Boris Johnson: What are the new Conservative leader's key pledges?

Ex-foreign secretary made numerous promises during the leadership contest.

Boris Johnson has defeated his rival, Jeremy Hunt, in the Conservative leadership contest and will tomorrow replace Theresa May in Downing Street.

Here The Independent looks at the key policy pledges made my the ex-foreign secretary during the leadership contest.

Brexit

Do or die, come what may, Britain will officially sever its ties with the EU on, or before the 31 October. It's a pledge that has formed a centrepiece of Mr Johnson's bid for Downing Street and one that has left him with no wriggle room.

He also plans to rip up the contentious backstop, and leave without a deal if one is not secured by the Halloween deadline. The ex-foreign secretary has said that failing to deliver Brexit by this date will result in a "catastrophic loss of confidence" in politics.

His preference is to negotiate a deal - taking out the "worst bits" of Ms May's deal - despite the EU repeatedly insisting the withdrawal agreement will not be renegotiated, even if there is a new UK prime minister.

Throughout the campaign Mr Johnson refused to rule out the suspension of parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit without consulting the Commons, but just last week MPs delivered a blow to this line of thinking.

Tax

Beyond Brexit, Mr Johnson faced some of his most intense criticism during the campaign for pledging to cut income tax bills for some of the wealthiest people in the country – by raising the 40 per cent tax threshold from £50,000 to £80,000.

Research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claimed the tax could would cost around £9bn and benefit the top 10 per cent of households in Britain - leading to widespread criticism, especially from Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party.

The ex-foreign secretary also outlined his intention to raise the point at which people start paying National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

Public spending

A prominent backer of Mr Johnson, health secretary Matt Hancock, has claimed the new Tory leader will "show more love" to public sector workers with pay rises to "properly reward" them - but Mr Johnson himself has declined to put a figure on it.

He has, however, vowed to reverse some of the Conservative cuts to the police services by putting 20,000 more officers on the street by 2022, to help tackle "soaring crime levels" across the country.

Immigration

Post-Brexit, Mr Johnson has announced his intention to introduce an Australian-style points system for migrants wishing to come to the UK.

Mr Johnson has vowed to crackdown on immigration post-Brexit by introducing a n Australian-style points based system. This would judge prospective migrants on the contributions they could make to the UK.

Offered as an early pledge in the leadership race, Mr Johnson said he would order the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which makes recommendations to the Home Office on how the immigration system should work, to look at how a points based system could be adopted.

It has also been reported that the former foreign secretary is considering an "amnesty" for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who have been in Britain for more than 15 years.

Climate change

Mr Johnson has vowed to stick with Theresa May's pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 during the contest.

Johnson has trumpeted his record as mayor of London, claiming that carbon emissions in the capital fell by 40 per cent on his watch.

However, as an MP he repeatedly voted against policies designed to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions, including the introduction of a carbon capture and storage strategy for the energy industry.

He is a longstanding opponent of Heathrow expansion and previously said he would lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop it happening. However, he has refused to say whether he would reverse the decision to build a third runway at the airport.