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Lib Dem manifesto at a glance

Emily Ashton,Press Association
Wednesday 14 April 2010 13:50 BST
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Here are the key points of the Liberal Democrats' 109-page election manifesto.

* Cutting taxes for millions of working people by increasing the income tax threshold to £10,000, paid for by tackling tax avoidance and by a "mansion tax" of 1% on properties worth over £2 million.

* Setting a £400 pay rise cap for all public sector workers, initially for two years, ensuring that the lowest paid are eligible for the biggest percentage rise.

* Scrapping ID cards and the next generation of biometric passports, and removing innocent people from the DNA database.

* Reforming prisons by reducing the number of short-term prison sentences. There would be a "presumption against" jail terms of less than six months, with "rigorously enforced" community sentences favoured.

* Making prisoners work and contribute from their prison wages to a compensation fund for victims.

* Immediately restoring the link between the basic state pension and earnings and giving people more flexibility by allowing them to access part of their personal pension fund early.

* No like-for-like replacement of the Trident nuclear deterrent. The Eurofighter Tranche 3B would be cancelled and there would be a full defence review to establish Britain's future security.

* Introducing a banking levy so that banks pay back taxpayer support, until they can be split up in order to insulate retail banking from investment risks.

* Increasing funding for the most disadvantaged pupils, around one million children, by investing £2.5 billion in a "pupil premium". Headteachers would be free to spend this on cutting class sizes, attracting the best teachers or offering extra one-to-one tuition.

* Scrapping "unfair" university tuition fees for all students taking their first degree, including those studying part-time.

* Cutting the size of the Department of Health in half and abolishing unnecessary quangos.

* Giving a pay rise to the lower ranks of the Armed Forces so their pay is brought into line with the starting salary of the emergency services.

* Getting 3,000 more police on the beat and reducing time-wasting bureaucracy at police stations.

* In Parliament, introducing a "single transferable vote" system of proportional representation, where candidates are ranked in order of preference, and reducing the number of MPs by 150.

* Lowering the voting age to 16 and bringing in a recall system to sack MPs who have broken the rules, allowing constituents to force a by-election in cases of "serious wrongdoing".

* Capping political donations at £10,000 and limiting election spending; replacing the House of Lords with a fully-elected chamber with "considerably fewer members".

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