Health and Social Care

All three parties have emphasised the importance of care in the community, and the need to keep people out of hospitals. Illustrating this, all three parties have pledged the creation of a  mental health hub for children and young people in every community. Each manifesto also highlights the current challenges around primary care and the need for patients to see GPs more quickly, and commits to increasing the NHS workforce.

Labour

• Decrease waiting times: Labour have pledged to deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans and appointments per week in England – or 2 million per year. This will be delivered through more weekend and evening appointments, shared waiting lists across hospitals and the use of the private sector where possible.
• Increase workforce: Labour have committed to recruiting 8,500 more mental health staff in their first term, as well as creating 7,500 more medical school places and 10,000 more nursing and midwifery clinical placements per year. They have also pledged to create a Neighbourhood NHS Workforce by doubling the number of district nurses and training 5,000 more health visitors. The aim of this Neighbourhood Workforce is to support community care and timely discharge ​from hospitals, helping people receive care closer to the home.   
• Create community hubs and centres: Labour have promised to trial Neighbourhood Health Centres to bring together multiple healthcare professionals under one roof, and to create an open-access mental health hub for children and young people in every community. 
• Set up a National Care Service: Labour have pledged to develop a National Care Service which further embeds  “home first” care, to keep people out of hospital for longer.  

Conservatives

• Improve access to GPs: The Conservatives have pledge to build or redevelop at least 250 GP surgeries across the country. This would be targeted at areas with growing populations due to new housing developments. 
• Increase community diagnostic centres: The Conservatives would build 50 more community diagnostic centres in the next five years.  
• Increase workforce: The Conservatives have committed to recruit 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors, in line with the existing NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.  
• Create community mental health hubs: Early support hubs for those aged 11-25 would be opened in every community.  

Liberal Democrats 

• Improve access to GPs: The Lib Dems have pledged that everyone will be able to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if the issue is urgent. 8,000 more GPs will be recruited to deliver this. 
• Increase investment in hospitals: The Lib Dems have promised to create 1,000 new hospital beds and invest further in A&E departments.  
• Improve cancer survival rates: The Lib Dems guarantee that all patients will start treatment for cancer within 62 days of an urgent referral.  
• Support children and young people’s mental health: The Lib Dems have pledged to open walk-in hubs for children and young people in every community, and to ensure all schools have a mental health professional. 
• Free personal care: The Lib Dems have pledged to introduce free personal care, in line with the model introduced in Scotland in 2002 by the  Scottish Liberal Democrat-Labour government.  

Housing

Each manifesto clearly commits to building more houses. While Labour have pledged to create New Towns, the Lib Dems have instead promised ten more garden cities. The parties have also made commitments to people who rent, including banning no fault evictions.

Labour 

• Build new homes: Labour have promised to build 1.5m new homes in England during the next five years. 
• Create New Towns: Labour have pledged to set up a New Town Commission within their first six months in office, to identify the location of possible new towns for development. The towns would need to include at least 40% affordable housing. 
• Support renters: Labour have promised to end no-fault evictions. 

Conservatives 

• Build new homes: Like Labour, the Conservatives have committed to building 1.6 million new homes in the next five years. Brownfield land in large cities will be targeted, including London. 
• Support renters: The Conservatives have promised to end no-fault evictions, as they did in 2019. 

Liberal Democrats 

• Build new homes: The Lib Dems have committed to increase the building of homes up to 380,000 a year. 150,000 of these would be social homes. 
• Build new cities: The Lib Dems have pledged to build ten new garden cities.  
• Support renters: No fault evictions would be banned by the Lib Dems, and three year tenancies made the default. 

Education

Much like the challenges with the NHS workforce, all three parties have pledged to work to recruit new teachers. The parties also explore education beyond secondary school, with promises related to apprenticeships and skill grants. 

Labour 

• Increase workforce: Labour have promised to recruit and pay for an extra 6,500 teachers in England’s state schools. This will be paid for by introducing 20% VAT to private school fees. 

Conservatives 

• Support teacher recruitment: The Conservatives have promised to recruit new teachers in priority subjects through offering a £30,000 tax free bonus to new teachers over five years.  
• Focus on apprenticeships: The Conservatives have pledged to create 100,000 more apprenticeships.  

Liberal Democrats 

• Increase funding: The Lib Dems have pledged to increase funding per pupil above inflation every year and to triple the Early Years Pupil Premium to £1,000 a year.  
• Create a new Lifelong Skills Grant: The Lib Dems have promised to give all adults £5,000 to spend on education and training over the course of their lives. 

Public Transport and Railways

The need to improve railways comes across strongly, with the parties committing to setting up Great British Railways and delivering Northern Powerhouse rail. Other improvements to stations, such as improving disabled access and re-opening closed stations, are also highlighted.  

Labour 

• Set up Great British Railways: Labour would create an arm’s length public body to improve rail services and oversee day-to-day delivery of services.  

Conservatives 

• Set up Great British Railways: The Conservatives have pledged to create the arm’s length body. 

Liberal Democrats 

• Freeze rail fares: The Lib Dems have promised to freeze all rail fares and to simplify ticketing to ensure that all prices are fair and affordable.  

Conclusion  

All three manifestos promise to improve public services and tackle the challenges currently experienced in health and social care, housing, education and rail.  

While there are areas of divergence, all parties agree on the need to recruit more NHS staff and teachers, and to build new homes. In addition, the parties’ promises regarding health and social care emphasise the shift towards “home first” care and prevention as a way to improve patients’ experiences and reduce the strain on the NHS.  

However, there are clear differences in how this change would come about, and how it would be funded. We’ll need to wait until after July 4th to truly see how this promised transformation will come about.