The 64-page document was launched by party leader Paul Nuttall in London on Thursday.
Policies and proposals that UK manufacturers may find interesting include:
Education and skills:
- Requiring every primary school to nominate a science leader to inspire and equip the next generation of scientists and engineers
- Abolishing 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
- Ensuring effective career development assumes a more important role in the national curriculum and is assessed
- Introducing practical ‘employability’ lessons into the careers’ syllabus, teaching ‘soft’ skills such as interview skills, team-working and time management, making presentations, public speaking, networking, making a good first impression, and developing social skills
- Ensuring 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
Brexit, immigration and trade:
- Ukip has created ‘Six Brexit Tests’, which is says once passed, “can we be sure the British people have got the deal they voted for”. The tests include a Migration Test and Trade Test
- Using some of the regional development budget to boost capacity in UK-based modular homes manufacturing once Britain has left the EU
- Establishing a Migration Control Commission and setting a target to reduce net migration to zero, over a five-year period
- Placing a moratorium on unskilled and low-skilled immigration for five years after leaving the EU
- Operating a seasonal worker scheme based on six month visas to support sectors which need additional labour for short but predictable periods of time
- “We should like to agree a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU, and continue to trade on the same basis as at present," the manifesto says. "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 upto €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”
Finance, business and jobs:
- Raising the personal allowance to at least £13,500
- Raising the 40% income tax threshold to £55,000
- Closing the loophole allowing businesses to pay tax in whichever EU or associated country they choose, and bring in any further measures to prevent large multinational corporations using tax avoidance schemes
- Cutting business rates by 20% for the 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
- Improving access to trade credit insurance to remove the drag on growth for businesses struggling to secure loans, and giving small traders the confidence to expand their businesses
- Freezing Insurance Premium Tax
- Launching an 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
- Bringing forward legislation requiring employers to advertise jobs to British citizens before they offer them overseas
- Protecting workers’ rights once Britain has left the EU
- Enforcing the minimum and living wage
- Tightening up rules on zero hours contracts and severely limit their use
Transport:
- Putting HS2 “out of its misery”, and investing in upgrading existing main line services, and improving east-west rail services and connections across the north of England
- Support the installation of rapid charging stations in towns and cities
- Continuing to support the expansion of smaller regional airports
- Stopping mandatory fitment of the e-call vehicle tracking system on new cars
- Scrapping the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence for professionally licensed haulage drivers
Defence:
- Retaining Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent
- Spending 2% of GDP on defence, and scaling up defence spending by an additional £1 billion per year by the end of the parliament
Energy:
- Repealing the 2008 Climate Change Act and supporting 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
- Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, to enhance our industrial competitiveness
To view the manifesto and all its sections, click here.
