General Election 2024: Key manifesto points

For those on the edge of your seats, the manifestos are (mostly) out. We've trawled through them with some input from industry experts and distilled the salient points for each party, providing a better understanding of how your vote might affect your finances. Here are the main points from each party.

Labour

Taxation

It may not be over until it’s over, but the chances are that the Labour manifesto will prove the important one. Sir Keir Starmer has been emphatic that he will not raise any of the ‘big four’ taxes – Income Tax, National Insurance, VAT and corporation tax. However, that still leaves an open goal on Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, plus a range of other options such as tax relief on pension contributions.

Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at interactive investor, says: “The Labour manifesto did little to dispel speculation that Capital Gains Tax could rise if the party comes to power. Regardless of what might or might not happen to the tax, making the most of tax efficient ISA and SIPP wrappers, which shields any interest, dividends, or capital gains earned from Income and Capital Gains Tax, remains a good strategy.”

Helen Miller, deputy director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said: “There were no tax surprises in Labour’s manifesto. The biggest promises were the negative ones: no increases in rates of Income Tax, NI, VAT or corporation tax. The positive ones were small: permanent measures scored as raising just over £7 billion per year. Most of that would, according to the plan, come from reduced tax avoidance - a theme common to the manifestos of all three main UK-wide parties. As ever, this should be considered an uncertain revenue source.”

The manifesto also confirmed the removal of private school fees from the VAT exemption, to the dismay of private school parents everywhere. However, there was no more detail on when and how it would be implemented.

Pensions