Lib Dems launch election manifesto with pledge ‘to save the NHS’

The Liberal Democrats have become the first of the big parties to launch their election manifesto, with a pitch to voters based on boosting the NHS and social care.

They also promised that – unlike Labour and the Tories – their plans were fully costed.

Speaking at a glitzy launch event in north London, the party’s leader, Ed Davey, told voters that electing enough Lib Dem MPs would bring “a strong liberal voice pushing for these policies” and could make a notable difference even with an expected Labour majority.

The 116-page manifesto has been launched alongside a costings document, which pledges increased capital gains tax for very wealthy people, plus new levies on aviation, energy companies and banks.

Davey said this would pay for policies particularly focused on health and care, including guarantees about seeing GPs and dentists, free-to-access social care and more mental health support.

“We are putting forward a bold, ambitious and fully costed plan to tackle the healthcare crisis from top to bottom. This is a manifesto to save the NHS,” Davey told an audience of journalists and Lib Dem candidates and staffers.

As well as a series of green pledges, including an urgent programme of home insulation and retrofitting, and policies on the cost of living, such as a pledge on free school meals, the manifesto also takes in traditional Lib Dem areas such as political reform and Europe.

On the first, Davey said he hoped to “transform the nature of British politics itself”, both by introducing a proportional representation voting system, and by capping donations and thus “getting big money out of politics”.

On Brexit, while the Lib Dems primary pledge in the 2019 election was to annul the departure from the EU without a second referendum, the 2024 manifesto does not mention the issue until more than 100 pages in.

Quizzed by reporters, Davey said that while rejoining the EU remained the party’s goal “in the long term”, this would only ever be done in stages, starting with moves to improve the existing trade deal with Europe, and to push for easier freedom of movement for young people.

“You can’t have a timeline – you’ve got to rebuild that relationship,” he said.

As the party released a document setting out its costings, it challenged the other main parties to do the same. There is criticism that they are engaged in a “conspiracy of silence” over the scale of the economic challenge ahead.

The Lib Dems’ plan to overhaul capital gains tax to raise £5.2bn for the NHS by 2028-29 makes them the first party to announce a big tax change as part of their spending plans.

Davey said the change would “make tax fairer” and would only hit the wealthiest, with those on lower incomes protected by an increase in the annual tax-free allowance to £5,000.

The party said plans would also be funded by reversing the Tories’ £4.2bn cuts to bank taxes, a £2.1bn windfall tax on oil and gas profits and £2bn from raising the digital services tax on tech companies.

The Lib Dems would also reform aviation taxes on international flights, raising a planned £3.6bn. They said that families flying abroad one or twice a year would pay less, those who travelled three times would pay about the same.

Those who took four or more flights abroad a year – less than 4% of the population, many of them on business flights – would pay more. The party hopes this could eventually encourage fewer flights.

Davey set out plans to raise £7.2bn from tackling tax avoidance, but would first invest £1bn in HMRC to improve its efficiency.

The Lib Dem leader has already ruled out any increase in income tax, national insurance or VAT, but party sources insisted they were taking a “cautious” approach to their costings, which did not include the benefits of growth.