Ukip policies: What is Nigel Farage's party promising?

With less than three months to go until the General Election, Ukip is continuing to target the "blue-collar vote" in an attempt to extend its appeal beyond disaffected conservative voters.

Ukip's manifesto includes "common sense policies" that are aimed at voters who have been "ignored for generations and are hungry for change," the party says.

There is very little mention of terrorism, security or intelligence in the party's manifesto – so what exactly is Nigel Farage promising?

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Immigration and the EU

Ukip continues to take a tough stance on immigration and European Union membership by outlining details of an EU exit strategy, as well as new proposals to curb immigration, such as the controversial Australian-style point system that aims to only allow skilled migrants entry into the country. Asylum seekers who arrive in Britain illegally or use fake passports would automatically be denied amnesty, but Ukip promises to protect "genuine refugees."

The economy and tax

The party is proposing a "simpler, fairer system" to ease the burden on low-paid workers. It plans to scrap tax on the minimum wage, raising the income tax threshold to £13,500. Farage also wants a new 35p band for people earning up to £55,000, in order to help "hard-working nurses who have been dragged into the 40p rate of tax". The party also argues that businesses should "be able to discriminate in favour of young British workers".

The NHS

Farage is promising to protect the NHS and make sure it remains free at the point of access. This is despite claims from Labour that Ukip would introduce GP charges. "We wouldn’t cut the health budget," a party official said. GP surgeries will also be forced to open at least one evening a week, where there is demand.

The party also promises to ensure "a high standard of English speakers" among medical staff and will ensure that migrants have NHS-approved health insurance until they have paid into the system for five years.

Welfare

An overhaul of the benefits system is another key Ukip policy. It plans to introduce an undisclosed benefit cap, limit child benefits to just two children and prioritise social housing for people "whose parents and grandparents were born locally".

Education

The party proposes waiving university fees for British students studying degrees in science, technology and medicine. This will be funded by raising tuition fees for European Union students to the same level currently paid by overseas students.

Defence

The party is opposed to British involvement in foreign conflict and Farage has made it clear he does not support Britain's decision to launch airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He promises to guarantee long-serving soldiers a position in the police, border force or prison service. The party will also ensure that veterans are fast tracked for any mental or physical health services they need.

Foreign aid

The suggested changes to the income tax threshold will be subsidised by slashing the foreign aid budget by £9 million, according to the manifesto. "We would pay for that comfortably by not giving £10bn to our friends in Brussels and by radically reorganising our foreign aid budget, much of which is used for things we don’t approve of," said Farage.

Energy and the environment

The party's only environmental concern appears to be protecting the green belt, The Independent reports. It plans to abolish the Department of Energy & Climate Change and scrap green subsidies as well as EU directives aimed at curbing emissions. It will also repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act and will not introduce any new subsidies for wind farms and solar arrays. Farage is also a keen supporter of fracking, despite its environmental impact.

Human rights

Ukip plans to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and instead plans to introduce "The British Bill of Rights".

"The Human Rights Act has become an umbrella protecting foreign terrorists and criminal suspects from facing justice in their own countries," Farage wrote on Facebook. The party is also opposed to giving prisoners in the UK the right to vote and refused to come out in support of gay marriage. "I think if the churches and the faith communities were forced to perform gay marriages against their will – that would be wrong," Farage said last year, according to Pink News.