Theresa May vows to target fatcats, phone firms and landlords who rip off struggling Brits in Conservative election manifesto
PM's pledge to help struggling Brits is part of a drive to shift the Tories to Left — and follows her pledge to cap energy bills
THERESA May will vow to target fat cat railways bosses, phone firms, landlords and lawyers who are ripping off struggling families.
The PM pledges to tackle a stunning range of rigged markets to ease the spiralling cost of living crisis.
Her action will be one of the gems of the Tories' general election manifesto – unveiled on Thursday.
The sweeping reforms follow a promise the Conservatives boss has already made to cap soaring energy bills.
The scale of Mrs May’s desire to use the power of the state to intervene in failing markets will stun some traditional Tories who want to shrink the government’s reach.
The drive is one of a series of new centre ground policies that Mrs May will unveil as she shifts to the left – leaving her dubbed a ‘red Tory’.
The Tories manifesto will also:
- SCRAP £200 a year Winter Fuel Payments for the considerable majority of Britain’s 12million pensioners
- USE the billions to guarantee any poorer OAPs with cash and assets of less than £100,000 will be exempt from care charges
- END the pension triple lock which guarantees a minimum annual rise in state pensions, to take on 'inter-generational unfairness'
- ABANDON a pledge not to raise National Insurance Contributions — but recommit the Tories to long-promised income tax cuts for basic and higher rate taxpayers.
- TOUGHEN immigration controls by doubling the charge companies must pay to bring skilled workers in from outside the EU.
Theresa May: 'I'll help you all, not just the few'
The PM has chosen a marginal Labour seat in West Yorks for her manifesto launch - in a declaration of intent to demolish Jeremy Corbyn’s traditional northern heartlands.
In another bid to colonise a new centre ground in politics, the manifesto is entitled ‘Forward Together’ – a slogan previously used by the Democrats’ US Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton as well as wartime PM Sir Winston Churchill.
The Tories’ manifesto will vow to confront the “five great challenges” that PM will say the country is facing.
They include Brexit, but also solving the social care time bomb, tackling social divisions, inter-generational unfairness and the problems that an ever more digital world throws up.
Signalling that the well off will take on the brunt of her reforms, Mrs May will warn that means she have “to be straight with people” and not offer easy answers.
Writing for The Sun, the PM also reveals the unusual move that she is dedicating the entire manifesto to ordinary working families who are just managing to get by.
Mrs May dubs them people “who want to get on with their lives” but “have been ignored by politicians for too long”.
She adds: “Under my leadership, they will no longer be ignored”.
The PM also declares in her atricle: “That’s why I am determined to cut the cost of living for ordinary working families and to intervene when markets are not working as they should”.
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On top of the energy bills cap, the manifesto will pledge to home-buying process to make it easier and cheaper will crackdown on rip off conveyancing and other legal fees.
There will also be action to help renters, by increasing good tenants’ security and ending unfair leaseholds.
Mobile phone firms will also be forced to make their billing fairer, including offering customers cheaper deals once new handsets have been paid off.
A fairer rail ticketing system currently being trialled will be rolled out nationwide, and Trains Ombudsman will be created to stand up for furious passengers.
There will also be a ban on companies cold calling people to encourage them to make fake personal injury claims will also be enforced, following cold-calling bans on pensions and charities.
And dodgy whiplash claims will also be targeted, to reduce the cost of insurance for ordinary motorists.
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