme – http://www.helptobuy.org.uk/mortgage-guarantee/how-does-it-work
Right to Buy Scheme – https://www.gov.uk/right-to-buy-buying-your-council-home/overview
Regional Growth Fund – https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/regional-growth-fund
Written by Jade Turney – Building Tectonics Ltd.