Conservative Party manifesto 2019 policies, pledges and when will it launch?

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WITH the December General Election fast approaching, political parties will have been releasing their manifestos.

Here’s everything you need to know about what to expect from the Conservatives.

When will the Conservative manifesto come out?

The Conservative Party will soon be launching its manifesto for December’s election

The party is yet to release its manifesto.

In fact, it may only publish the full document two weeks before the general election.

Instead, it will unveil individual policies at regular intervals throughout the campaign.

The move is thought to be intended to maximise the party’s media coverage.

What have the Conservatives announced so far?

The central plank of the Conservatives’ campaign has been a pledge to deliver Brexit, which it wants to do by the end of January using Boris Johnson’s renegotiated deal.

The party says it was to “get Brexit done so we can invest in our NHS, schools, and the police”.

Key pledges so far have included a 13.8bn increase in spending across all departments by 2021 and a 33.9bn boost for the health budget by 2023-24.

The party says it wants to recruit 6,000 extra GPs and deliver 50 million more appointments a year by 2024-25.

The government also wants to renew the image of the Conservatives as being strong on law and order.

It has already begun the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers and says it wants to increase stop-and-search powers.

At the party conference in September, education secretary Gavin Williamson also set out plans to boost vocational education with a 120 million investment in new German-style technology institutes.

What else can we expect?

Aside from its focus on Brexit, the Tory strategy so far has used public spending pledges to try to neutralise a reliable line of attack for Labour.

In his victory speech after winning the Conservative leadership race, Boris Johnson said: “Like some slumbering giant, we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self-doubt and negativity, with better education, better infrastructure, more police, fantastic full-fibre broadband sprouting in every household.

“We are going to unite this amazing country and we are going to take it forward.”

Policies announced in the coming weeks are likely to focus on life after Brexit and “unleashing Britain’s potential”, as the party’s campaign slogan says it wants to do.

What do the polls say?

Polling company Britain Elects, whose poll tracker provides an average figure from a range of polls, currently puts the Tories on 37.2 per cent ahead of Labour’s 28.6 per cent.

The parties have been neck-and-neck for much for most of the last two years, but the Conservatives have pulled away since Boris Johnson took over as leader in July.

Holding an election before Brexit has been delivered is a risk for the Conservatives, but the support Boris Johnson’s deal has received from many Brexiteers will help his party fend off the threat from Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party.

Having secured a deal will also help his MPs in battles for marginal seats with Labour and the Lib Dems, where the prospect of a no-deal Brexit threatened to put off moderate Conservative voters.