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DITCHING DAVE

11 ways Theresa May is binning David Cameron’s Tory 2015 manifesto with her blueprint for Brexit Britain

Comparing herself to Margaret Thatcher, the PM scrapped key pledges by her predecessor

THERESA May today used the Tory manifesto launch to distance herself from her predecessor by binning a raft of David Cameron's policies.

Comparing herself to Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister unveiled a radical social care plan, as well as an extra £8billion investment in the NHS.

 Theresa May used her manifesto launch to ditch a raft of David Cameron policies
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Theresa May used her manifesto launch to ditch a raft of David Cameron policiesCredit: Reuters

But some of the most eye-catching pledges in the document, entitled "Forward, Together", see her depart from Mr Cameron's doctrine of the past decade.

On stage in Halifax this morning she ditched his flagship triple lock on pensions, and scrapped his tax lock, a cornerstone of his 2015 manifesto offering.

Here are 11 ways she got one over the man she replaced in No10:

  1. Review the honours system: David Cameron used his resignation honours list to hand gongs to 46 of his former aides, Tory donors and ministers. May's manifesto pledges to review the honours system to make sure it commands public confidence, rewards genuine public service and that recipients uphold the integrity of the honours bestowed."
  2. Pensions Triple Lock: The Tory manifesto bins Mr Cameron’s commitment to raise the state pension by the rate of inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent a year – whichever is the highest. Mrs May has replaced it with a Double Lock - raising the state pension only in line with earnings or inflation.
  3. Tax lock: May has also ditched Cameron’s tax lock - which barred rises in income tax, VAT and National Insurance. While May has ruled out hiking VAT and recommitted to cutting income tax, she has opened the door to raising national insurance contributions.
  4. Deficit: The 2017 manifesto pledges to eliminate the deficit by 2025 - five years later than the target set out by Cameron and Osborne.
  5. Grammar schools: Today’s manifesto pledges to “end the ban on selective schools” - another snub of Cameron, who famously said that the party’s obsession with grammar schools was a “key test” of whether the party was fit for government.
  6. Foreign aid: May’s manifesto vows to “change the law” to get a “better definition” of foreign aid if the international community fails to “change the rules” to ensure development spending is more efficient. It was Cameron who enshrined the commitment to spend 0.7 per cent on foreign aid in UK law.
  7. Care cap: May abandoned Cameron’s 2015 election promise of a life-time cap on social care costs. Instead she has opted for a floor that protects the final £100,000 of a pensioner’s wealth. And in a dig at Cameron and Osborne, May said the social care problem is one that “successive governments failed to tackle”.
  8. Poverty: Cameron’s 2015 manifesto pledged to “eliminate child poverty”. May today watered down the pledge to say: “We want to reduce levels of child poverty”.
  9. Single market: May’s manifesto confirms she will take Britain out of Europe’s single market - another reverse of Cameron’s 2015 pledge to keep Britain in.
  10. Big Society: There was no mention of Cameron’s “Big Society” in May’s manifesto today. In 2015 and 2010 the former PM put it at the heart of his vision for government.
  11. David Davis: The Brexit Secretary was exiled to the backbenches throughout Cameron’s premiership after he beat the veteran Tory to win the 2005 leadership contest - but today Mrs May chose him to introduce her at her manifesto launch.
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