BRITAIN
TOGETHER
UKIP
2017
MANIFESTO
www.ukip.org/manifesto2017

Britain Together | 3
Britain Together
I have always believed that
UKIP is at its best when it is
being radical. It is strongest
when it is being bold and
leading the political agenda
rather than following.
We have done this on
numerous occasions over
the years: when we first said
that Britain could not only
survive but prosper outside the
European Union, the political
class laughed at us. When we
spoke of the need for a pointsbased
system for migrants
we were derided as racists
and xenophobes by the same
people. This is now government
policy for non-EU migrants.
In many ways, UKIP was a
decade ahead of its time
on these issues and in this
manifesto UKIP is once again
setting the agenda.
Be it our stance on balanced
migration, constitutional reform
or integration, I predict we are
leading where the other parties
will eventually follow.
On major issues of the day,
immigration, the economy, our
health service and law and
order, the old parties have raised
the expectations of the public
during election time, only to let
them down, time and time again.
You can guarantee that when
UKIP says something, we
mean it.
This is a unique general
election: it is about how the
Brexit negotiations will be
handled in the years to come
and this makes UKIP more
important than ever before.
We are the country’s insurance
policy, the guard dogs of Brexit.
We have fought for Brexit all our
political lives and we want to
ensure that the people get the
kind of Brexit they voted for on
23rd June last year.
This does not mean we just
control immigration and reduce
the numbers of people coming
to our country. It means we are
not saddled with a huge divorce
bill, we reclaim our waters, and
we become a free independent
nation once again.
If the Prime Minister – who
campaigned to Remain in
the EU referendum– begins
to backslide during the Brexit
negotiations, she must know
that UKIP will be there.
If you believe in Britain, if you
believe in our values, and if you
believe in real Brexit, then vote
UKIP on 8th June.
If you believe in Britain,
if you believe in our values,
and if you believe in real
Brexit, then vote UKIP
on 8th June.
Paul Nuttall MEP
UKIP Party Leader
4 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Contents
3 Britain Together: Paul Nuttall, UKIP Leader
5 Introduction to the 2017 UKIP Manifesto
6 Brexit Britain: The Key Tests
10 Sound National Finances, A Lower Cost of Living
13 Backing Business and Investing in British Jobs
15 Creating Coastal Enterprise Zones
16 Solving Britain’s Housing Shortage
18 Defending our National Health Service
21 Britain’s Challenging Mental Health Crisis
24 A Brighter Future for Our Next Generation
27 Caring for Young Children; Supporting Families
29 Meeting our Responsibilities to
the Elderly and the Disabled
32 Fair, Balanced Migration
35 Britain United Under One Law for All
39 Policing, Prison, Punishment
42 Britain’s New Role in the World
44 Defending Our Nation, Supporting Our Veterans
47 Trade, Not Aid
50 Transport: Keeping Britain Moving
52 Protecting Our Environment
54 Food Production and Animal Welfare
56 Our Future Energy Security
58 Real Democracy
61 Keeping it Local
62 UKIP’s Five Year Fiscal Plan
Britain Together | 5
At the last general election,
leaving the European Union
was UKIP’s dream. When
we produced the UK’s
first ever fully costed and
independently verified
manifesto, we outlined a vision
of how strong and democratic
Britain could be if we grasped
the opportunity to become an
independent, sovereign nation
once again. Now, Article 50
has been triggered, and we
dare to believe our dream will
become reality within the
next two years.
UKIP sets out in this manifesto
six ‘Brexit Tests’ which need
to be passed before we can
say we are finally free of the
EU. Whoever forms the next
government must take note.
While some parties tear up their
previous manifestos, UKIP is
a party that likes to stick to its
principles. The £35 billion we
will use to finance our public
spending priorities has again
come from reasonable cuts
to the foreign aid budget,
scrapping HS2, amending the
Barnett Formula and the savings
we will make in two years’
time by leaving the EU. For the
second general election in a
row, UKIP’s spending proposals
do not involve raising any taxes.
UKIP’s policies have been
developed not to catch the
public imagination – although
we think they will – but to deliver
what Britain really needs and
what we can afford. These are
our spending priorities for the
next parliament:
• Invest an extra £11 billion
every year into the NHS and
social care by the end of
the next parliament, raising
caps on medical school
and nurse training places,
and increasing funding for
mental health and dementia
• Raise the threshold for
paying income tax to
£13,500, cut taxes for
middle earners, abolish the
TV licence and cut VAT on
household bills
• Scrap tuition fees for
science, technology,
engineering, mathematics,
and medicine students
• Provide up to 100,000 new
homes for younger people
every year
• Maintain all pensioner
benefits and the pensions
Triple Lock
• Protect disability and
carer’s benefits
• Spend a genuine two per
cent of GDP on defence,
plus £1 billion every year
• Fund 20,000 more police
officers, 7,000 more prison
officers, and 4,000 more
border force staff
• Revive our coastal
communities and
fishing villages
• Cut Business Rates for the
smallest businesses
• Commission a dedicated
hospital ship to assist our
armed forces and deliver
humanitarian medical
assistance worldwide
Then there are the policies that
only UKIP is prepared to commit
to: reducing net migration to zero,
putting integration at the top of
the political agenda, abolishing
the House of Lords and creating
an English parliament.
Our country needs radical
social, economic, and
democratic change. Brexit
heralds a huge potential to
shake things up, but it will
take a political party like UKIP
to stand up to the tyranny of
the status quo, if we are really
to pull Britain Together.
Introduction to Our Manifesto
Suzanne Evans
Deputy Chair, Policy
6 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Brexit Britain: The Key Tests
UKIP believes the UK should have already left
the EU, and that following the Article 50
process will lead us to make too many
concessions to Brussels. Theresa May has
already shown signs of capitulating on key
issues such as immigration and freeing the UK
from the jurisdiction of the European Courts.
What concessions will she make next?
Theresa May should not be allowing the EU to
influence how, when, and on what terms we leave.
Ours is a position of inherent strength, and we
should be acting from that position of strength, not
giving up before negotiations have even begun.
HOW BRITAIN COULD, AND STILL
SHOULD, LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION
Repealing the European Communities Act
(1972) should be the first, not the last step in
the leaving process. There is no legal or moral
obligation to use Article 50; we have the legal
right to withdraw from the EU unilaterally.
Article 50 is a trap designed to obstruct countries
from leaving the EU. The longer the leaving
process lasts, the greater the chance of the
Referendum decision being overturned. May’s
decision not to implement the decision of the
Referendum as quickly as possible, but follow a
slow route that suits the EU, is very worrying.
By repealing the 1972 Act we could immediately
take back control of key policy areas such as
immigration and border controls, fishing, farming,
trade, security and defence, and police and
criminal justice. All EU laws could remain in place
temporarily, until they are repealed individually,
amended , or allowed to stand.
UKIP has set out six key Brexit tests and until each one of them has
been met, we will not have the Brexit the British people voted for on
23rd June last year. One of the most crucial tests is regaining the
fishing rights Britain has under international law. The Conservatives
already look to be backsliding on this.
More than 17 million of us voted ‘Leave,’
giving the government the largest
democratic mandate in the history of
British politics. There should be no question
of turning back, yet the Tories are leaving the
door to the EU wide open. UKIP is
the only party that will genuinely respect
the referendum result.
Gerard Batten MEP, Brexit Spokesman
Britain Together | 7
Brexit Britain: The Key Tests
THE OPEN DOOR TO THE
2019 EU ELECTIONS
By now, a Bill for the repeal of
the European Elections Act
(2002) should have been placed
before parliament, to ensure
no British national can stand
for election to the European
Parliament in 2019. This would
have been a clear sign that there
is no going back on Brexit, yet
this has not happened.
THE EU PLAN TO STOP
US LEAVING
Article 50 is not just a two-year
process, as it makes provision
for negotiations to extend for
an indefinite time beyond that.
We are likely to find ourselves
facing protracted and tortuous
negotiations with a recalcitrant,
bullying EU for quite some time.
The EU has no incentive to
negotiate a ‘good deal’ for the
UK because it does not want
us to leave.
The UK has massive exposure
to the liabilities of the European
Central Bank, the European
Investment Bank, and various
other ‘financial mechanisms’ of
the EU so long as we remain a
member. We will be expected
to contribute to any Eurozone
bailouts. The EU will also have
to plug a huge financial hole of
some 12 per cent of the gross
EU budget when Britain leaves.
These are just two very good
reasons for the EU to keep us
dangling on the hook for as
long as possible.
The longer the EU can
keep Britain in, the greater
the opportunity for a new
government to reverse the
referendum decision, or sign
up to some kind of associated
membership agreement which,
to all intents and purposes, will
be just like EU membership.
THERE MUST BE NO
COMPROMISE ON BREXIT
Our government and our
parliament should implement
the referendum decision
according to our own
requirements, and then agree
the terms of our separation.
If Theresa May signs a
withdrawal agreement
which means we will leave
in name but not in substance,
she will have betrayed
Britain to the EU, just as every
Prime Minister has done
since 1972.
The fact that the political
class is choosing to dance
to Brussels’ tune proves
UKIP is the only political
party in Britain you can
trust to deliver a true,
unequivocal Brexit.
1 THE LEGAL TEST
Parliament must resume its supremacy of law-making
without restriction. Britain must be completely free from
the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and we
must be free, if we wish, to relinquish our membership of
the European Court of Human Rights.
2 THE MIGRATION TEST
Britain must have full control of immigration and asylum
policies, and border control. We must be not be bound
by any freedom of movement obligation, and we must be
free to set and meet our own annual migration targets.
3 THE MARITIME TEST
The UK’s full maritime sovereignty must be restored and
we must have control of our maritime exclusive economic
zone, which stretches 200 miles off the coast or to
the half-way point between the UK and neighbouring
countries. There must be no constraints on our fishing
fleet other than those decided upon by the UK parliament.
4 THE TRADE TEST
The UK must retake its seat on the World Trade
Organisation and resume its sovereign right to sign
trade agreements with other entities or supra-national
bodies. We must have full rights to set our own tariff
and non-tariff barriers consistent with WTO rules, and
we must have left both the EU single market and the
customs union.
5 THE MONEY TEST
We must not pay any ‘divorce’ payment to the EU, nor
contribute to the EU budget. We must have been paid
our share of financial assets from entities such as the
European Investment Bank, in which some £9 billion of
UK money is vested.
6 THE TIME TEST
Brexit must be done and dusted before the end of 2019.
Our SIX Brexit Tests
Only when the government has passed all these tests can we be sure
the British people have got the deal they voted for on June 23rd 2016:
Once we have left the
EU, we will not allow
the EU flag to be flown
from public buildings.
We will declare 23rd
June Independence
Day, and make it a
bank holiday.
8 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
RESTORING BRITAIN’S
FISHING INDUSTRY
Of all the tests for a ‘proper’ Brexit, taking back
control of our fisheries is key. The EU’s Common
Fisheries Policy is an environmental, economic
and social disaster that has devastated fishing
communities and caused catastrophic damage
to our maritime ecology. Until we have control
of our seas and our fish stocks, we do not
have Brexit.
The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was
cobbled together in 1970 as Denmark, Ireland,
Norway and the UK were on course to join the then
EEC. Together, these countries held 90 per cent of
Western European fish stocks. 80 per cent of those
stocks were British. It was a cynical but
legal way to seize the new entrants’ precious
marine resources.
The central tenet of the CFP, that there should be
non-negotiable ‘equal access’ to EEC/EU waters
was a condition of EEC/EU membership, Some
say Prime Minister Edward Heath committed an
act of treachery when he capitulated to the CFP;
certainly he allowed the UK’s territorial waters to
be plundered by industrialised fishing fleets, which
led to huge job and tax revenue losses from fishing
and ancillary industries.
The CFP has rightly been described as an
obscenity because of its reckless fishing quotas
and the discard policy. This requires fishermen
either to throw back into the seas dead fish caught
over quota, or to bring them back to port and send
them to landfill. Data on discards from Eurostat
show discards equate to some two billion fish
suppers thrown back into the sea every year. It is
environmental and economic madness.
Once we leave the EU, we can also leave the
CFP, take back control of our seas, and rebuild
our fishing industry.
THE 1964 LONDON CONVENTION
ON FISHING
UKIP will repeal this little-known convention, an
agreement between twelve European nations and
the UK, which recognises the historic fishing rights
of vessels from the contracting parties to fish in the
band of waters between six and twelve nautical
miles from the UK coast.
When the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy ceases to
apply, the UK will automatically establish control
of a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone giving our
fishermen sole access to the seas within 200 miles
of the UK coastline, or at the mid-point between two
countries’ coastlines. However, the existence of the
pre-EU 1964 Convention could offer a back door
to continued EU fishing in British waters, as vessels
belonging to signatory nations could cite this
legislation and claim ‘historic rights’ to fishing within
the 6 to 12 nautical mile band around the UK.
“Our fishing industry could be
worth £6.3 billion when we leave
the EU. Free of the Common
Fisheries Policy, we can take back
full control of the seas up to 200
miles from our coast, as is our
right under international law. We
can start to rebuild the onceflourishing
fishing industry that our
membership of the EU destroyed.”
Mike Hookem MEP,
Fishing Spokesman
Britain Together | 9
Brexit Britain: The Key Tests
The next government’s
willingness - or otherwise -
to revoke the 1964 London
Convention on Fishing
could be indicative of their
intentions for the fishing
industry in the post-Brexit era.
Article 15 of the Convention
calls for a two-year notice
period, so time is of the
essence, yet to date no action
has been taken.
SECURING THE FUTURE
OF OUR FISHERIES
Re-building our fishing industry
and repatriating one of our nation’s
greatest renewable resources will
take time but it could be worth
as much as £6.3 billion to the UK
economy in net-to-plate income
alone. This is a golden opportunity
for Britain: our fisheries must not
be used as a bargaining chip in EU
exit negotiations
To take back full control of our
fisheries, UKIP will:
• Leave the CFP and withdraw
from the 1964 London
convention
• Restore the UK Exclusive
Economic Zone in
accordance with
international law
• End the obscenity of
discards and make best use
of all fish caught
• Introduce a time-limited,
paid licence fee option for
selected foreign vessels to
fish within the UK’s territorial
waters, while the UK fishing
industry re-establishes itself
• Launch an inclusive,
collaborative consultation
with the fishing community
to draft a new Fisheries Bill
• Ensure all fish caught within
UK waters, including those
taken by foreign vessels
operating under licence,
are landed and sold in the
UK, to help finance and
attract investment in the
newly developing UK
fishing industry
• Create, train and equip a
new Fisheries Protection
Force, using a mixture of
technologies in sea-and
land-based methods, to
police the UK’s Exclusive
Economic Zone.
In addition to the economic,
environmental, and social gains
we will make in restoring our
fishing industry, Brexit also
offers a unique opportunity
to regenerate British boat and
shipbuilding. We could develop
our civil ship and boat building
programme in line with the
World Trade Organisation’s
Trade Related Technical
Assistance programme.
Brexit Britain offers a host of
opportunities, and nowhere
more so than in our fishing
industry. Reviving our proud
and profitable maritime
tradition will rejuvenate our
seaside towns, enhance our
coastline, produce muchneeded
skilled employment
in economically depressed
areas, and secure the future
for British fishermen.
The British Passport
In 1988, the blue British
passport was scrapped
and replaced by a smaller
burgundy EU one, a clear
step towards the creation
of a United States of
Europe. The British people
roundly rejected this plan
on 23rd June 2016.
UKIP will take the
opportunity to re-instate
the classic blue passport
when the British passport
contract comes up for
renewal in 2019.
10 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Sound National Finances,
a Lower Cost of Living
UKIP will make full use of the new
economic freedoms we will gain when
we leave the EU. The new policies we will
introduce in Brexit Britain will be designed
to help cut the cost of living for working
people, provide adequate funding for
public services, and revive communities
hardest hit by our EU membership.
Patrick O’Flynn MEP,
Economics Spokesman
UKIP will invest in the NHS and care for the elderly. We will fund our
schools, build more houses, and rebuild our depleted armed forces.
We will do this without adding a single penny to anyone’s tax bill.
Our cost-of-living package will also save households £400 a year.
Brexit means we can take back control of
those important areas of economic policy we
have been forced to surrender to the EU for
the last forty-five years. We will resume full
responsibility for taxation and have more room
for manoeuvre when it comes to industrial and
regional policy, without having to worry about
EU ‘state aid’ rules.
UKIP has always made the case for lower taxes and
an end to wasteful public spending programmes.
We will scrap white elephant vanity projects such
as HS2, replace the out-dated Barnett Formula
with a fair funding formula based on need, reduce
foreign aid to 0.2 per cent of Gross National
Income, and end our financial contributions to the
EU budget.
These savings will provide us with £35 billion to
fund our public service priorities. By keeping
taxation low and incentives for wealth creation
high, we will unleash the hardworking,
entrepreneurial instincts of the British people.
CUTTING THE COST OF LIVING
UKIP will remove VAT from domestic energy
bills and scrap the green levies currently added
to our bills to subsidise renewable energy
schemes. Together, these measures will cut
typical household energy bills by £170 a year.
Our plans to abolish the TV licence will
eventually save households another £147.
UKIP will phase out the licence fee over three
years, giving the BBC time to adopt a new funding
model based on subscription and/or advertising.
We will expect the BBC to retain a core free-to-air
offering on Freeview, maintain the World Service,
Britain Together | 11
Sound National Finances, a Lower Cost of Living
and its local radio network.
Grants from a new public service
broadcast fund, financed from
within current government
resources, will be available to
any broadcaster for specific
programmes or projects.
We will remove VAT from hot
takeaway food such as fish
and chips, and from women’s
sanitary products.
FAIRER, LOWER TAXES
Our economic approach
revolves around restoring
incentives for workers by cutting
taxes and ending the open door
immigration that keeps wages
low. Reducing the tax burden on
working people in the bottom
and middle ranges of the
income scale is our priority.
By the end of the next
parliament UKIP will raise
the personal allowance to
at least £13,500 so people
can earn enough money to
cover their basic living costs
before the state takes any
of their income. We will also
raise the 40 percent income
tax threshold to £55,000. A
tax originally designed for
high earners should not be
levied on middle-income
professionals such as teachers
and senior nurses. When
economic conditions allow,
we will restore the personal
allowance to those earning over
£100,000.
UKIP will raise the inheritance
tax threshold to £500,000
per individual, transferable
for a married couple or those
in civil partnerships, so up to
£1000,000 in total. Eventually
we want to eliminate
inheritance tax altogether.
We will also scrap Tory plans
for new and punitive probate
charges.
FLEXIBLE PENSIONS
FOR WOMEN
The rise in the retirement age to
66 by 2020 and to 67 by 2028
has been hugely unpopular,
especially for women, who
until 2010 could retire at 60.
UKIP’s policy is to introduce a
flexible state pension window,
so everyone can opt to retire
earlier, for a slightly lower state
pension, or work longer for a
slightly higher pension, as is the
case at the moment.
We will allow women to
retire on this basis at 60,
if they so wish.
Time and again you will see the Conservative Party
giving favourable treatment to the rich and powerful
and dumping on the up-and-comers. It is not an
attractive trait. UKIP’s economic agenda is to speak up
not just for the left behind but for the left out, those
who work hard and play by the rules but have no
special connections or market power.
12 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Sound National Finances, a Lower Cost of Living
CRACKING DOWN ON
CORPORATE TAX DODGING
The public has every right to be angry when multinational
corporations fail to make their proper
contribution to Britain’s running costs. PAYE is
not voluntary, and corporation tax should not be
voluntary either.
We will not let large companies get away with
paying zero or negligible corporation tax. When
we leave the EU, we will close the loophole
allowing businesses to pay tax in whichever
EU or associated country they choose, and
bring in any further measures necessary to
prevent large multinational corporations using
aggressive tax avoidance schemes.
UKIP is not in the pockets of big businesses and
we will make them pay their way.
BREXIT: THE BOOST TO THE ECONOMY
If Britain leaves the EU without a free trade
agreement and we trade with the EU on World
Trade Organisation terms, the Treasury will receive
a tax windfall of some £11 billion from import
tariffs annually. This bonus could be used to fund
an across the board cut in VAT to compensate
consumers for slightly higher prices, or other
spending priorities. In this event, UKIP will also:
• Encourage a Buy British campaign: if the
EU were seen to be punishing Britain, we
believe the home market would support home
produced goods
• Cut unnecessary EU regulation from the 88
per cent of the UK economy that is not linked
to trade with EU countries Prioritise free trade
agreements with non-EU countries.
RETURNING TO SOUND FINANCES
The annual public sector deficit may be reducing
slowly, but our national debt has been doubled by
the Conservatives, since they took office in 2010,
to a record high. There can be no more backsliding
on returning to sound public finances. We will
support deficit reduction schedules put forward
by the next government and vigorously oppose
unnecessary spending plans.
Only by backing enterprise, rewarding success
and tackling waste in the public sector can we
hope to improve the economic legacy we pass
on to future generations.
“Starbucks recently reported
profits of £13.4m on a UK turnover
of £380m. Its corporation tax
contribution fell to £2.7m, down
from £7m the year before. How can
a vast business that sells coffee
in paper cups all over the country
for £2.50 a pop end up paying
a corporation tax contribution
amounting to much less than one
per cent of turnover? Would the
taxman be happy to accept,
pro-rata, such a contribution from
an independent coffee shop? I think
we know the answer to that.”
Patrick O’Flynn MEP
Britain Together | 13
Backing Business and Investing in British Jobs
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party wants to squeeze as much tax as possible
out of British businesses and British workers to pay for their outlandish ideas.
Theresa May’s Conservatives are plotting hikes in dividend tax and Class IV
National Insurance contributions, and want to make small businesses file tax
returns four times a year. UKIP is the only party in this election prepared to
back British businesses and British workers and help both to thrive.
UKIP is strongly pro-business. Helping
businesses start, succeed, and compete in
the global marketplace is a priority for
us. Having long fought against excessive
regulations enforced by Brussels, we make the
case for clear-cut, sensible regulation to make
trading easier, balancing this with policies to
encourage ethical and responsible growth.
BACKING SMALL BUSINESSES
Britain’s 5.5 million small businesses are the
lifeblood of our economy, making up 60 per cent
of the jobs in the private sector, according to the
Federation of Small Businesses. UKIP will support
small businesses by:
• Cutting business rates by 20 per cent for
the 1.5 million British businesses operating
from premises with a rateable value of less
than £50,000
• Making HM Revenue and Customs investigate
big businesses or public sector bodies that
repeatedly make late payments to smaller
customers. Fines proportionate to the amount
of delayed payments will be levied, and will
escalate for repeat offenders
• Improve access to trade credit insurance
to remove the drag on growth for
businesses struggling to secure loans, and
give small traders the confidence to expand
their businesses
• Encourage local trade by pushing every local
authority in the country to offer at least 30
minutes’ free parking in town centres and
shopping parades.
We will also freeze Insurance Premium Tax.
Previous governments have raised this tax as an
easy way to make extra revenue, yet it cannot
be claimed back by businesses so increases
have been especially tough on smaller traders.
ACCESSING GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
Local, regional and national governments have
immense spending power totalling around
There needs to be a bonfire of excessive
EU regulation when we leave the EU
so smaller businesses can compete
successfully on the global stage.
UKIP is the only party that has any
real appetite for this.
Christopher Mills,
Business Spokesman
14 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Backing Business and Investing in British Jobs
£230 billion. While in the EU, they are required
to offer contracts right across Europe, which has
made it harder for British businesses to compete,
and forced them to jump through expensive
bureaucratic hoops.
Brexit offers the perfect opportunity to open up
government order books to smaller businesses,
and encourage local, regional and national
procurement strategies that will deliver better
value for taxpayers.
UKIP will launch an urgent independent review
of public sector procurement, with the aim of
opening public sector contracts up to small and
medium-sized businesses employing less than
250 people. Recommendations coming out
of this review will be put in place immediately
after we leave the EU.
Meanwhile, we will compel all public sector
bodies to list contracts worth over £10,000 on the
government’s ‘Contracts Finder’ website, to help
more small firms access public
procurement opportunities.
BACKING BRITAIN’S
SELF-EMPLOYED STRIVERS
It takes courage and determination to set up your
own business. Many self-employed people work
for less than the national living wage, especially
when they start out. UKIP will stand up for Britain’s
4.8 million self-employed people. There will be no
quarterly tax returns, and no increase in Class IV
National Insurance or taxes for our self-employed
strivers. UKIP’s goal is to keep taxes and red-tape
to the minimum necessary.
BRITISH JOBS FOR BRITISH WORKERS
UKIP is not ashamed to say it: we should be offering jobs
first to our own unemployed, rather than inviting cheap
labour from overseas to do the jobs British people
are perfectly able to do. Big businesses are the worst
offenders here and we will prevent their deliberately
overlooking the 11 per cent of young people in the UK
who are currently out of work.
UKIP will bring forward legislation requiring
employers to advertise jobs to British citizens before
they offer them overseas. It is the government’s
duty to get our own unemployed off benefits and
into the workplace, and improve prospects for our
own people, rather than facilitate the continued
importation of foreign workers.
We will also ensure employers are legally free to
choose to hire a young unemployed British person
under the age of 25 ahead of a better qualified or more
experienced foreign applicant. Employers who wish
to back British workers and give local young people a
chance on the first rung of the career ladder should not
face the threat of legal action, as they presently do.
UKIP will make Gordon Brown’s British Jobs for
British workers plausible, and meaningful in law.
Big businesses will have to start
training the British workforce, investing
in succession planning, and paying a
decent living wage to all their employees.
Andrew Charalambous,
Work and Pensions Spokesman
WE STAND BY OUR 2015
MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
• Protect workers’ rights once we
have left the EU: leaving the EU must
not usher in any kind of ‘race to the
bottom’ on employment rights.
• Enforce the minimum and living
wage and reverse government cuts
to the number of minimum wage
inspectors in England and Wales
• Significantly tighten up rules on
zero hours contracts and severely
limit their use.
Britain Together | 15
Creating Coastal Enterprise Zones
UKIP will make it a top priority to reverse the decline of our seaside towns.
We will be the party that cares about coastal communities and does not
write them off as being “at the end of the line”.
Our fishing industry has been all but destroyed
by the Common Fisheries Policy, and many
coastal towns have been pushed into decline
with the rise of cheap package holidays abroad,
and transport and infrastructure projects that
have been skewed towards big cities.
The great British seaside is well overdue a
revival, and UKIP will create a new Coastal
Towns Taskforce to oversee a raft of measures to
regenerate those areas of the country that have
suffered most as a result of our EU membership.
NURTURING SEASIDE BUSINESSES
Within our coastal enterprise zones, businesses operating
from premises with a rateable value of less than £50,000
will receive a 50 per cent cut in business rates. Coastal
towns will have top ranking when it comes to national
successor funds to the European Regional Development
Fund. Our new coastal towns taskforce will raise funding
for new arts and heritage facilities in coastal towns.
HIGHER STANDARDS OF HOUSING
Rundown housing has become an unfortunate
hallmark of many coastal towns in decline. In
coastal enterprise zones, local authorities will be
given the power to:
• Access low interest government loans to
buy up and renovate poor housing stock or
empty commercial properties, to create quality
residential accommodation
• Issue compulsory purchase orders for poor
quality houses in multiple occupation
• Introduce minimum standards for properties in
receipt of housing benefit
• Refuse housing benefit payments to landlords
in breach of planning legislation.
These policies, together with the resumption of
Britain’s 200-mile maritime exclusive economic zone
– one of our key Brexit tests – will boost coastal towns
and give our fishing industry the chance to rebuild.
UKIP will make the British seaside great
again: vibrant, viable communities
attractive to businesses, to British
families, and tourists from overseas.
Victoria Ayling,
Heritage and Tourism Spokeswoman
In this election, UKIP is the first party
ever to put forward a comprehensive
package of measures targeted at helping
coastal communities. UKIP will provide the
essential leadership needed to reverse the
decline of the great British seaside town.
Patrick O’Flynn MEP
Economics Spokesman
16 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Solving Britain’s Housing Shortage
The UK is suffering a housing shortage that has been 20 years in the
making. The waiting list for public and affordable housing stands at 1.2
million alone. UKIP will provide high quality, affordable homes, with security
of tenure, where they are needed, while boosting jobs.
Successive governments have failed to meet
the housing needs of an increasing population.
Of the 140,000 homes due to be built this year,
80,000 will be absorbed by population growth,
exacerbated by immigration, so at best only
60,000 will begin to address the current
chronic shortage.
Labour, the Conservatives, and other parties in
this election will promise to build hundreds of
thousands of new homes, but their plans are
not credible. There are not enough workers in
the traditional construction industry to meet
their targets. Planning permission remains slow
and difficult to obtain and developers have no
incentive to build more, because under-supply
boosts their margins and land bank values.
UKIP is the only party being realistic about what
can be done to increase the housing supply
and putting forward a viable solution: a bold
policy to roll out high quality, low cost factorybuilt
modular (FBM) homes, affordable on the
national average wage of £26,000.
LOCALLY MANUFACTURED
FACTORY-BUILT MODULAR HOMES
Factory-built homes should not be confused with
the pre-fabs of the past. They are built to last, to
high design standards, and are energy efficient,
with running costs up to 30per cent less than
traditional homes. While conventional construction
cannot in the medium term meet the need for low
cost housing, factory-built modular homes can.
When we leave the EU, we will regain control
of the regional development budget, over
£1 billion a year. UKIP will use some of this to
boost capacity in UK-based modular homes
manufacturing. We will enable the manufacture
of modular homes where jobs are needed, and
they will be built where homes are needed.
UKIP’s housing policy provides a
solution to the housing crisis, which
requires no direct funding from
government, and is not constrained
by the current skill-shortage in the
construction industry. It is a radical
and visionary plan. Finally, our young
people will be able to afford
their own homes.
Ray Finch MEP,
Housing Spokesman
Britain Together | 17
HOW UKIP’S MODULAR
HOMES BUILDING SCHEME
WILL WORK
UKIP will establish a Housing
Development Corporation
(HDC) to acquire primarily
brownfield sites – at existing use
value and through compulsory
purchase if necessary – where
affordable housing is required.
Planning law will be changed
to enable the HDC to give
themselves planning permission
to build between 10 and 100
FBM homes on an average site.
Homes constructed will be
sold on a freehold basis to first
time buyers up to the age of
40 who are British citizens and
who have a 10 per cent deposit.
We anticipate the total cost
for a two-bedroom house will
be under £100,000, including
land purchase and restoration,
construction, infrastructure and
a contribution to the costs of the
HDC. Utilities installation would
be covered by a 1per cent
energy bill levy, and Stamp Duty
would not be applied.
UKIP’s proposal will bring
up to 100,000 extra truly
affordable homes onto the
market every year. Combined
with a traditional home
building programme, we
could build another one
million homes by 2022. In
addition, the FBM model
would also make it feasible to
deliver substantial numbers
of new Council houses that
have been promised, while
traditional methods do not.
RESTRICTIONS ON USE
AND RESALE
As this scheme is a steppingstone
from the rental sector to
traditional home ownership, to
address the current housing
crisis, it must not distort the
existing property market.
So, homes will be for owner
occupation, not private rental.
Owners will not be able to sell
them on the open market, but
must sell them back to the HDC
at a guaranteed price of cost
plus inflation over the period
of ownership. Ownership
can, however, be retained
indefinitely.
THE HOUSING CRISIS
SOLVED
UKIP’s modular home
scheme provides:
• High quality homes with
security of tenure, where
they are needed
• A way for the next
generation to build up
equity and move into the
traditional home owner
market
• A realistic way of building
homes that is not
constrained by the current
skills shortage in the
construction industry
Words and gimmicks from
the old political parties will
not solve the housing crisis.
UKIP’s bold plan will.
GOING OVER AND ABOVE
In addition to our FBM homes
programme, UKIP will identify
long-term dormant land held by
central and local government so
it can be released for affordable
developments. We will also
plough all revenue raised
from Right to Buy sales into
community housing and change
the law to allow mortgages to
become inheritable, as they are
in other countries.
A REVIEW OF HOUSING
ASSOCIATIONS
Housing associations are
accountable neither to
taxpayers, who provide much
of their funding, nor to their
own tenants.
A UKIP investigation into the
largest 50 housing associations
uncovered a catalogue of
failures. They are not building
as many homes as private
developers, the homes they
do build cost more to put up,
and they are failing to tackle
anti-social behaviour. Average
salaries for chief executives
reach 51 times their tenants’
rent: one CEO is paid three times
as much as the Prime Minister.
Housing associations
manage 60 per cent of the
socially rented sector and
have received £23 billion of
Government funding in the
past 14 years, but UKIP is not
convinced they are benefiting
either tenants or the taxpayer.
We will launch a review into
their operation.
Solving Britain’s Housing Shortage
18 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Defending our National Health Service
THE NHS is Britain’s best-loved public service and one of the benchmarks
of our civilised values. UKIP will keep the NHS free at the point of delivery
and increase funding by diverting the £11 billion we will save by cutting the
foreign aid budget directly into health and social care.
Successive Labour, Coalition and Tory
governments have overloaded the NHS with
red tape and allowed it to be abused as an
international, rather than a NATIONAL health
service. The NHS is funded by the British
people and should be for the British people.
A catalogue of failures has left the NHS in crisis.
NHS Trusts are in deficit to the tune of £2.5 billion,
hospital waiting lists for routine treatment have
reached record highs, and tens of thousands of
elective operations have been cancelled for nonclinical
reasons. In January this year 23 hospitals
could not guarantee patient care or safety.
The Royal College of Nursing says we need 24,000
more nurses, and NHS Digital estimates there is
roughly one GP vacancy for every two practices.
1,500 doctors leave Britain every year for better
pay and more relaxed working conditions in
Australia or New Zealand.
The NHS desperately needs additional funds.
UKIP will provide NHS England with an additional
£9 billion a year by 2021/22. An additional £2
billion for social care will fully utilise the savings
we will make from the foreign aid budget.
MORE MEDICAL STUDENTS, DOCTORS,
GPS, NURSES, AND MIDWIVES
Despite our national doctor shortage, nearly 800
straight ‘A’ students are turned away from medical
school every year.
UKIP will lift the cap on medical school training
places from 7,500 to 10,000 and make sure no
Britain Together | 19
Defending our National Health Service
suitable ‘A’ grade student fails
to get a place. Provided medical
students commit to working
within the NHS for at least ten
out of the fifteen years after they
qualify, we will cover the cost of
all their tuition fees.
TACKLING THE
GP SHORTAGE
Raising the cap on medical
school places will help deliver
the 10,000 additional GPs the
profession needs by 2025. We
will also introduce new funding
arrangements incentivising
doctors to work in geographical
areas most in need. However,
GPs are also grappling with heavy
workloads and over-regulation.
We will end appraisal and
revalidation work that goes
beyond that deemed necessary
by the GMC, and reduce the
burden of data collection and
target chasing.
UKIP will also fund the cost of
streamlined ‘return to practice’
training, and encourage retired
GPs or GPs with small children
to work part-time or in job-share
schemes. For doctors who have
worked overseas, we
will make re-registering with
the UK General Medical Council
much easier by recognising
comparable qualifications,
experience, and accreditation.
Introducing a wider range
of healthcare professionals
and clinical services into GP
surgeries will also make general
practice less stressful.
We will fund additional
support staff such as physician
associates, clinical pharmacists
and health visitors in GP
surgeries, and allow practices
to operate a wider range of
clinics, including minor surgery,
where feasible.
GIVING NURSES
THE RESPECT AND
RECOGNITION THEY
DESERVE
The NHS needs 24,000
more nurses and 3,500 more
midwives, yet again potential
students are being turned away,
tens of thousands of them
every year.
UKIP will increase the number
of nurse training placements,
reinstate funding for bursaries
to cover nursing, midwifery
and allied health professions’
tuition and accommodation
costs, and cover the cost of
re-training for nurses who have
taken career breaks.
We will discontinue the one
per cent pay increase cap
for frontline NHS workers
earning less than £35,000
(Band 6).
RELIEVING PRESSURE
ON A&E DEPARTMENTS
UKIP will train more
emergency medicine
consultants and improve
their working conditions.
Emergency medicine
consultants cannot
be expected to work
unreasonably extended
shifts, repeated unsocial
hours, excessive numbers of
weekends, or be regularly
forced to cancel leave.
Every part of the health sector
has a role to play in reducing
A&E traffic. By improving access
to and facilities in GP surgeries,
keeping minor injuries units
open, and sustaining funding
levels for local chemists, we can
start to address the A&E crisis.
“Labour and the Tories have
failed the NHS with nine arduous
top-down reorganisations since
1973 and a relentless cuts and
privatisation agenda. UKIP will
fund the NHS to the tune of
an additional £11 billion a year
by 2021/22, address the most
pressing challenges within our
healthcare system, and fully
integrate the NHS and
social care.”
Suzanne Evans,
UKIP NHS Champion
20 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
REMOVING BARRIERS BETWEEN THE NHS
AND SOCIAL CARE
35,000 bed days are lost every month because
of delayed transfers of care, and legal barriers
can make it difficult to pass information between
the two systems. The problems caused by our
disconnected health and social care system will
not be resolved unless the two are fully integrated.
UKIP will establish a Department for Health and
Care, and create a sustainably funded social
care system assimilated into the NHS.
A NATIONAL, NOT AN INTERNATIONAL
HEALTH SERVICE
Treating those ineligible for care costs British
taxpayers around £2 billion every year. UKIP
will launch the toughest ever crackdown on
ineligible foreign nationals using our NHS.
Only British citizens or foreign nationals who have
paid UK taxes for at least five consecutive years
will be eligible for non-urgent NHS care. Anyone
else must provide evidence of comprehensive
medical insurance before being allowed to enter
Britain and maintain that insurance for the duration
of their stay. Urgent care will continue to be
provided to all in need.
We will close any loopholes in reciprocal healthcare
arrangements, making sure reciprocity is like-forlike,
and pursue any moneys owed to us. We will
also tighten the application and approval process
for EHIC cards and review the scheme as part of our
Brexit negotiations with the EU.
ACCOUNTABLE MANAGEMENT
To improve standards within the NHS, we will
create the equivalent of a General Medical Council
for NHS managers, making them subject to
disciplinary control for the first time.
Managers will require a statutory Licence
to Manage. Removal of this licence would
immediately bar them from working as a manager
anywhere within the NHS. The wellbeing of staff is
too important to allow incompetent, negligent or
bullying managers to remain within the NHS.
Managers and board members will be held
individually accountable for poor decisions.
Individual votes should be noted on significant
or contentious matters.
We will limit the amount that can be spent on an
external management consultancy contract to
£50,000. The annual £589 million cost is far
too high.
BANNING LABOUR’S DODGY NHS DEALS
Between 1997 and 2010, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
contracted private syndicates of hedge fund managers,
bankers, and big property developers to design, build, and
finance new hospitals and run non-clinical services. These
syndicates charged interest rates so high, you might as well
have called the scheme: ‘buy one hospital, pay for seven.’
These Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deals financed
£11.8 billion worth of new build but will ultimately
cost the NHS £79 billion. 75 per cent of the syndicates
involved are based offshore, so they do not even pay UK
taxes on these enormous profits.
Labour is not the party of the NHS: Labour is the
party that allowed the wealthiest in our society to
laugh all the way to the bank at the expense of the
NHS. UKIP will end the use of PFI contracts within
the NHS.
GUARANTEED RIGHTS FOR EU
HEALTHCARE WORKERS
Some 167,000 EU nationals work in the health and social
care. UKIP has no hesitation in guaranteeing their right to
remain here, whatever the EU decides with regard to the
rights of British citizens overseas.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
The five-year political cycle encourages short-termism
that is unhelpful to the NHS. For it to be fit for purpose for
another fifty years, we need honest, open debate, and
viable solutions to the NHS funding crisis that are free
from political interference.
UKIP will establish a Royal Commission to find a way
forward that allows the NHS to hold fast to its values
while meeting the challenges of the future.
Defending our National Health Service
WE STAND BY OUR 2015
MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
• Scrap hospital car parking charges
in England.
• Abolish the Care Quality Commission,
which has caused a vicious circle of
misery. We aim to foster a culture of
openness, honesty and challenge, not
one of blame, shame and sanction. Our
new inspection regime will include
greater public accountability, extra
protection for whistle-blowers, and
increased scrutiny.
• Scrap EU Legislation that has hindered
the NHS such as the Clinical Trial
Directive and the Working Time Directive.
Britain Together | 21
Britain’s Challenging Mental Health Crisis
The 2012 Health and Social Care Act gave mental health the same
priority as physical health, but only in principle. UKIP will put mental
wellbeing on the same footing as physical healthcare, in terms of
both access to treatment and funding.
Unresolved mental health and addiction
issues lie at the heart of some of our greatest
social challenges: crime, homelessness, family
breakdown, unemployment, and more.
Every year, some 150 million GP consultations and
up to forty per cent of A&E attendances are linked
to mental health issues and drug or alcohol abuse,
yet there are insufficient resources for doctors to
refer patients to specialist care.
UKIP will increase planned spending on
mental health services by at least £500 million
every year. This sum could fund 6,000 clinical
psychologists to see 500,000 more adults and
young people every year.
Anyone who has suffered themselves,
or seen a loved one deteriorate
before their eyes because of a mental
health problem, will understand just
how important it is to invest in quality
psychological services, and get this
issue higher up the political agenda..
Suzanne Evans NHS Champion
22 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
UKIP’s mental health priorities will be:
• Cutting waiting times: The current target
of eighteen weeks between referral and first
appointment is far too long. 28 days should be
the maximum.
• Closing the gaps between child and adult,
and physical and mental care services: There
should be a smooth transition between these
sectors with professionals sharing best practice
and having a central point of communication
• Getting funding to the right place: National
funding earmarked for mental health services
is often being diverted to other NHS services.
This must stop.
YOUNG PEOPLE CRYING OUT FOR HELP
The British Association for Counselling and
Psychotherapy says 80,000 children and young
people in the UK are clinically depressed. Around
three children in every class have a diagnosable
mental health condition, and one in twelve will
self-harm. Figures from the Office for National
Statistics are tragic: more than four suicides
of young people take place every week.
Mental health problems start before age
fourteen in half of all cases, so UKIP will
integrate mental health training into the
teacher-training syllabus and develop a
national school-based counselling strategy
for England, on a par with Wales and Northern
Ireland. Specialist counselling services will be
available in all secondary schools.
Looking out for those at risk must become
everyone’s responsibility. If a child or teacher saw
someone in pain, they would help. Mental health
problems also have clear symptoms. UKIP’s policies
mean professionals will always be on hand to assist.
EDUCATION AND WELLBEING
Education should focus on personal wellbeing,
practical coping skills, and developing positive
social relationships, as well as academic
performance. In stressing the latter, we have piled
stress on our children.
Our education system needs to be more balanced,
so UKIP will introduce emotional health and
wellbeing into the Ofsted inspection framework.
LETTING CHILDREN KNOW
THEY ARE NOT ALONE
Those who have recovered from their problems
are often best placed to help others facing similar
challenges. UKIP will encourage schools to invite
specialist support organisations into school.
Letting our children know what resources are
available to them may be life-changing.
CHALLENGING MEDIA STEREOTYPES
Elsewhere in this manifesto we condemn alien
practices that oppress women, but we are not blind
to our own failings. The ‘lad culture,’ which treats
young women as sex objects and the ‘red circle of
shame’ in celebrity magazines that hold women to
unattainable levels of physical perfection are just
two examples. Boys too are increasingly developing
eating disorders and body image issues.
UKIP will review advertising, broadcast and
editorial codes, seeking commitments that
editorial coverage and advertising campaigns
will treat men and women with dignity and
promote healthy body images.
CYBER BULLYING
We will extend the remit of the current crossgovernment
Internet Safety Strategy and
invite participants to consider whether new
legislation is required to address the problem of
online abuse.
PREVENTING DRUG USE AMONG
YOUNG PEOPLE
UKIP will not legalise classified drugs. The
social consequences could be catastrophic. We
will rigorously enforce current legislation.
Identifying drug users means they can be steered
towards rehabilitation programmes. Families in
which there is a high incidence of addiction can
also be identified more easily and appropriate
support provided.
We include cannabis in this. Cannabis was used
by 5.3 million 16-24 year-olds in the last year,
according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists,
and this is extremely worrying. Teenage cannabis
users are five times more likely to develop
depression and anxiety, and those who use
cannabis at around age fifteen have an above-
Drugs wreck lives. We are failing in our
duty to protect our children if we do
not warn them about the dangers and
do everything in our power to prevent
them having access to illegal drugs.
Paul Nuttall, UKIP Leader
Britain’s Challenging Mental Health Crisis
Britain Together | 23
average risk of developing
schizophrenia or bipolar
disorder. That risk is increased
in those with a genetic
vulnerability.
Cannabis can cause lasting
psychotic illness. UKIP will
ensure this message is
emphasised by social workers,
teachers, doctors,
and magistrates.
MENTAL HEALTH
SUPPORT FOR ARMED
FORCES PERSONNEL
AND VETERANS
Over 5,000 service personnel
were diagnosed with a mental
health problem in 2014, but
even this shocking statistic
may hide a wider problem. The
charity Combat Stress says 40
per cent of serving personnel
with symptoms do not seek
help from the specialist Defence
Mental Health Services (DMHS)
because of general stigma. This
trend continues after discharge.
To encourage serving
personnel and veterans to
report mental health issues,
receive a diagnosis and
access services, UKIP will:
• Integrate mental wellbeing
monitoring into existing
medical examinations
for serving armed forces
personnel in potentially
traumatic or ‘at risk’ roles
• Extend the period during
which discharged service
personnel are able to
access the specialist
DMHS scheme from six
months to two years.
Our nation has a duty to provide mental health
support to those in our armed forces: many have
served multiple tours of combat duty and may
need a great deal of specialist help
Mike Hookem MEP
• Offer swift access to vital mental health
services for patients diagnosed with
debilitating long-term conditions and
terminal illnesses
• Provide direct access to specialist mental
health treatment for all pregnant women and
mothers of children under 12 months of age
• Address and treat the strong link between
addiction and mental illness
• End the postcode lottery for psychiatric
liaison services in acute hospitals and A&E
departments.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
24 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
• Abolish Key Stage 1 SATs. Seven is
too young to be tested and this test
narrows the curriculum and puts
pressure on teachers to concentrate
time and resources on borderline
pupils.
• Require every primary school to
nominate a science leader to inspire
and equip the next generation of
scientists and engineers
• End sex education in primary schools.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015
MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
A Brighter Future for our Next Generation
Political interference in education has failed children. We are tumbling
down the international education league tables and rising up the ranks
for youth unemployment. UKIP will reintroduce grammar schools, invest
in vocational education and technical training, scrap tuition fees for STEM
subjects and prepare our young people for the world of work
UKIP’s approach to education is one where no
child is held back and where education is as
responsive as possible to individual needs. Our
children differ vastly when it comes to talent
and speed of development. Our education
system needs to be far more flexible.
STARTING SCHOOL:
THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM
Without reading, writing, mathematical and learning
abilities you will be held back in life and struggle
to find well-paid work. UKIP welcomes the recent
reintroduction of phonics to the classroom and
we will make this the model for teaching children
to read and write. We will renew focus on mental
arithmetic skills and learning times tables, and
encourage children to learn languages from year 1
of primary school, when they will find it easier.
Britain has produced some of the most
remarkable people in world history,
some of the best thinkers, innovators,
leaders, and creators. We must keep
that trend going: boosting educational
opportunities for our young people and
giving them every opportunity to help
them realise their dreams.
David Kurten AM,
Education Spokesman
Britain Together | 25
SECONDARY EDUCATION
UKIP’s approach to secondary
education focuses on a range
of different schools: technical,
vocational, selective grammars,
and specialist schools.
A GRAMMAR SCHOOL IN
EVERY TOWN
The state education system of
grammar, secondary modern
and technical schools was
designed to make a high
standard of education available
to all, irrespective of social
background. Grammar schools
improved social mobility by
giving children from poorer
backgrounds access to
career paths they might have
previously thought out of
their reach. When the national
grammar school system still
existed, 25 per cent of schools
were grammar or technical
schools and nearly 65 per cent
of their pupils came from the
working class. They were not
socially elite institutions, as
anyone who attended one
will confirm.
The 164 grammar schools that
are left no longer represent this
classless ideal. Such is the high
demand, it is often those with
the most resourceful parents
who gain access. We need 800
more Grammar or Technical
schools so every child who
would benefit can get a place.
UKIP will open a grammar
school in every town, adapting
the old 11+ system to add
transfer examinations up to
the age of sixteen, so pupils
who develop in an academic
direction, but not quite so fast,
will still have the opportunity
of a grammar school place.
ON-THE-JOB EDUCATION
To give students a head start
into a job, UKIP will introduce
a scheme similar to Germany’s
Dual Vocational Training system,
in which students attend
classes at a vocational school
and receive on-the-job training
at a company. Employment
prospects for children who
go through this system are
high. Germany’s reputation for
success in manufacturing and
industry is second to none.
UKIP will give our children the
same educational choice to
combine theory and practice in
this way, so they leave school
with technical knowledge and
hands-on experience.
RIGHTING WRONGS IN
HIGHER EDUCATION
The average student debt is
£44,000. The poorest students
who are now denied a grant
fare worst of all, with debts
averaging £53,000. These debts
are often pointless in career
terms: the latest figures from the
ONS show 46 per cent of new
graduates will not find a job
needing a degree. The taxpayer
fares badly too. Only around half
of the money spent on tuition
fee loans will be paid back.
The quota system promoted by
both Labour and Conservatives
is not a good enough reason for
taxpayers to pay for students to
go to university. Students would
be better off following another
route into the workplace than
taking degrees that are unlikely
to help them get a job or guide
them onto their chosen
career path.
The politically motivated
decision to increase university
places has deceived and
blighted a generation. UKIP
will stop paying tuition fees
for courses which do not lead
at least two thirds of students
into a graduate level job, or
a job corresponding to their
degree, within five years
after graduation. We will also
cease offering EU nationals
student loans when we leave
the EU. Repayment rates are
extremely low and 10,000 EU
students currently owe Britain
£89 million.
TUITION FEES AND
MAINTENANCE GRANTS
UKIP’s long-term goal is to
abolish tuition fees entirely and
we will seek to enact this as
soon as economic conditions
allow. Meanwhile, to help
the poorest students now,
we will immediately restore
maintenance grants.
To plug the skills gap in these
areas, UKIP will abolish tuition
fees for undergraduate science,
technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) students,
provided they work in their
discipline and pay tax in the UK
for at least five years after they
complete their degree. We will
cover the cost of all tuition fees
for medical students, provided
they commit to working within
the NHS for at least ten out of
the fifteen years after
they qualify.
PATHWAYS TO
EMPLOYMENT
School leavers should have
an idea of what future career
they would like to pursue, and
how they can achieve an
entry level job in that career.
UKIP will ensure effective
career development assumes
a more important role in the
national curriculum and is
assessed accordingly.
DEVELOPING
‘EMPLOYABILITY’
Whatever level of education you
have achieved, your chance of
success in the workplace will be
influenced by more than your
academic abilities. Employers want
more from prospective employees
than just good exam results.
UKIP will introduce practical
‘employability’ lessons into
26 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
A Brighter Future for our Next Generation
the careers’ syllabus, teaching ‘soft’ skills such
as interview skills, team-working and timemanagement,
making presentations, public
speaking, networking, making a good first
impression, and developing social skills. These
might not come naturally, but they can be taught.
LINKING SCHOOLS
WITH BUSINESS
Often, the local job market will determine career
choices, so schools and colleges should establish links
with local businesses, to tell students what they need
from new recruits, to offer advice, and to show how
business works.
ENCOURAGING TOMORROW’S
ENTREPRENEURS
UKIP will include practical information about
setting up your own business into the syllabus.
Being self-employed is a sound career choice if
you have a skill or idea others want to buy, and
developing the skill to think creatively
and ambitiously can only help in life and
the workplace.
Entrepreneurship education is becoming
increasingly common in the USA, where it is
seen to benefit students from all socio-economic
backgrounds by nurturing unconventional skills
and talents and encouraging them to ‘think
outside the box.’
The next generation is the future of the UK. Our
children need educational solutions that really
work, not political dogma. Grammar schools,
dynamic academies and technical schools
in every town from Toxteth to Twickenham,
combined with high quality vocational training
and careers’ advice, will deliver real opportunities
for our children.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
UKIP believes all disabled learners must have
the legal right to attend either mainstream
courses in mainstream education settings, or
schools exclusively tailored to their needs.
It should be their choice. To this end, we will
reverse the policy of closing special schools,
and ensure all other schools are accessible to
disabled learners and that individual support is
in place for each child.
• Fund all secondary schools according
to a single formula
• Make First Aid training a statutory
requirement so pupils obtain
a ‘Basic Life-Saving Diploma.’
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
will be included.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015
MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
Britain Together | 27
Caring for Young Children,
Supporting Families
Affordable, safe childcare is vital if we are
to help women obtain or return to work.
We simply cannot afford to have highly
skilled, highly trained women leaving
the workplace, especially not if they are
working in public service industries such
as nursing and teaching.
Margot Parker MEP,
Women and Equalities Spokeswoman
Childcare costs in the UK are becoming less affordable for ordinary
families. The parents of disabled children struggle to find childcare
at all. Fathers are prevented from seeing their children and the
family courts are not transparent enough. Tackling these issues
are key priorities for UKIP.
UKIP’s 2015 general election manifesto
highlighted the complexity of childcare
provision in the UK and how difficult it can
be to find quality childcare, especially if your
child is disabled, if you work irregular hours,
or you are on a low income. Despite an increase
in free childcare provision and new tax-free
childcare schemes, recent research from the
Family and Childcare Trust revealed British
parents now pay more than £6,000 per year on
average for childcare, double what they spend
on food and drink.
The situation we warned about in 2015 has not
improved but got worse. Perverse government
policies intended to expand childcare provision
fuel childcare demand yet fail to cover costs
incurred by childcare providers. At the same
time there is an acute shortage of places
because of over-regulation and higher training
fees. Nurseries and childminders limit places, raise
fees, or introduce extra charges in order to
remain sustainable. Despite more public money
being allocated to free childcare than ever, the
number of childminders has plummeted by
10,000 since 2012.
This is a typical outcome of policy-making done
via a ‘bidding war,’ instead of being thought
through. In this case, Labour and the
Conservatives have jockeyed for position
to see who can offer the highest number of
free childcare hours for the youngest
children, without considering the unintended
consequences, or what else in the system might
need to change.
Caring for Young Children, Supporting Families
UKIP promised a far-reaching review of
childcare provision in 2015, and this is still
urgently needed, not least to de-regulate and
simplify an increasingly fragmented system.
Meanwhile, UKIP will allow parents to use their free
childcare entitlements to access a greater choice
of childcare providers by removing restrictions
limiting them only to Ofsted-registered childcare
providers. We will also:
• Extend the primary school day by offering
wrap-around childcare from 8am to 6pm
during term time
• Require local authorities to keep a register
of childcare providers willing to provide
emergency childcare cover at short notice
• Amend planning legislation in order to make
play spaces compulsory in housing estates,
and to promote nursery or crèche provision
in developments such as shopping centres,
office blocks, hospitals, airports, and
railway stations.
CHILDCARE FOR CHILDREN WITH
SPECIAL NEEDS
Smaller early years providers may struggle to
offer places to children with physical or learning
difficulties because of the extra costs involved
in maintaining higher staff ratios, delivering
additional staff training, buying specialist
equipment and creating accessible changing
facilities. This inevitably makes it much more
difficult for such children to access the same high
quality, flexible early years provision as their ablebodied
peers.
UKIP will create a fund worth £80 million a year to
help childminders and smaller childcare providers
employing five people or fewer, to open their
doors to more children with special needs. Grants
of up to £3,000 will be available to adapt their
premises to make them more accessible, and
to equip their staff with specialist training and
equipment, so they can provide a more inclusive
childcare service.
KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER
Our 2015 manifesto promised to legislate for an
initial 50-50 presumption of shared parenting
when couples break up. We stand by this, as we do
our pledge to give visiting rights to grandparents
and to review the operation of the Family Court.
The concerns we raised in 2015 about the Family
Court system, particularly in relation to forced
adoptions, have become more pressing. Up to 96
per cent of children adopted from public care are
forcibly adopted, against their parents’ wishes.
No one wants to see children languishing in care,
but until the Family Courts are more transparent,
we cannot know whether decisions are made
in children’s best interests or in response to
adoption targets. The latter approach risks serious
miscarriages of justice.
Maintaining confidentiality in family law
proceedings is not incompatible with scrutiny. To
strike the right balance between the two
we propose:
• Removing the current blanket ban on
media reporting of placement and adoption
proceedings and allowing journalists to report
on such cases on the same basis as other
family law proceedings
• Publishing all case summaries, skeleton
arguments, judgements and other documents
relating to Family proceedings as a matter of
course, on an anonymised basis
• Requiring expert witnesses to list previous
court cases in which they have given evidence
• Promoting more extensive use of Special
Guardianship Orders so that children can
retain links with their birth family.
28 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Britain Together | 29
How we respond to older people is an indication
of the kind of country we live in. We should take
pride in making public investment into their
care, regardless of their financial means.
UKIP remains committed to keeping the winter
fuel allowance, free bus passes, prescriptions and
eye tests for all over-60s, without means testing.
We will maintain the ‘triple lock’ on the state
pension, increasing it every year by the highest of
inflation, average earnings, or 2.5 per cent.
SECURE FINANCES AND WORTHWHILE
WORK FOR OLDER PEOPLE
Age UK says older people contribute around £61
billion to the economy each year through work,
caring and volunteering. Advancing age does not
necessarily mean people want to stop earning, and
their wisdom and experience should be seen as an
advantage in the workplace.
We will encourage businesses to fund job
placements for older people, and enforce laws
protecting workers against age discrimination.
GROWING OLD TOGETHER
As a population, we are living longer. This would
be good news were it not for the funding crisis
in elderly care. The Association of Directors of
Adult Social Services calculates £4.6 billion has
been cut from social care budgets since 2010.
The number of adults eligible to receive social
care has plummeted by 28 per cent.
This is counter-productive: the government says
it wants to help older people stay active and
independent, but then removes the support they
need. Most councils only fund those already in
‘critical’ or ‘substantial’ need and past the point
of no return.
The voluntary sector would probably collapse without the help and
support of those in later life, and the disabled have overcome challenges
most of us could not even imagine, yet the Conservative government has
treated both badly. UKIP will reverse cuts to the adult social care budget
and end humiliating work capability tests for disabled people.
People who have worked hard all their
lives and contributed to our economy
have been stripped of hot meals and
essential home help under the Tories,
and for what? To keep shovelling cash
out of the door to prop up a corrupt
foreign aid regime, and fund a railway
project to help their rich friends get
home ten minutes faster
David Sprason,
UKIP Older People’s Champion
Meeting our Responsibilities
to the Elderly and Disabled
30 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
No wonder older people are now more likely to
be admitted to hospital, and less likely to be able
to leave hospital when they recover. 6,800 such
patients every day cannot be discharged, so
ambulances queue up outside A&E and planned
operations are cancelled. This inefficiency costs
the NHS approximately £1 billion a year, and it
could get worse.
Last year, research by BBC Radio 4’s You and
Yours found 59 home care companies had already
handed unprofitable contracts back to local
authorities, and that one in four care homes may
go out of business within three years. The Better
Care Fund was supposed to improve liaison
between the NHS and local councils and ease
pressure on hospitals, but the Public Accounts
Committee found it was ‘little more than a ruse.’
The freedom to raise council tax by two per cent
to fund adult social care is of least help to councils
in the poorest areas, who have less income from
council tax, but the most pressing care needs.
The only answer is to reverse the cuts to
care budgets. UKIP will put back money the
Conservatives have removed, investing
up to £2 billion every year into social care.
We will prioritise early intervention schemes and
community-based models of care that promote
independence and wellbeing, such as supported
living arrangements. Institutional and acute care
models should be a last-resort.
We will continue to pay Attendance Allowance
for all people over the age of 65 who need help
with personal care, including new claimants,
from central government funds. We reject
Conservative proposals that this benefit should
be funded locally for all new claimants.
SUPPORT CARE STAFF
Caring can be difficult and frustrating, and care
staff deserve better pay and respect. We will
address the culture of long hours, low pay and
perceived low status that leads to high
staff turnover.
UKIP will not allow the NHS, or third parties
under contract to local authorities, to employ
home care workers on zero hours contracts.
Workers must also be paid for travelling time to
prevent their being paid less than the minimum
or living wage.
INVESTING IN DEMENTIA RESEARCH
AND TREATMENT
Dementia is predicted to be the UK’s biggest
killer. Already, 850,000 people in Britain live with
dementia. UKIP will roll out a National Dementia
Plan to recommend research and treatment
priorities, and co-ordinate expertise. This plan will
be developed in cooperation with multi-discipline
dementia specialists to identify spending priorities
and deliver a bold new programme of research,
treatment, care and understanding.
UKIP will treble the amount we allocated to
dementia research and treatment in 2015,
taking our total fresh funding pot to £400
million each year over the course of the
next parliament.
PROTECTING CARE AT HOME
In January, campaigning organisation Disability
United exposed clauses in Continuing Healthcare
policies that stated home-based care would only
be provided if costs do not exceed residential
placement costs by a certain percentage,
generally ten percent. This could mean forcibly
moving someone into a care home to save
relatively small amounts of money.
UKIP will make sure those with on-going health
care needs choose where they wish to live,
unless they are unable to make that choice
themselves, or care at home becomes unviable.
• Protect services such as meals-on-wheels,
luncheon clubs, day care services and home care
• Abolish the annual assessment process for
continuing healthcare funding in respect of those
suffering from a degenerative, terminal illness
• Fund a pro-active co-ordinating service for
older and disabled people in every county
to combat loneliness, combining resources
from across the NHS, social services and the
voluntary sector.
• Introduce a legally binding Dignity Code to
improve the quality and standard of care for
older people in hospital, care homes or their
own home, and protect whistleblowers.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
Britain Together | 31
Meeting our Responsibilities to the Elderly and Disabled
AN END TO UNFAIR
BENEFIT CUTS
Levels of unmet need for disabled
and learning disabled people
are at a record high. Sense, the
national charity for children and
adults who are deafblind and
have complex needs, calculates
108,000 learning disabled adults
with moderate to severe needs
now receive no support at all. Over
the last year alone, the charity says
the number of people in receipt of
support for a sensory impairment
has decreased by 11.4 per cent.
UKIP will not cut disability
benefits.
ENDING THE INJUSTICE OF
PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE
PAYMENTS
Personal Independence
Payments, or PIPs, are replacing
the Disability Living Allowance
(DLA). Without a PIP, disabled
people cannot access other
benefits such as Carer’s Allowance
or the charitable Motability
scheme to get a powered
wheelchair or accessible car.
PIPs were supposed to help
disabled people into work
and pay a range of disability
benefits based on individual
need, but they seem to have
become a covert way of
slashing the benefit bill. Since
disabled people were required
to undergo a new battery of
medical tests, 250,000 of them
have had their benefit cut.
Some 300 people a day who have
their benefits cut following reassessments
are appealing against
these new decisions, at a cost of
£1 million a week to the taxpayer.
They are right to appeal, as six out
of ten appeals are successful, but
while they await the outcome of
their appeals, many are falling into
debt, and have vital support or
equipment taken away from them.
50,000 people have had accessible
vehicles removed since PIPs
were introduced.
The current Work Capability
Assessments are not fit for
purpose. We will reform them in
consultation with disabled people
and disability charities. They must
accurately assess the barriers
faced by disabled people to enter
employment, and indicate what
specialist employment support
will be needed for those who are
ready for work.
SUPPORTING CARERS
We recommit to giving carers an
extra five days’ paid holiday each
year, and increasing
Carer’s Allowance from £62.70
per week to £73.10 a week, to
match the higher level of Job
Seeker’s Allowance.
UKIP has always opposed the ‘benefits lifestyle,’ but
the last government’s behaviour has gone far beyond
anything that is reasonable. UKIP will crack down on
benefit fraud, but make sure our support and benefits
system is fair and fit-for-purpose.
Cllr Star Anderton, UKIP Disability Champion
• Protect the rights of
the disabled
• Scrap the bedroom tax
• Give tenants the right to
request Housing Benefit
is paid direct to their
landlords, whatever benefit
scheme they are on
• Improve carers’ access
to support by sharing
information on benefit and
social care entitlements
and on support groups
across all public services
• Exempt foodbanks
and charity shops from
charges imposed by local
authorities to dispose of
unwanted food waste and
other goods.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
32 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Fair, Balanced Migration
Britons are among the most welcoming and tolerant people in the world, yet
they have lost faith in our immigration system. There is nothing in the track
records of any of the other parties that suggests they have the necessary
political will to address the concerns of the British people, but UKIP will.
Brexit offers an opportunity to calm public
concerns about immigration while still allowing
the brightest and the best from around the
world to make their home in Britain, and
contribute to our society and our economy.
Immigration has placed huge pressure on public
services and housing. It has affected the domestic
labour market, where wages for manual and lowpaid
jobs have stagnated. Community cohesion
has been damaged.
LABOUR’S GREATEST FOLLY
Unsustainable immigration to Britain began
with Tony Blair’s Labour government: Peter
Mandelson admitted ‘search parties’ were sent
out to encourage migrants to come to Britain, and
the plan to ‘rub the Right’s nose in diversity’ did
indeed, as Blair’s favourite think tank, the Institute
for Public Policy Research, put it, ‘change the face
of the country.’ Allegations of racism, and a raft of
faith, race and equalities legislation shut down any
criticism of Blair’s policy, and the benefits system
was abused to ‘bribe’ Labour’s core vote.
TORY IMMIGRATION FAILURE
Labour ultimately paid the electoral price for their
wilful blindness to problems caused by mass
immigration, but the Conservatives have failed just
as badly, for seven years reneging on their pledge
Britain Together | 33
Fair, Balanced Migration
to bring annual net migration
down to the ‘tens of thousands.’
Theresa May admitted in 2015
the case for high immigration
on economic grounds has
been massively overstated, yet
did nothing about it, and still
appears prepared to carry on
with unlimited EU immigration
for many years ahead.
UKIP is the only party with the
political will and the plan to
cut immigration.
BALANCED NET MIGRATION
OVER FIVE YEARS
UKIP will establish a Migration
Control Commission and set a
target to reduce net migration
to zero, over a five-year period.
This means approximately
halving gross immigration
for a five-year period. This
will still allow us to bring in
the key skills we need, while
giving a breathing space to
public services under immense
pressure. Senior Labour
parliamentarian, Frank Field, has
argued the case for balanced
migration such as this for
many years.
FAIR, EQUITABLE
IMMIGRATION
To make immigration fair and
equitable, we will introduce a
new Australian-style pointsbased
system, and a work permit
system. Both will apply equally
to all applicants, save for citizens
of the Republic of Ireland, with
whom we will maintain our
current arrangements.
To give working class people
in particular a chance to find
employment, we will place a
moratorium on unskilled and
low-skilled immigration for five
years after we leave the EU.
We will also operate a seasonal
worker scheme based on sixmonth
visas to support those
sectors, such as agriculture, which
need additional labour for short
but predictable periods of time.
A NEW INTERNATIONAL
VISA SYSTEM
Operated on a strict principle
of non-discrimination between
peoples of all nations applying
for work, study, or to visit the
United Kingdom, our new
International Visa System will
begin on the date we leave the
EU and offer four principal visa
categories:
1. WORK VISAS
Highly skilled workers with a job
offer sponsored by companies
paying them a minimum of
£30,000 per annum will have
priority.
2. TOURIST AND
VISITOR VISAS
Covering those who come to
Britain as tourists, to conduct
business, or to see their family,
these will be valid for up to
twelve months.
3. STUDENT VISAS
We want to encourage students
to study in Britain, but will not
tolerate abuse of the system.
4. FAMILY REUNION VISAS
We respect the right of British
citizens to form relationships with
non-British citizens; however,
we will abolish the European
Economic Area (EEA) family
permit scheme and reinstate the
primary purpose rule. Foreign
nationals marrying British citizens
will have to prove the primary
purpose of their marriage is not
to obtain British residency.
ASYLUM SEEKERS
UKIP will comply fully with the
1951 UN Convention Relating
to the Status of Refugees, and
honour our obligations to bona
fide asylum seekers.
ACCESS TO WELFARE
AND THE NHS
All new migrants to Britain
will be expected to make
tax and national insurance
contributions for at least five
consecutive years before they
become eligible to claim UK
benefits, or access non-urgent
NHS services, save for any
exceptions stipulated by the
Migration Control Commission,
or if reciprocal healthcare
arrangements are in place with
their country of origin. All new
entrants to the UK must have
and maintain comprehensive
private medical insurance for
the duration of their stay, as a
condition of their visa.
BRITISH CITIZENSHIP
Those arriving on Work Visas
may apply for British citizenship
after five years, provided they
have worked, paid tax here,
and maintained their medical
insurance throughout that
time. We will revoke the British
citizenship of those who
have obtained it by fraud or
deception and remove them
from the country.
As part of our overall commitment to a more stringent
and better run immigration system, UKIP will increase the
number of Border Agency staff by 4,000 and implement
technology solutions to ensure all passport and visa
holders are counted in and out
John Bickley, Immigration Spokesman
34 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Fair, Balanced Migration
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND
FOREIGN CRIMINALS
There will be no amnesty for illegal immigrants.
We will increase the number of immigration
compliance and enforcement teams. Foreign
criminals will not be granted a visa to enter the
UK. Migrants who commit crimes resulting in a
custodial sentence will have their visa revoked and
be detained until they are deported.
THE RIGHTS OF EU NATIONALS
UKIP will allow law-abiding EU citizens living in the
UK before Article 50 was triggered the right to stay
here indefinitely. We expect the same concession
to be granted to British citizens living overseas
within the EU.
EU nationals who entered the UK after 29th March
2017 will not have the automatic right to remain
and when we leave the EU will lose access to all
benefits, including non-urgent healthcare. No
benefits will be paid for any dependants living
overseas when we leave the EU.
INTEGRATION IS AS IMPORTANT
AS IMMIGRATION
In Britain, we do not believe in treating women
or gay people as second-class citizens, and we
hold to a fundamental belief in democracy and
free speech. UKIP’s points-based immigration
system will therefore include one further major
principle: we will test the social attitudes of
migration applicants to foster community
cohesion and protect core British values.
UKIP’s immigration policies will bring to Britain
the brightest, the best, and those with the
talents our economy most needs. They are fair,
equitable, and similar to those operating in
numerous other countries worldwide, such as
Australia, New Zealand, and the USA. They will
benefit Britain, and redress the imbalance that
has caused so much frustration, for so long.
“Only UKIP’s immigration policy has, at its heart, a sustainable, ethical and
fair system that will restore public faith in the process. We recognise the
new openness in our world and the positive benefits controlled, balanced
immigration can bring to our nation.”
John Bickley, Immigration Spokesman
Britain Together | 35
Britain United Under One Law For All
UKIP stands for a country united under
the same set of laws and values. We
believe firmly that a multi-ethnic society
can be a harmonious and successful
one, but only if it is bound together by an
over-arching attachment to Britain and
British identity. In treating all practices
and traditions as being of equal standing,
however much they might offend our
values and laws, our national leaders have
made a grave error.
Peter Whittle AM,
Deputy Leader and Culture Spokesman
Britain has always welcomed people of whatever faith, nationality or creed
who have wanted to make their home in this country, but a lack of vision
for an integrated Britain has led to our society becoming more and more
fragmented. UKIP will take integration as seriously as we have immigration,
and we will not tolerate the intolerable.
Over many years, the policy of ‘multiculturalism’
has fragmented British society by allowing
new migrants to Britain to behave in exactly
the same way as they would if they were still
in their countries of origin. Multiculturalism
has prevented criticism of certain religious
beliefs and cultural practices, even those the
overwhelming majority of British people would
consider repugnant, and which threaten rights
and equalities established in Britain
for decades.
Nobody voted for multiculturalism, yet all of us are
living with the results of it. It is generally those who
have little interest in preserving British identity, or
who are indeed hostile to the very idea of it, who
champion multiculturalism most fiercely. They are
vociferous in shutting down debate.
UKIP will stand up for the equal rights of all
people in Britain, and say we are proud of our
country and its achievements, our values of
free speech, democracy, independence, and
patriotism. We will promote British values in our
legal system, in our schools, and in our society.
ONE LAW FOR ALL
A society that can pick and choose what legal
system it lives under gradually ceases to be a
society at all.
The growth of sharia councils is of great concern
to the public, as is the apparent unwillingness of
the political class to prevent them proliferating.
UKIP will take action: we will establish a legal
commission to draw up proposals to disband
sharia councils.
It is simple: there should be one law for all.
36 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL WOMEN
If we compare the rights of women in the UK to
those of the majority of women overseas, the
contrast is striking. Acceptance of the concept
of sexual equality is largely confined to a handful
of economically advanced nations. Mass
uncontrolled immigration has opened the door
to a host of people from cultures with little or no
respect for women, yet when their views have
been challenged, some on the ‘Left’ of politics,
in particular, have encouraged them to claim a
‘victim’ status they do not deserve.
UKIP will challenge those who do not uphold
the rights of women, or who set themselves on
a deliberate collision course with core British
values of equality, free speech and democracy.
We will protect all women, regardless of their
race, ethnicity or religion. Culture is not an
excuse for crime, nor is ignorance of the law.
STANDING UP FOR WOMEN IN
MINORITY COMMUNITIES
Every woman, indeed anyone who believes
in women’s rights, should be outraged by the
appalling practices occurring on a daily basis in
minority communities across Britain.
A new case of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
is reported in Britain every hour. 14 NHS clinics
in England deal exclusively with FGM cases and
65,000 girls are thought to be at risk of FGM. The
practice of ‘breast ironing’ also appears to be
increasingly prevalent in the UK, with around 1,000
cases identified. Some 11,000 incidences of socalled
‘honour’ crime were recorded by UK police
forces during 2010-2014, and there were eighteen
recorded cases of honour killings during the same
period. Government research in 2011 found that
between 5,000 and 8,000 people are at risk of
being forced into marriage every year.
UKIP will show zero tolerance to all these
crimes and aim to eradicate them from
our country. Bigots who shout ‘racism’ or
‘Islamophobia’ will not intimidate us. They
legitimise the problem and demonstrate their
ignorance. We are proud of our position. They
need to get their moral compasses fixed.
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act (1985)
made FGM illegal, but there has not been a single
successful prosecution. The current approach,
which focuses on education and support alone,
fails thousands of girls every year. In addition to
current programmes, we will also:
• Make failure to report a known instance of
FGM a criminal offence
• Implement a screening programme for girls
identified to be at risk of FGM from birth to
age sixteen, consisting of annual non-invasive
physical check-ups
• Carry out additional check-ups on girls at
risk when they return to the UK from trips
to countries where FGM is known to be
customary
• Make FGM an indictable offence (meaning it
can only be heard in the Crown Court) with a
sentencing starting point of six years.
Measures similar to these are already law in
France, which has a far better record than we
have on preventing and prosecuting FGM.
These policies are already proven to work.
They will protect girls from FGM by deterring
those who would harm them and help provide
essential evidence to mount prosecutions when
FGM has taken place.
Prosecutions in France have played a vital role
in getting parents to abandon the practice of
FGM. Parents are complicit in allowing their
children to be cut, and we will instruct police
forces and the Crown Prosecution Service to
rigorously investigate and pursue them, as well
as those who actually commit the act.
OTHER ‘CULTURAL’ CRIMES
Women at risk from their own families and
communities need our help and protection. UKIP
will uphold the integrity of British law and ensure it
applies to each individual equally, irrespective of
his or her race, faith or ethnic origin. We will:
My generation was at the forefront of
tackling sexist attitudes towards women.
I remember celebrating the Equal Pay
Act and the Sex Discrimination Act in the
1970s, and believed we were well on the
way to winning the battle for equal rights,
in society, in the workplace and in our
homes. But now the threat to women’s
emancipation is as serious as ever. We
cannot take our rights for granted.
Margot Parker MEP,
Women and Equalities Spokeswoman
Britain Together | 37
Britain United Under One Law For All
“Those of us
who identify
as lesbian, gay,
bisexual and
transgender
may have
first hand
experience of how misogynistic
and homophobic attitudes
are tolerated in the name of
‘respecting cultural differences.’
It is important to stand up for
true equality in the face of those
who would dismiss it.”
Flo Lewis, Chair,
LGBT in UKIP
• Make ‘breast ironing’ a
specific criminal offence
• Add ‘offences committed to
protect family or personal
honour’ to the Sentencing
Council’s list of aggravating
factors, giving leave to
impose greater sentences
• Prosecute all cases of child
and forced marriage and
refuse permanent leave
to remain and/or British
citizenship to any adult
known to have procured
a child marriage for
themselves or their children
• Make certain that neither
the legal nor the welfare
system in Britain ever
recognises polygamy
• Include information
on cultural crimes in
safeguarding training for
teachers, staff and
school governors.
SHOW YOUR FACE IN A
PUBLIC PLACE
UKIP will ban wearing of
the niqab and the burqa in
public places. Face coverings
such as these are barriers
to integration. We will not
accept these de-humanising
symbols of segregation and
oppression, nor the security
risks they pose.
Suggestions that UKIP is
undermining liberty with this
policy are absurd. There is no
human right to conceal your
identity. If anything prevents
liberty, it is the niqab, by
preventing women from being
perceived as individuals in their
own right. We want to open
opportunities to all women, so
that they can participate fully
in life and in the workplace.
Clothing that hides identity, puts
up barriers to communication,
limits employment opportunities,
hides evidence of domestic
abuse, and prevents intake of
essential vitamin D from sunlight
is not liberating.
We stand in solidarity with
women worldwide who
are rebelling against the
imposition of the niqab
and burqa.
ENDING ISLAMIST
EXTREMISM IN
OUR SCHOOLS
Three years ago, the ‘Trojan
Horse’ scandal revealed how
Islamists had attempted to
take over several schools in
Birmingham and use them
to propagate their warped
ideology.
The plot nearly succeeded, and
hundreds of young minds were
at risk. We must never again be
caught napping like this: we
must wake up to the reality that
extremism is taking hold in
our country.
Until such time as the Muslim community is better
integrated, UKIP proposes:
• Immediately putting into Special Measures
schools found to be exposing children to
Islamism
• Giving schools the right to dismiss forthwith
any teachers, members of staff or governors
found to be actively supporting radical
mosques or imams
• Requiring Ofsted to conduct snap inspections
of schools when parents or pupils have raised
concerns that:
° Girls are being offered unequal access
to music, dance, PE or drama lessons, or
are otherwise discriminated against
° Anti-Western, anti-Semitic, or antiequality
views are being expressed by
staff or governors
° Muslim or non-Muslim pupils who
challenge or do not share hardline views
are being bullied or ridiculed.
Strong actions, not political correctness,
are needed now, or we will all suffer the
consequences in the future.
Britain United Under One Law For All
The failure to address the crucial topic
of integration has led to a dangerous
situation where young people with little
or no experience of wider British society,
except having been told that it is bad, are
at risk of being brought up as hardline
and potentially violent Islamists.
David Kurten AM,
Education Spokesman
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
• Declare St George’s Day, April 23rd, as a
Bank Holiday in England; and St David’s
Day, 1st March, in Wales
• End the use of multi-lingual formating
on official documents. These will be
published only in English and, where
appropriate, Welsh and Gaelic
• Protect religious freedoms in accordance
with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, provided those beliefs
exist firmly within the framework of British
law. We will not condone any faith position
that is itself intolerant of the human rights
of others
38 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Policing, Prison, Punishment
The Tories used to claim they were the
party of law and order but on this, like on
so much else, they have let the British
people down. Their new definition of the
purpose of prison does not even use
the word ‘punishment.’ The Tories seem
more interested in prosecuting loyal
former service personnel than they are in
reprimanding real criminals.
Jane Collins MEP,
Home Affairs Spokeswoman
UKIP is the only party prepared to put its faith in imprisonment and a
strong police force as the bedrock of our criminal justice system.
We will promote rehabilitation, but also believe in containment,
deterrence and punishment.
The wealthy might feel safe, secreted away
in large houses in lovely areas, living behind
electronic gates and protected by top-of-the
range burglar alarms. It is a different story for
working class people forced to watch as their
communities are blighted by the criminality and
antisocial behaviour perpetrated by a wrecking
minority on their less gentrified estates. It
seems only UKIP will stand up for them.
Our approach to criminality contrasts starkly
with that of the other parties. As Home Secretary,
Theresa May was soft on crime. She went the way
of the Labour party, putting the human rights of
offenders before those of their victims, tiptoeing
around even the most hardened criminals, instead
of concentrating on protecting the public.
We will not tolerate a perverse criminal justice
system that allows criminals to get away with
serious crimes or repeat offending because the
police are under-resourced. We will train and
deploy 20,000 more police and employ 7,000
more prison officers.
REBUILDING OUR POLICE FORCES
The thin blue line is no longer just thin, it is
malnourished and emaciated. In their report
of March 2017, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate
of Constabulary highlighted an erosion of
preventative policing and revealed a catalogue
of failings. Emergency calls were deliberately
downgraded when fewer officers were on duty,
and gang violence was not classified as organised
crime to avoid having to deploy additional
resources. High-risk domestic abuse victims were
downgraded to a lower level of concern, and
officers were assigned to investigations they were
not qualified to conduct. Forces struggled to find
resources to investigate violent crimes.
Britain Together | 39
40 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Theresa May’s legacy as Home Secretary has
been to produce a police force that cannot be
relied upon to investigate crime properly, and
crime figures that cannot be relied upon at all.
The job of police officers is to prevent crime, keep
people safe and catch criminals. We will give them
the resources they need to succeed. We will train and
employ 20,000 more frontline officers and equip them
with all they need to conduct proper investigations,
and track and arrest more suspects. These jobs will
first be offered to ex-armed forces personnel.
STOP AND SEARCH
In 2014, Theresa May weakened Stop and Search,
saying it was undermining relations with ethnic
minority communities. UKIP warned this would
lead to an increase in knife crime and, sadly, we
have been proved right. Knife crime rose 24 per
cent in London last year when 61 people were
knifed to death in the city. Sixteen people were
stabbed and killed in London in just the three
weeks before this manifesto went to print.
Theresa May showed weakness and inconsistency
on Stop and Search and this has cost lives. UKIP
agrees with the father of murdered schoolboy
Damilola Taylor: the police need greater Stop and
Search powers to combat knife crime.
UKIP will reinstate full Stop and Search
powers to the police and reduce the burden of
paperwork police have to complete each time
they exercise this function.
SORTING OUT OUR PRISONS
Our prisons are overcrowded, understaffed, and
rapidly becoming hotbeds of violence and Islamist
extremism. Drug use is also rising. These factors
unite to increase the risk of prison rioting, or of
prison officers losing control, which could lead to
serious injury or loss of life. This vicious circle has
to stop. UKIP will:
Boost the number of prison officers by 7,000:
There are 7,000 fewer prison officers, supervising
officers and custodial managers working in England
and Wales than in 2010. Restoring this number will
restore adequate staffing levels. These jobs will be
offered first to ex-armed forces personnel.
Reduce Prison Overcrowding: 68 per cent of our
prisons are overcrowded, according to the latest
Ministry of Justice statistics. The Conservatives
plan to build four new prisons, close older jails,
and reduce the numbers of people incarcerated
to solve the problem. UKIP thinks this is potentially
disastrous: those who benefit most from prison
are the law-abiding people who do not go. We will
keep all existing prisons open and continue with
the current building programme. We will send as
many as possible of the 13,000 foreign nationals
in our jails back to their home countries and, in
future, will seek to have foreign criminals serve
sentences in their countries of origin. If they wish
to appeal against their convictions they must do
so from their country of origin and pay their own
costs. Our tough immigration policies will weed
out potential troublemakers.
Cut Violence in Prisons: Serious assaults within
prison walls are increasing. Two prison guards
are attacked every day, a threefold rise in just
four years, and there were also 18,510 prisoneron-
prisoner attacks during 2016. We will bring all
those who assault prison staff or other prisoners
before the courts.
“UKIP says: ‘If you can’t do the time,
don’t do the crime.’ We think crime
must always merit punishment.
However much of a waste of a life
it might seem to keep someone
locked up, if that is what it takes to
keep others safe, we will keep them
locked up”.
Peter Jewell,
Justice Spokesman
Britain Together | 41
Policing, Prison, Punishment
Tackle Illegal Drug Use:
Prisoners testing positive for
illegal substances while in
prison will be limited to ‘closed’
visits from friends or family
for six months, meaning they
will be separated from their
visitors by glass. Prisoners are
encouraged to deal with drug
addiction problems during
their incarceration, and we do
them no favours by not taking a
tough line.
Address Islamist Extremism:
All criminals are at risk of
becoming radicalised behind
bars, not just the 14.4 per
cent of Muslim prisoners.
The Quilliam Foundation, a
counter-extremism think-tank,
says prisons risk becoming
‘universities of terror’ unless
extremists are segregated from
the wider prison population.
This approach is shortly to
be piloted at three prisons,
along with ‘de-radicalisation’
programmes. We will monitor
progress and extend these
schemes if they are successful.
We will also:
• Ensure no prisoner has
better ‘perks’ than any other,
whatever their faith
• Refuse admission to prisons
to any imam, preacher or
individual known to promote
views contrary to
British values
• Give prison governors new
powers to impose measures
to combat Islamic extremism
and gang violence in
prisons.
We will review the sentencing
regime for police, prison staff
or other law enforcement
officials convicted of crimes.
We take an especially dim
view of corruption, for which
we will impose minimum fiveyear
sentences.
TOUGHER ACTION ON
‘HONOUR’ CRIME AND
GROOMING GANGS
The Sentencing Council
produces guidelines listing
‘aggravating factors’ which
make a crime more serious, so
it may incur a higher sentence
on conviction. We propose
that so-called ‘honour crimes’
should be added to that list. We
will also make it clear that the
aggravating factor of ‘racial or
religious motivation’ may apply
to any offender, of any race
or faith.
THE 2003 LICENSING ACT
This Act relaxed opening
hours for pubs, bars and clubs
and increased the number
of establishments able to
serve alcohol. The social
consequences have not
resembled the ‘continentalstyle
café culture’ Tony Blair
claimed it would. A survey of
emergency workers carried
out in 2015 by the Institute of
Alcohol Studies revealed 52
per cent of paramedics, 42 per
cent of A&E doctors and threequarters
of police officers have
been attacked in the course of
their duties by people who were
intoxicated.
To protect emergency workers
from abuse, we will repeal the
2003 Licensing Act and bring
in new legislation to reduce
the density of alcohol outlets
and restrict trading times.
THE EUROPEAN
ARREST WARRANT
UKIP will opt out of the European
Arrest Warrant. The EAW is
in fundamental opposition to
the principle of ‘innocent until
proven guilty.’ We will cooperate
fully with extradition
requests, but not allow British
citizens to be extradited to a
foreign jurisdiction for minor
crimes, when there is no clear
case against them, or when they
are unlikely to receive a fair trial.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
• Repeal Labour’s Human Rights legislation
and remove the UK from the jurisdiction of
the European Court of Human Rights.
• Introduce a new UK Bill of Rights.
• Prevent foreign criminals from entering the UK
and introduce a fast-track deportation system
for those convicted of crimes in the UK
• Prosecute all cases of adult sexual
behaviour with under-age minors, and
maintain the current age of consent
• Update licensing laws to limit the
maximum stake on fixed-odds betting
terminals to £2
• Keep and enforce current legislation on
the use of illegal drugs
• Refuse to give prisoners the vote
• Adopt a zero tolerance approach to antisocial
behaviour and nuisance and noisy
neighbours
• Make the setting up of a traveller pitch
without permission a criminal offence.
42 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Britain’s New Role in the World
Brexit means stepping boldly out into
a global world as an important actor
on the world stage. Free to pursue a
foreign policy prioritising British interests
and the security of our nation, UKIP will
ensure the safety, wealth and prosperity
of British citizens, while meeting our
international responsibilities.
Paul Nuttall,
UKIP Leader
By reclaiming our status as an independent, democratic nation, the UK can
through force of example play a role similar to that it played through force
of arms in two World Wars: that of a shining star illuminating the way ahead
for other European countries.
There is no question about it: when we leave the
EU, Britain will retain her status as a permanent
member of the United Nations Security
Council, and as a leading member of NATO, the
organisation that has been the bedrock of our
security since the aftermath of the Second World
War. We will sustain our position within the special
intelligence ‘Five Eyes’ alliance with the US,
Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and continue
to value our home within the Commonwealth.
Indeed, Brexit means we can help re-invigorate
the Commonwealth, with trade agreements and
increased engagement to give these friendly
countries parity of esteem in our foreign
relations policy.
UKIP will stand up for the territorial integrity
of British dependencies and territories. We
remain full committed to upholding the right
to self-determination of the people of the
Falkland Islands who overwhelmingly wish
to remain British. We will offer the citizens
of Gibraltar a referendum on becoming fully
British, and having their own MP in the
House of Commons.
Our EU membership has weakened our foreign
policy interests, so we naturally welcome our
coming freedom. However, we will of course
continue our close cooperation with our European
partners on matters of defence and security once
we have left the EU.
In the context of an American administration
that is re-evaluating its defence commitment
to Europe, Britain’s position as our continent’s
premier defence power is an asset that will
strengthen our hand in Brexit negotiations.
UKIP will work constructively with President
Trump. We value the special relationship
between the UK and the US, and do not believe
gesture politics from establishment politicians
seeking to demonstrate their disapproval of his
administration is helpful to our national interest.
The values shared between the US and the UK will
always outlast individual political administrations
in either country. We are confident the Trump
administration’s positive attitude to Britain will lead
to a swift free trade agreement bolstering
our common interests.
Britain Together | 43
However, UKIP does not believe
in surrendering our national
freedom of action, nor pledging
our armed forces in advance
to any other nation when it
comes to important foreign
policy decisions, such as those
that occurred in the run-up to
the Iraq War. UKIP opposed
Britain becoming involved in this
conflict from the start.
UKIP supports the recent
tradition of consulting
parliament before our forces
are committed to combat
situations. We are proud of our
pro-active role in opposing
British participation in the
planned bombing of Syria
in 2013.
The results of western military
intervention across North Africa
and the Middle East in the
21st century have been
disastrous, from Libya, to Syria,
Iraq, and even to Afghanistan,
where a necessary initial
intervention lost momentum
and focus because forces were
switched to the Iraq War.
In the years ahead, UKIP
will avoid allowing Britain
to become embroiled in
foreign wars. We will maintain
our sceptical view of neoconservative
arguments for
attempting to deliver change
in the Middle East at gunpoint.
You cannot bomb people
into democracy.
When it comes to the greatest
threat to world peace and
the British way of life, UKIP is
convinced this comes from the
spread of radical Islam across the
globe. The threshold for seeking
to topple anti-Islamist leaders will
therefore remain very high indeed.
We want to see a peaceful
resolution to the Israel-
Palestine conflict and will put
our full diplomatic weight
behind seeking this outcome.
UKIP will seek better relations
with Russia, but only on the
basis of Russia changing its
approach to international
relations, no longer seeking
to intervene in and manipulate
the conduct of politics in
western nations, and having
respect for the territorial
integrity of other countries.
We see Russia as a potential
important ally in the struggle
against Islamist terror, and
believe Russia should immerse
itself in global rules-based
relationships instead of
seeming to glory in renegade
status within the international
community.
UKIP will retain Britain’s
independent nuclear
deterrent. Give the continued
existence of rogue states
such as North Korea, any
other policy would be
utterly irresponsible.
44 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Defending Our Nation, Supporting Our Veterans
UKIP will restore Britain’s armed forces
to their rightful place among the most
professional, flexible and effective
fighting forces in the world, and we
will sign a new military covenant
with our brave heroes.’
Mike Hookem MEP,
Veterans Spokesman
Cllr. Bill Etheridge MEP,
Defence Spokesman
Despite the ever-present threat to our safety, our Armed Forces
have been cut to the bone. UKIP will spend a genuine two per cent
of GDP on defence, increase the number of those serving in our armed
forces by 20,000, properly equip those on active service, and look after
those who are prepared to put their lives on the line for our country,
in service and when discharged.
REBUILDING OUR ARMED FORCES
US President Theodore Roosevelt said the key
to success in foreign policy was to “speak softly
but carry a big stick.” In the modern era, British
politicians have all too often shouted loudly
while carrying a matchstick.
In 2010, the new Conservative-led government
began including the Single Intelligence Account,
Armed Forces pensions and Trident in the
defence budget, rather than accounting for
them separately. This sleight of hand budgeting
allowed them to claim they were still meeting our
NATO obligation to spend two per cent of GDP on
defence, when in fact our armed forces were being
steadily depleted. Tory cuts to the equipment
programme and manpower have been deep: they
have put our national security at serious risk.
THE ARMY
The Conservatives ignored their manifesto pledge
to keep army numbers above 82,000: reductions
imposed on the defence budget since 2010 have
shrunk the Army to 78,000, its smallest size since
the Napoleonic Wars. Main battle tank strength
has been cut by 40 per cent and there has been
a 35 per cent cut in self-propelled artillery. The
government’s ambition to recruit 30,000 personnel
to the Territorial Army to address the shortfall
in regular army manpower was a fatally flawed
concept and undeliverable from the start. Regulars
and Territorials are not interchangeable.
THE ROYAL NAVY
In 1982, the Royal Navy sent 115 ships, including
two aircraft carriers carrying jet fighters, plus 23
Britain Together | 45
Defending Our Nation, Supporting Our Veterans
destroyers and frigates, to
retake the Falkland Islands from
Argentina. Today, after decades
of cuts, the Royal Navy is a
shadow of its former self. The
surface fleet is currently down to
just 17 frigates and destroyers.
The Navy’s Harpoon missiles will
retire from the fleet’s frigates and
destroyers in 2018 without a
replacement, and there will be a
two-year gap without helicopterlaunched
anti-shipping missiles.
The Royal Navy has shed
people faster than ships: we had
39,000 sailors in 2000; now they
number only 29,000.
The Strategic Defence and
Security Review of 2015 vowed
to stop cutbacks on the fleet,
but the damage has already
been done.
The two new Queen Elizabethclass
aircraft carriers will not be
operational before 2020.
Even then, serious questions
remain about whether the
Royal Navy will be able to man,
operate and protect them. It
would take nearly every ship in
the current surface fleet to form
an effective carrier group so they
could be deployed. Moreover,
it has been widely reported
that each carrier will routinely
deploy with only a dozen F-35B
aircraft. In comparison, the two
Royal Navy carriers involved in
the Falklands Conflict carried
twenty-odd Harrier jump
jets each.
THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
The Royal Air Force is shedding
one sixth of its staff, some 7,000
personnel, and 295 aircraft. By
then, the RAF will have fewer
than 200 fighter planes for the
first time since the beginning
of World War I. Despite Russia
probing UK air space on a
regular basis, we no longer have
any maritime patrol aircraft.
In 2015, the UK found itself in
the embarrassing position of
having to call upon surveillance
assistance from US, Canadian,
French and German aircraft,
more than 20 times.
Many frontline pilots have
been on active combat
operations for more than a
decade. Combat fatigue has
taken its toll and experienced
aircrew are leaving the service.
The weapons officers who fly
behind the pilot in the twoseater
Tornado are particularly
in short supply. After decades
of Treasury-driven budgetary
cuts, the RAF finds itself in the
unhappy position of doing less
with less, with no prospect of an
upturn in its fortunes.
A GENUINE COMMITMENT
TO OUR NATO OBLIGATIONS
The Tories have threatened our
security by leaving huge holes
in our national defences. They
have failed the British people,
who must remain well protected
in an increasingly dangerous
world, and those who put their
lives on the line for us, who must
be properly equipped.
Britain must have a well
resourced, properly manned,
fit-for-purpose armed force, one
with the capability to defend
simultaneously Gibraltar and the
Falklands Islands, contribute to
one major theatre operation and
several peacekeeping missions.
UKIP will spend a genuine two
per cent of GDP on defence, and
scale up defence spending by
an additional £1 billion per year
by the end of the parliament.
UKIP will reverse the demilitarisation
of our country and
rebuild our Armed Forces.
DEFENCE PROCUREMENT
UKIP will overhaul the wasteful
defence procurement process.
46 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
It has lacked proper scrutiny, been based on
protectionism rather than on the needs of our
Armed Forces, and is subject to inappropriate
lobbying and cronyism on a massive scale.
Even Gordon Brown railed against the
“incestuous relationship between the Ministry (of
Defence) and the arms world,” although he did
nothing about it.
Defence contracts regularly run massively over
budget and over time. Botched projects have
become the norm. Despite the fact that Defence
Equipment and Support (the organisation
responsible for purchasing equipment) employs
12,300 people, one for every six full time soldiers
in the British Army, it has failed to deliver value
for money for taxpayers and has left service
personnel at risk.
UKIP will end the cosy relationship between
ministers, officials and arms firms that lies at
the heart of poor defence procurement
decision-making.
DISCHARGED FROM SERVICE: A NEW
MILITARY COVENANT FOR OUR HEROES
The political class has got its priorities so
wrong. In February this year, Theresa May
announced MPs would get a £1,049 pay rise.
Meanwhile, she capped pensions for 140,000
British war heroes and widows, giving them
just £1.10 per week.
In 2015, UKIP promised to create a new Veterans’
Administration, organisationally independent and
financially separate from the Ministry of Defence.
This is still a priority for us: Britain must do more
for veterans.
THE VETERANS’ ADMINISTRATION:
KEY ROLES
The Veterans’ Administration will have its own
minister and work with existing veteran services
and charities. It will provide a single point of
contact for veterans in a range of fields: health
care, housing, counselling, education and
training, rehabilitation, hospital care, access
to financial services, benefits and memorials.
The department will also have responsibility
for issues such as bereavement support,
homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse and
veterans’ mental health.
The Veteran’s Administration will issue a
veterans’ service card to ensure fast-track
access to NHS and mental health care, and
award a National Defence Medal to all veterans,
irrespective of rank or length of service.
HOSTELS FOR HOMELESS VETERANS
No veteran should be homeless, let alone have to
sleep rough on the street, yet this is happening
because the Government is not enforcing a law
stating military heroes must be offered homes.
UKIP will enforce this law, and build eight
halfway house veterans’ hostels, each with
200 rooms and modelled on similar hostels
already in operation. We will also assign
500 affordable rent homes every year to
ex-forces personnel.
GUARANTEED JOBS FOR EX-SERVICEMEN
AND WOMEN
UKIP will guarantee a job in the police service,
prison service or border force for anyone who has
served in the Armed Forces for a minimum of
12 years. Our ‘Boots to Business’ policy will help exservice
personnel set up their own businesses by
offering loans, grants, free professional advice and
mentoring to any veteran who wishes to pursue an
entrepreneurial career after leaving the forces.
ENDING LEGAL HARRASSMENT OF
EX-SERVICE PERSONNEL
UKIP will not allow veterans to be chased,
harassed and intimidated by over-zealous human
rights lawyers, most of whom are unlikely even
to begin to comprehend the pressures of the
battlefield. We will bring forward legislation
preventing veterans from being pursued for
years by police and prosecutors for actions taken
whilst in the service of the Crown. We will not
permit veterans to be tried over allegations of
misconduct dating from half a century ago under
any circumstances.
Veterans should not be sleeping in the streets
or consigned to the dole, nor hounded for
doing their jobs. UKIP is determined they will
get the help, care and respect they deserve.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015
MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
• Create an over-arching role of Director of
National Intelligence, who will be lead a
new, single, unified intelligence service
• Revise the Armed Forces’ terms of service,
to ensure personnel on operational duty
overseas do not pay income tax
• Oppose any form of military integration with
the European Union.
Britain Together | 47
Trade Not Aid: Eradicating Poverty and
Securing Britain’s Global Future
Only UKIP believes our foreign aid
budget should be reduced and
reallocated to the NHS and other
struggling public services. We are not
afraid to say charity begins at home,
that the primary responsibility of a
British government is to protect British
interests and improve the lives of the
British people.
Cllr Lisa Duffy,
Foreign Aid Spokeswoman
UKIP has long believed that trade, not aid, is the most secure route to
economic prosperity for the developing world. We will reduce the foreign
aid budget and advance free trade deals to the poorest nations to
help lift them out of poverty.
A 2015 World Economic Forum study
concluded that in the developing world there
was ‘no effect of aid on growth,’ yet UKIP is the
only party in this election offering voters a real
choice when it comes to foreign aid spending.
The others all back spending 0.7 per cent of
our Gross National Income (GNI), regardless
of results.
When carefully targeted, aid can feed the poor and
heal the sick, but regular aid payments may act as
a disincentive to economic growth. Between 1970
and 1998, when aid flows to Africa were at their
peak, poverty in Africa worsened. Despite receiving
over £400 billion in aid over the past forty years,
the continent remains poor.
It is time to consign to history the idea that
pouring ever-greater sums into the foreign aid
budget is a signal of our virtue. It is a hangover
from the era of celebrity-driven politics
personified by Tony Blair and David Cameron.
In many cases, it can be demonstrated to be
doing more harm than good.
Leaving the EU gives us the chance to boost
the fortunes of developing countries by striking
Free Trade Agreements with them. UKIP will
make ‘Transition to Trade’ offers to some of the
biggest aid recipient nations as we gradually
reduce the amount of UK taxpayers’ money we
send to them.
UKIP will close down the Department for
International Development. We will repeal the
law requiring us to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI
on foreign aid and reduce the aid budget to
0.2 per cent of GNI over time. This will save at
least £10 billion a year, which we will spend
on other priorities, such as the NHS. A single
Minister For Overseas Development working
out of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
will administer aid.
48 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
This will bring Britain’s aid spending into line
with that of other advanced nations, such as the
USA. We will still be spending around £4 billion
annually, which is more in cash terms than Spain
and Italy combined. We will continue to fund
projects that make a real difference: clean water
programmes, childhood inoculations, medical
assistance, and disaster and emergency relief.
We will offer contracts for aid programmes to
British providers first, so that we are better able to
see what results we get from various programmes
and track spending. We will not allow taxpayers’
money to be spent by aid organisations such as
the International Rescue Committee, who pay
David Miliband a salary of £425,000.
A DEDICATED BRITISH HOSPITAL SHIP
British medical expertise and disaster support is
among the best in the world. Our help is always
welcome in the aftermath of natural disaster,
disease epidemic, or famine. To increase the
contribution Britain can make in times of global
crises, UKIP will commission, equip and staff a
Naval Ocean-Going Surgical Hospital (NOSH).
As 95 per cent of the world’s largest 100 cities
are port cities, and 90 per cent of the world’s
population live within 200 miles of the sea, this will
be an extremely useful way to deliver large-scale
relief to our armed forces on active
operational duties, to civilians and refugees in
war zones, or to undertake humanitarian
missions in peacetime. The new ship will
also provide useful reinforcement in case of
emergencies here at home.
The new NOSH will have at least 500 beds, a
flight deck and large hangar to support several
helicopters, as well as vehicle decks. It will be
a highly visible ambassador for Britain, and
will replace the Royal Navy’s current sea-borne
medical capability, RFA ARGUS, which is set to
retire in 2020. It will not carry weapons, giving
it the full protection of the Geneva Convention
in times of war.
This flagship project will help confirm
Britain’s status as a force for good in the
world, while simultaneously expanding our
naval capabilities.
ETHICAL TRADE WILL ERADICATE POVERTY
UKIP will not be sorry to see the back of the
EU’s morally repugnant trade tariff regime. It has
blatantly accentuated poverty in some of the
poorest nations on earth. African farmers, for
example, may export raw cocoa beans to the
EU without paying any tariffs, but if they want to
export chocolate, tariffs are high. It is the same
with coffee. In 2014, the whole of Africa made just
under £1.6 billion from raw coffee bean exports,
but Germany alone made £2.6 billion just by
exporting roasted beans, despite not growing a
single coffee crop.
UKIP will seek to support the economies,
infrastructure development, education, health,
agriculture and trading capacity of developing
nations. We will not engage in unethical trade
practices that harm or inhibit their trade, traditional
lifestyles, or natural resources. This will be a
far better way to help developing nations lift
themselves out of poverty and become selfsufficient.
Even Bono has now admitted it.
THE WORLD IS OUR OYSTER
Of all the insults thrown at the Leave campaign by
the Remain camp, one of the most ludicrous was
the ‘little Englanders’ taunt. The polar opposite
is true: those who voted for Brexit could see a
brighter, more global and economically successful
future outside the confines of a contracting and
ever-more protectionist EU.
Our focus on trade, not aid, means
we can establish ethical relationships
with developing countries by assisting
agriculture and industrial growth, rather
than simply sending money that is likely
to be abused and misspent by
dubious regimes.
William Dartmouth MEP,
Trade Spokesman
Photography by Jim Fraser
Britain Together | 49
Trade Not Aid: Eradicating Poverty and Securing Britain’s Global Future
For decades our EU membership
has been a factor in our diluted
economic growth, flat-lining
wages, and diminishing
influence on the world stage.
In future, we shall have wider
and easier access to overseas
markets. For British consumers,
choice will increase, prices will
fall, and we will not be so reliant
upon monopoly suppliers.
Increased competition is likely
to fuel innovation and offer
opportunities for the transfer of
expertise and technology, which
in turn means more jobs, and a
stronger economy.
Leaving the EU is not about
becoming ‘little Englanders,’
it is about putting the ‘Great’
back into Great Britain. It
is about embracing new
trading markets in all seven
continents of the globe.
Naturally, we should like to
agree a Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) with the EU, and continue
to trade on the same basis as
at present. As the UK is the EU’s
largest single export market, the
EU should want to reach a swift
and sensible trade deal with us.
However, if the EU continues to
make unreasonable demands in
return for even talking about free
trade, then we must be prepared
to walk away.
In circumstances where the EU
continues to insist Britain pay a
huge ‘divorce’ settlement of up
to €100 billion, or continues to
demand we accept the on-going
jurisdiction of the European
Court of Justice and allow
the free movement of people,
trading with the EU within the
legal framework of the World
Trade Organisation (WTO)
would be the far better option.
Not having an FTA with the EU
will not prevent our trading with
EU businesses, so talk of a ‘cliff
edge’ is pure hyperbole. Neither
could we ‘crash out’ of the EU,
because trade is not going
to stop, whatever happens. It
should also be remembered that
the EU is itself a member of the
WTO and subject to its rules,
so therefore extremely limited
in any hostile action it could
take against Britain. Trading
on WTO terms will never be a
‘punishment’ option, but may be
an economically sound choice.
OUR TRADE PRINCIPLES
Post-Brexit, UKIP’s aim is to
establish the UK on the world
market as a low tax, low
regulation economy. The UK
will contribute to the World
Trade Organisation’s aim for
trade to flow as smoothly,
predictably and freely as
possible. We will reduce
tariffs wherever possible,
unless initiating anti-dumping
measures, and oppose the
establishment and continuance
of protectionist customs unions
such as the EU.
The sooner we can start
making our own free trade
deals with countries around
the world, the better.
Leaving the EU is a win-win
situation for UK trade, our
global business partners,
and developing nations.
Countries are already queuing
up to make trade deals with
Britain: we can only hope
work is already underway to
negotiate, conclude, sign and
ratify those deals so they that
can come into effect on day
one after Brexit.
50 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Transport: Keeping Britain Moving
Motorists have had enough of being
treated like cash cows and told to stop
using their cars. UKIP recognises the
huge contribution drivers make to our
economy, and that driving is the only
viable travel option for many.
We are the party that stands up for the
beleaguered motorist.
Jill Seymour,
Transport Spokeswoman
Everyone understands the frustration of being stuck in a traffic jam or
going nowhere on a delayed train or bus. UKIP will improve our existing
transport infrastructure instead of investing in vanity projects such as HS2
and the environmentally destructive third runway at Heathrow.
Britain’s prosperity depends upon an operational
road system and reliable public transport networks.
When transport goes wrong, it has an impact on
our economy and our businesses, and makes life
miserable and stressful for those experiencing
delays and cancellations. UKIP will get the basics
right, and not waste hundreds of billions of pounds
on unnecessary transport projects.
UKIP WILL SCRAP HS2
Rail travel is essential but HS2 is not. This High
Speed Rail project is unaffordable, requires
massive borrowing, will blight people’s homes, and
destroy valuable habitats. Spending £75 billion just
to save a few minutes between London and Leeds
is ludicrous and, we think, unethical.
UKIP will put HS2 out of its misery. We
will invest in upgrading existing main line
services to create additional capacity, expand
electrification, and improve east-west rail
services and connections across the north
of England. This will be infrastructure that
genuinely supports the economic and industrial
regeneration of the region. A slogan, ‘ The
Northern Powerhouse,’ achieves nothing.
ENDING ROAD TOLLS
Tolling increases costs to business and the
public, and adds an additional unfair burden on
the already highly taxed road user. Road tolls are
modern-day highway robbery, and UKIP will aim
to remove existing tolls from publicly owned roads
and block the introduction of new toll roads.
UKIP opposes the proposed new Thames
Crossing in Thurrock and will look to re-open
a consultation for a new crossing further east.
This will include the option for a crossing
through Canvey Island, linking the A130 to the
M2 in Kent.
Britain Together | 51
Transport: Keeping Britain Moving
SUPPORT THE TRANSITION
TO ZERO EMISSION
VEHICLES
Electrically propelled vehicles
are now a serious option for
many families but the charging
infrastructure is not keeping pace.
UKIP will support the installation
of rapid charging stations in
towns and cities, and encourage
off street parking and charging
provision in all new housing and
industrial developments through
the local planning process.
DEFENDING
DIESEL DRIVERS
In the 1990s, the EU and our
government promoted diesel
vehicles, claiming they were more
environmentally friendly because
they produced less carbon
dioxide. Incentives such as higher
taxes on petrol and cuts to Vehicle
Excise Duty for diesel cars worked
and diesel car ownership shot
up. The ‘experts,’ however, have
changed their advice.
Policy has now U-turned. Punitive
taxes are being slapped on diesel
cars and there are calls to ban them
from city centres. A scrappage
scheme giving diesel car owners
up to £2,000 to get rid of their
vehicles has also been introduced,
and UKIP supports this; however,
we will combine it with an incentive
scheme encouraging drivers to
exchange their vehicles for electric
or hybrid models.
UKIP will prevent diesel drivers
from being penalised through
higher taxes, parking fees,
or emissions’ zone charging.
People bought their vehicles
in good faith on government
advice. Milking them now for
money that simply goes into the
Treasury is unacceptable.
SAVING RURAL
BUS SERVICES
Rural bus services are vital for
those living in the countryside who
do not have the financial means
or the ability to drive. UKIP will
provide start-up grants to support
community bus operators using
smaller and more efficient buses
where commercial operators have
cut essential services.
AIR PASSENGER DUTY
Air Passenger Duty has risen rapidly
since its introduction in 1994. This
is a tax on holidays as well as an
additional cost to business. We
will freeze APD at current levels
and, when possible in future, seek
to reduce it with the long-term
objective of scrapping it completely.
LONDON AIRPORTS AND
THE SOUTH EAST
Living under a flight path is
damaging to health and wellbeing,
and the expansion of Heathrow
airport will make matters worse
for many thousands more
people. UKIP is dismayed the
Conservatives have torn up their
2010 manifesto pledge not to go
ahead with the third runway.
However, there is a clear
commercial need for additional
airport capacity in the South East,
and UKIP is delighted a £100
million investment plan to revive
aviation at Manston Airport in
Kent is now on the table. This
would not have been possible
without the tireless campaigning
of UKIP councillors. An American
logistics company has unveiled
plans to acquire the 750-acre site,
and use it as a base for at least
a dozen aircraft. Thanet District
Council is hoping to become a
partner in a compulsory purchase
order for the site.
UKIP will continue to support
the expansion of smaller
regional airports.
THE BRITDISC
We will keep a record of all
foreign vehicles entering the UK
by introducing a windscreen
mounted identification tag, which
can be purchased prior to entry.
This will help identify overseas
drivers who break UK traffic laws
and facilitate enforcement action,
which can be taken prior to exit
from the country.
• Stop mandatory fitment of the e-call vehicle tracking system
on new cars
• Exempt vehicles over 25 years old from Vehicle Excise Duty
• Not allow speed cameras to be used as revenue-raisers for
local authorities
• Scrap the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence for
professionally licensed haulage drivers
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
52 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Protecting our Environment
Brexit will not put our countryside, our marine environment, or our wildlife
at risk. The idea that our membership of the EU has been only good
for our environment is quite simply false. In some ways we have
benefited, but in others our natural environment has suffered as
a consequence of EU policy.
The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has
damaged our countryside. The Common
Fisheries Policy has devastated fish stocks
around our coastline. The way the EU – and our
government – embraced diesel proved to be
disastrous, even fatal. The Water Framework
Directive led to serious flooding in many parts
of the country by preventing river dredging.
Repealing this directive will spare homeowners
the misery of flooding and exorbitant
insurance premiums.
UKIP will promote evidence-based environmental
schemes, and safeguard protection for Britain’s
wildlife, nature reserves, areas of outstanding
natural beauty, countryside, and coastlines in a
new Environmental Protection Act, prioritising
policies to protect our precious countryside for
future generations.
PROTECTING OUR ANCIENT WOODLANDS
Current legislation does not go far enough in
protecting natural woodland habitats. We will
amend the National Planning Policy Framework
(NPPF) to give ancient woodlands ‘wholly
exceptional’ status, putting them on a par with
listed buildings, registered parks and gardens, and
World Heritage Sites.
Major infrastructure projects will be required
to give much more respect to irreplaceable
Britain Together | 53
Protecting our Environment
natural habitats. HS2 is a
prime example of this: we
will scrap HS2 and ensure no
infrastructure project will ever
again be allowed permission
to wreak such catastrophic
environmental damage.
CREATING SMALL
GREEN SPACES
UKIP will amend planning
legislation to promote inclusion
of trees and open space into
new developments. The need
to build new homes must be
countered by the human need
to breathe in open, green
spaces. We will also require new
developments to use permeable
or porous surfacing materials
for single-storey, ground level
domestic car parking and front
gardens, so rainwater can drain
away to help prevent flooding.
Figures analysed by the RAC
Foundation show some seven
million front gardens now
contain concrete and cars rather
than flowers and grass, a total
space roughly equivalent to 100
Hyde Parks or 72 Olympic Parks.
GENERAL ELECTION DAY IS
WORLD OCEANS DAY
32 million single-use plastic
bottles are used every day in
the UK. 16 million go directly to
landfill or end up as litter. The
Marine Conservation Society
estimates around 160 plastic
bottles per mile are scattered
on our beaches. After years of
sunlight and pounding waves,
they break down into microplastics
which are ingested by
plankton, shellfish, shrimp, fish,
birds, turtles, other sea animals
and ultimately humans.
We will investigate the
practicality of introducing a
deposit scheme on plastic
drinks bottles to encourage
recycling.
“After Britain leaves
the European Union,
UKIP will review all EU
environment legislation.
We will review all current
EU environmental rules,
keeping those which
have enhanced our
environment, such as
improving the cleanliness
of our seas and beaches,
and amend or repeal
legislation which can
be shown to have had a
detrimental effect”.
Dr Julia Reid MEP,
Environment
Spokeswoman
• Prioritise brownfield
rather than greenfield or
agricultural land for new
housing
• Support farming and
wildlife though grant
schemes prioritising the
preservation of natural
habitats
• Match fund grants made
by local authorities for
rural capital projects
which enhance the
local environment or
help recovery from
environmental disasters
• Protect dolphins by
banning the use of pair
trawling for sea bass
• Offer local referenda
to overturn unpopular
development approvals
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
54 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Food Production and Animal Welfare
Farming, rural industries and rural skills
have always been fundamental to
our economy, our well-being, and our
relationship with our countryside. Brexit
offers us the chance to restore our seas,
rivers, coasts, farmland, and uplands,
and address the catastrophic collapse
in quality habitat and wildlife species in
our country, and the loss of the specialist
craft trades and skills we need to
manage them.
Stuart Agnew MEP,
Agriculture Spokesman
When we leave the EU, we will leave the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
and regain the power to prioritise our own farming objectives, boost our own
food security, reform our attitude to farming, animal welfare and wildlife
management, and reinvigorate our rural economy.
Britain Together | 55
Food Production and Animal Welfare
Naturally, farmers will be nervous about what
might replace the CAP and the subsidy system
they have become used to over forty years or so.
However, UKIP will continue to make available to
the agriculture sector funds that would normally
be paid to them via Brussels. We will introduce a
UK Single Farm Payment (SFP) that operates in a
similar way to the present EU system.
The major difference will be that UKIP’s SFP will be
more ethical. It will end EU discrimination in favour
of larger, intensive farms, and support smaller
enterprises. Subsidies will be capped at £120,000
per year and, to make sure payments reach
farmers, not just wealthy landowners, we will pay
only those who actually farm the land.
Anti-Microbial Resistance is a problem for society
as a whole. UKIP will consider transferring some
support to those livestock producers who commit
to farming without antibiotics.
To qualify for subsidies, land must be used
for genuine agricultural purposes and meet
Entry Level Stewardship conditions (2013
rules), meaning it must be managed to certain
environmental standards. Organic farms will be
paid 25 per cent more, and additional support will
be given to hill farmers. There will be no set-aside,
cropping or rotation restrictions.
We think the British public will prefer and support
UKIP’s approach.
ANIMAL WELFARE
Only when we have left the EU can we regain
control of animal health and welfare issues.
Currently, EU law prevents us from banning
live exports for slaughter, and prevents us from
labelling food that has been ritually killed as halal
or shechita. UKIP campaigns against the EU’s
stance on both.
It is worth noting that should Britain stay in
the single market, we would still not be able to
prevent the export and import of live animals
destined for the meat trade and end the
unnecessary suffering this causes.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
• Ban the export of animals for fattening
and slaughter
• Tightly regulate animal testing, and
continually challenge companies
concerned regarding its necessity
• Install CCTV in every abattoir and
deal severely with any animal welfare
contraventions
• Forbid Jewish and Muslim methods
of slaughter being carried out by
unqualified individuals in unregulated
premises, and deal severely with such
transgressions
• Insist all meat labelling identifies the
method of slaughter
• Triple the maximum jail sentences for
animal cruelty
• Impose lifetime bans on owning and/or
looking after animals on any individual
or company convicted of animal cruelty
• Keep the ban on animal testing for cosmetics.
56 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Our Future Energy Security
UKIP has a clear commitment to secure,
affordable energy for everyone. We will
repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act, the
most expensive piece of legislation in
history. This will cut the cost of energy
in our homes and encourage energyintensive
businesses that are failing
because of flawed energy policies.
Roger Helmer MEP,
Energy Spokesman
Brexit offers the perfect opportunity to review energy policy, prioritising
lower prices and more secure supplies. There is one major problem:
a lack of MPs in Westminster who recognise the potential of a rational
energy policy, and who are committed to delivering it.
Every political party except UKIP has thrown
its weight behind the 2008 Climate Change
Act. Set to cost us an eye-watering £319 billion
by 2030, this Act has no basis in science, and
its aim of cutting greenhouse gases by
80 per cent by 2050 is unachievable. It is a
textbook exercise in legislative folly, brought
about by nothing more than a competitive crossparty
‘dash for green.’
While our major global competitors in the USA,
China and India are switching to low-cost fossil
fuels, this Act forces us to close perfectly good
coal-fired power stations to meet unattainable
targets for renewable capacity. If we carry on like
this, the lights are likely to go out.
UKIP will repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act
and support a diverse energy market based on
coal, nuclear, shale gas, conventional gas, oil,
solar and hydro, as well as other renewables
when they can be delivered at competitive
prices. We will also withdraw from the Paris
climate agreement and the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme, to enhance our industrial
competitiveness.
CUTTING DOMESTIC ENERGY PRICES
According to government figures, 2.3 million
households are living in fuel poverty, meaning
they spend more than 10per cent of their total
income to heat their homes to an adequate
standard of warmth.
In addition to removing VAT from domestic
fuel and scrapping ‘green’ levies to reduce
household bills by an average of £170, we will
review the ownership and profits of British
utilities and the impact on consumers of
steadily rising prices. We will not hesitate to
table legislation to address any excesses
we uncover.
Britain Together | 57
Our Future Energy Security
CUTTING THE COST OF
INTENSIVE ENERGY USE
Repealing the Climate Change
Act and leaving the EU means
we can also reduce high
commercial energy prices
and prevent energy-intensive
businesses from being driven
offshore. Problems in the
steel industry have been
well publicised, but similar
issues apply to aluminium,
chemicals, fertilisers, glass,
ceramics and petroleum
refining. Such companies may
move to countries with lower
environmental standards, and
increase emissions, thereby
rendering the 2008 Act even
more futile.
Energy policies pursued by
Labour and the Tories are
arguably increasing global
emissions and causing Britain
to lose jobs and investment.
They have created a lose-lose
situation, but only UKIP is
awake to the problem.
INVESTING IN SHALE GAS
British demand for energy
already exceeds our homeproduced
supply and unless we
reduce this deficit, we will be
importing more and more energy.
This risks both our energy and
pur economic security: bills will
have to be paid for in foreign
currency over which we have
no control, and fossil fuel cost
and distribution can be severely
affected by international conflict.
It would be foolhardy not to
maximise home produced
energy and this is why UKIP will
invest in shale gas exploration. If
‘fracking’ is viable in Britain, we
will have tapped into a source of
energy that is cost-effective and
delivers domestic fuel security
and stability.
Careful utilisation of this method
of gas extraction has the potential
to create jobs, improve our
industrial competitiveness and
boost our economy. This makes
it too great an opportunity to
ignore. By any measure, shale gas
extraction is far safer and cleaner
than coal, on which Britain’s
Industrial Revolution was based.
UKIP will not, however,
allow drilling for shale in our
national parks or other areas
of outstanding natural beauty.
The Conservatives may be
prepared to do this, but we are
not. We will always respect
local environmental issues.
• Prevent energy companies charging extra for customers who
use pre-payment meters, who do not pay by direct debit, or
who require paper billing
• Remove taxpayer-funded subsidies from unprofitable
wind and solar schemes as soon as contractual
arrangements expire.
WE STAND BY OUR 2015 MANIFESTO PLEDGES TO:
58 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Real Democracy
UKIP’s fundamental belief in radical democracy marks us out from the
other parties. We want real devolution, with an English Parliament. We
will abolish the House of Lords, hold binding referenda on the issues that
matter most to people, and introduce a fairer voting system.
The fabric of the historic Palace of Westminster
is in desperate need of restoration, but
perhaps it is not just the building itself
that is falling apart. Are the decaying walls
symptomatic of what is happening inside the
mother of parliaments?
Government has become bloated and
unmanageable. Politics is corrupted by
self-interest and big business. An unaccountable
elite revels in mutual back-scratching and
cronyism. If the best interests of the people of this
country are to be well served, our current political
system needs urgent reform.
UKIP believes it is time to make our nation truly
democratic, and this is how we will do it.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
All votes should matter, so we will introduce a
voting system that genuinely reflects the will of
the people as a whole. In the 2015 general
election, UKIP got 12.6 per cent of the vote but
only one seat, while the SNP won just 4.7 percent
of the national vote but took 56 seats. The
current First Past the Post (FPTP) system we use
for electing MPs to our national parliament is
bad for voters, bad for government, and bad for
democracy.
UKIP wants a fairer, more proportional voting
system that makes seats match votes, and
ends the inbuilt advantage the establishment
parties have over smaller parties. A proportional
electoral system that delivers a parliament
representative of the number of votes cast,
while retaining a constituency link, is one we
strongly advocate.
There is a growing disconnect between
people and politicians. People feel their
voice isn’t heard, and that their vote
doesn’t change anything. UKIP stands for
a fundamentally different kind of politics
that puts power back in the hands of the
British people. Leaving the European
Union is the first step on that road.
Jonathan Arnott MEP,
Constitutional Affairs Spokesman
Real Democracy
SCRAP POSTAL VOTING
ON DEMAND
Originally intended to increase
voter turnout and enhance
democracy, postal voting has
had the opposite effect, fuelling
“massive, systematic and
organised fraud” that would
“disgrace a banana republic,”
according to England and Wales’s
senior and most experienced
Election Commissioner. UKIP will
reserve postal votes only for those
who can show a genuine need.
Otherwise, voting must be done
at polling stations.
ABOLISH THE
HOUSE OF LORDS
It is time for the House of
Lords to go. Attempts at
reform have proved counterproductive.
The House of
Lords Act 1999 replaced the
majority of hereditary peers
with appointees, which only
increased the Prime Minister’s
ability to put cronies into
the upper chamber. The
House of Lords is now
stuffed with party donors
and fundraisers, ex-MPs, and
favoured former employees.
Stuffed is the right word: the
House of Lords is the second
biggest legislature in the world,
after the Chinese National
People’s Congress. The average
cost of each peer is £115,000
per year.
A FAIR DEAL FOR
ALL FOUR NATIONS
The public widely regards
the United Kingdom’s
current devolutionary system
as fundamentally unfair,
particularly to the English. UKIP
will put England, Scotland,
Britain Together | 59
60 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
Real Democracy
Wales and Northern Ireland on the same footing
by instituting a new English Parliament. It will sit in
the chamber vacated by the House of Lords, have
its own First Minister, and its 375 members will
be elected under the Additional Member system
of proportional representation, one or more from
each traditional county or large city and 125
top-up seats.
All four nations will have broadly similar devolved
powers and none will have power over matters
affecting the whole of the UK, such as foreign policy,
defence of the realm, or constitutional matters.
A SMALLER HOUSE OF COMMONS
Our national parliament will be given two primary
areas of responsibility: to act as an oversight body
for the regional Parliaments and Assemblies, and
to deal with all matters not devolved to them. The
size of the House of Commons will be halved to
325 directly elected members from across the four
nations of the United Kingdom, according to a
system of proportional representation.
These changes will reduce the number of
politicians eligible to sit in the legislature from
1475 to 700, a net reduction of 775.
THE CITIZEN’S INITIATIVE
If 10,000 people sign an approved parliamentary
petition, the government must respond. If over
100,000 people sign it, the petition must be
debated in parliament. However, this is not real
democracy. Responses to petitions are often
cursory, sometimes derisory, and debates rarely
take place in the House of Commons chamber, so
are usually badly attended and easily dismissed.
We will pass legislation allowing citizens to
influence our legislature directly, by giving
them the power to initiate binding referenda on
the issues of most importance to them. Every
two years, a national referendum will be held
on the issues gaining the highest numbers of
signatures on approved petitions. The
outcome of these referenda would be
legally binding and included in the
Queen’s Speech.
UKIP will lead the way in saving the Union
and ending friction in the current devolution
settlement. Our policies will end the need for
tactical voting, which undermines democracy
and freedom of political choice, cut the cost
and size of government, and give people a real
say in how they are governed.
UKIP is the real party for the people.
Britain Together | 61
Councillors exist to serve their
communities, and one of the best ways
to do that is by offering them a say in
what happens on their doorstep, through
the use of binding referenda. This will
reinvigorate local politics, and shape
our neighbourhoods to the benefit of
everyone, not just powerful developers,
or the most determined lobbyist.
Peter Reeve MBE,
Local Government Spokesman
Keeping it Local
UKIP believes in localism, the kind that puts real power into the hands
of the people. Our councillors put party politics last, and believe in
rolling up their sleeves and getting the job done.
When it comes to key local issues such as
out-of-town supermarkets, incinerators, and major
housing developments, UKIP believes in holding
binding local referenda. Why should politicians
and planning authorities have the final say?
UKIP is the only party to operate a ‘no whip’
system, so our councillors can always vote in the
best interests of residents in their wards, because
they are not bound by party politics.
We oppose the ‘cabinet’ system of local
governance, which puts too much power in
the hands of too few people. We advocate a
committee system, which brings more openness
and transparency, and facilitates cross-party
collaborative working.
Collecting rubbish bins promptly and regularly,
removing fly-tips, filling potholes, fixing broken or dim
streetlights, providing enough parking, and keeping
parks and libraries open: these services should be
running smoothly before councillors even think about
spending money on the next local vanity project.
UKIP believes in keeping Council Tax as low as
possible. We seek to cut excessive allowances
for councillors, executive pay and bonuses, keep
advertising and promotion budgets to a minimum,
build partnerships with neighbouring councils
to reduce costs, and abolish non-essential jobs
and red tape. UKIP will end the use of council
procurement cards, which operate like credit
cards, encouraging over-spending and waste. Staff
should stick within agreed budgets.
UKIP will review the many statutory duties placed on
local government, to assess whether the cost burden
on councils and taxpayers can be reduced. Councils
should only be doing what they do best, not what
national government wants to wash its hands of.
UKIP: the party with local, common sense,
cost-cutting policies for local government.
62 | UKIP Manifesto 2017
UKIP’s Five Year Fiscal Plan
PHASED BUDGET CHANGES 2017-2022
BUDGETARY SAVINGS 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Net EU contributions 8.30 8.70 9.30
Overseas Aid phased down to 0.2% of GNI 6.09 9.43 10.84 11.26 11.70
HS2 cancellation 1.38 3.86 4.76 5.45 5.55
DECC budget cuts (excluding levies) 0.52 1.06 1.08 1.08 1.10
NHS medical insurance recovery from migrants
and visitors ineligible for free treatment
0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90
Barnett Formula replaced with needs based
allocation of spending
1.50 3.00 4.50 5.50 6.50
Total savings 9.99 17.95 30.18 32.79 35.05
All figures in £bn
Britain Together | 63
TAX AND EXPENDITURE 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Income Tax Personal Allowance £13,500 and
Higher Rate Threshold £55,000 by 2021-22
1.57 3.15 3.86 5.43
NHS provision 2.00 3.00 5.00 8.00 9.00
Social Care provision 1.20 1.45 1.65 1.75 2.00
Carers Allowance increased to level of Job
Seekers Allowance
0.41 0.42 0.42 0.42
Bedroom Tax abolished 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50
Inheritance Tax Threshold Increased to £500,000,
transferable (£ 1 million per couple)
0.93 0.99 0.86 0.76 0.77
Increase Armed Services personnel by 20,000
over 5 years
0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
Veterans Administration 0.12 0.32 0.35 0.35 0.44
Increase in Police, Prison Officers and Border
Force Staff (includes ex- service personnel)
0.60 1.40 2.10 2.10 2.10
Higher education tuition fees abated after 5 years
for STEM students
1.86 1.91 2.01 2.04 2.08
Higher education maintenance grants reinstated 1.30 1.60 1.65 1.70 1.75
Hospital car parking fees abolished 0.21 0.21 0.22 0.22 0.23
National referenda 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
Remove VAT from domestic fuel and hot takeaway food 1.10 1.75 1.78 1.80 1.83
Additional investment in Northern England east to
west rail projects
0.60 1.40 1.80 2.20
Business Rates cut - 20% relief on premises with a
rateable value up to £50,000
0.89 1.24 1.29 1.32 1.35
Provision for other policy items 0.60 0.70 0.80 1.00 1.20
Contingency 1.00 1.00 1.00
Total spending 11.51 18.09 24.82 29.46 33.34
Net budgetary impact –1.52 – 0.14 5.36 3.33 1.71
Published and Promoted by Paul Oakden, on behalf of the UK Independence Party,
1 King Charles Business Park, Old Newton Road, Heathfield, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 6UT.
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