Conservative and Plaid Cymru manifestos
Following the release of the Conservative manifesto the Tourism Alliance have produced an initial summary of tourism or tourism related issues so you and I don’t have to. Similar summaries of the Labour and Liberal Democrat manifesto were circulated last Friday. As we have members in Wales and by way of balance I have done a very brief summary of the more obvious tourism related elements within Plaid Cymru manifesto. The main Westminster parties have also issued versions of their own manifestos for Welsh voters.
Kurt Janson’s original summary reads:
Looking at the Conservative Party manifesto which is available on the following link:
The main tourism-related policies are:
- introduce a Australian-style points-based immigration system based on skills that prioritises people who have a good grasp of English, have been law-abiding citizens in their own countries and have good education and qualifications
- There will be fewer lower-skilled migrants and overall numbers will come down
- A student visa to help universities attract talented young people and allow those students to stay on to apply for work here after they graduate
- Enforcing charges on those come to the UK and use health services without contributing, doubling the budget for our health tourism enforcement unit.
- A new Towns Fund will help communities make sure their towns are safe to walk in and a pleasure to be in. It will be available to an initial 100 towns to improve their local economy
- Boost the high street by cutting business rates for small retail businesses and for local music venues, pubs and cinemas.
- A cultural capital programme of £250 million to support local libraries and regional museums.
- A £150 million Community Ownership Fund to encourage local takeovers of civic organisations or community assets that are under threat – local football clubs, but also pubs or post offices.
- £100 billion in additional infrastructure spending – on roads, rail and other responsible, productive investment including many regional rail initiatives
- Invest £1 billion in completing a fast-charging network to ensure that everyone is within 30 miles of a rapid electric vehicle charging station.
- Consult on the earliest date we can phase out the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars, while minimising the impact on drivers and businesses
- Restore many of the Beeching lines, reconnecting smaller towns
- Heathrow can go ahead provided that it can demonstrate that it can meet its air quality and noise obligations
- Use new air traffic control technology to cut the time aircraft spend waiting to land, reducing delays, noise nuisance and pollution
- Build on Britain’s pioneering work in electric and low-carbon flight
- Bring full fibre and gigabitcapable broadband to every home and business across the UK by 2025
- Publish an English Devolution White Paper next year
- Cut the burden of tax on business by reducing business rates via a fundamental review of the system.
- Increase the Employment Allowance for small businesses
- Yet another Red Tape Challenge to ensure that regulation is sensible and proportionate
- Look at improving the working of the Apprenticeship Levy.
- Launch a review to explore better support for the self-employed.
- Create a new National Skills Fund worth £3 billion over the next Parliament to provide matching funding for individuals and SMEs for high-quality education and training.
- Invest in the bus network to improve infrequent or non-existent services in the countryside, including more on-demand services.
- Create new National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- Devolve responsibility for corporation tax and consider the same for short-haul Air Passenger Duty for Northern Ireland
- Review alcohol duty to ensure that the tax system is supporting British drink producers
The Plaid Cymru manifesto 2019 can be accessed at: https://www.partyof.wales/full_manifesto
The Party are campaigning on a remain ticket which explicit implications for issues like migration policy. Their tourism related policies include:
- Free entry to museums
- Create a National Digital Library for Wales
- Work with National Museums Wales to create a dedicated National Gallery for Contemporary Art.
- Make 1st March a national St David’s Day bank holiday
- A range of proposals on education, training and improved apprenticeships
- Investment in transport and digital infrastructure
- Investment in a national electric vehicle charging network
- Advance carbon neutral targets to 2030
- Ensure that Wales transitions to a low carbon, nature friendly
economy - Develop a package of environmental and fiscal reforms to aid the
transition to a greener economy - Encourage private sector investment in new green technologies.
British Destinations 