Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a memorable speech as she closed the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester earlier today.
The PM battled through a nasty cough to announce the Government’s key new policies.
She reiterated her ambition to solve the broken housing market and promised to take personal charge of the Governments response and to reignite home ownership in Britain.
In order to achieve this the PM announced the Government’s affordable housing budget will be increased by £2bn to more than £9bn, as well as allowing the homes to be built for social rent. The Help to Buy Scheme is also set to benefit from an extra £10bn, and new protections for people who rent from private landlords are to be announced at the weekend.
During her speech the PM spoke in defence of the free market, but acknowledged that the Government must be prepared to reform when the free market doesn’t work. In this spirit the PM announced a draft bill to put a cap on energy prices and a freeze on the maximum amount of fees universities can charge.
The freeze in fees, as well as increase in the amount the graduates can earn before they start repaying their fees to £25,000, will be accompanied by a major review of university funding and student finance.
An independent review, led by Professor Sir Simon Wessely, is to be launched into the Mental Health Act. The PM admitted that the number of detentions under the act were too high and that it is people from black and minority ethnic populations who are affected the most. The review aims to address these injustices and tackle the stigma surrounding mental health.
Other announcements in the PM’s speech include:
- Organ donation will change from an opt-in to opt-out scheme
- 100 new free schools in every year of this Parliament
- A commitment to meet the international aid target of 0.7% of gross national income
Justin Tomlinson MP said: “I welcome these announcements from the Prime Minister. I believe the Conservatives are the party of aspiration, as our commitment to increasing home ownership and fairer university and student financing show. 500 people died last year waiting for donor organs, so I am pleased that organ donation is being changed to ensure that more donor organs are available. I agree that mental health is an issue that urgently needs addressing, and I admire the PM's candour when discussing the problems with the Mental Health Act. I hope the review will lead to improvements to mental healthcare and end the stigma aimed at those battling mental health problems.”
