Constitution:

• Human Rights Act:  The Conservatives would scrap the HRA and curtail the role of the European Court of Human Rights in British law, establishing instead a British Bill of Rights.
• EU:  After attempting to renegotiate the terms of our membership and curtail the expansion of Brussels’ remit, a Conservative Government would put the results to the public in an In/Out referendum by the end of 2017.
• EVEL:  The manifesto promises English MPs a veto over matters that only affect England, and extend this policy to financial matters – including the possibility of an English income tax rate if the matter has been devolved elsewhere.
• Devolution:  More responsibility for the Welsh Assembly, including a ‘funding floor’, and the Government would “honour in full our commitments to Scotland”.

Defence:

• Trident:  The Conservatives are committed to replacing Trident fully, with a four-submarine nuclear fleet to ensure a permanent at-sea deterrent.
• Armed Forces:  As Michael Fallon set out on this site, the Tories have ruled out any further reductions in the size of Britain’s conventional forces.
• Equipment:  Often neglected by Labour, the Conservatives have promised an “inflation-busting” ten-year equipment fund of £160bn.

Economy:

• Surplus by 2018:  Central to the Tory pitch – sharing the rewards of careful economic management – is this promise to have eliminated the deficit and put Britain “back in the black” by 2018.
• Tax:  The manifesto also rules out any rises in income tax, national insurance or VAT, and to crack down on tax evasion. The inheritance tax threshold would be raised to £1m.

Education:

• School Reform:  That the manifesto launch was held in a University Technical College signifies that the Conservatives feel they have an education record to shout about. In his speech Cameron both pledged to continue supporting UTCs and to see 500 new Free Schools opened in the next five years. Every “failing and coasting secondary school” will be turned into an academy.
• Higher Education:  The manifesto promises to lift the cap on university places “so you have the skills you need to succeed”.
• Primary School:  The Conservatives promise to guarantee a good primary school place for every child.

Employees:

• Minimum Wage:  The Tories raise the tax-free personal allowance from £10,600 to £12,500, but they would peg the level of the personal allowance to the minimum wage to prevent low earners being caught by fiscal drag.
• Income Tax:  In addition ruling out any increases, the threshold for the 40p income tax rate would be lifted to £50,000.
• Childcare:  The number of hours of free childcare would double, from 15 hours per week to 30.
• Apprenticeships:  The Conservatives would create three million new apprenticeships.

Employers:

• Start-up Loans:  The Prime Minister promised 50,000 more start-up loans, in order to help British entrepreneurs create the jobs the country needs.
• Business Tax:  The manifesto promises British businesses “the most competitive taxes of any major economy”.

Healthcare:

• Funding:  The Tories would spend at least an additional £8bn on the Health Service by 2020, funded from the dividends of the Government’s spending reduction plan.
• 24/7 Service:  By 2020, the Conservatives would seek to ensure that you can see a GP and receive hospital treatment seven days a week, and that everyone over 75 will receive a same-day appointment if needed.

Housing:

• Right to Buy:  The Conservatives will extend the right to buy to housing association tenants, affording a further 1.3 million families the opportunity to own their own home.
• Help to Buy:  The Help to Buy equity loan scheme would be extended, and a new Help to Buy ISA created to help people save for a deposit.
• Starter Homes:  A Tory government would oversee the construction of 200,000 new ‘Starter Homes’, sold at 20 per cent below the asking price to first-time buyers under 40.
• Social Housing:  Councils will be forced to sell their most valuable housing stock as it falls vacant, and reinvest the proceeds into building new properties.
• Brownfield Development:  The Government would establish a £1bn fund to help councils prepare brownfield sites for housing construction.

Immigration:

• Net Figures:  The manifesto reiterates the Party’s controversial pledge to bring net migration down to the tens of thousands.
• Relief Fund:  A fund would be established to ease the pressure on local services where migration puts them under strain.

Infrastructure:

• High-Speed Rail:  Cameron reiterated his commitment to HS2, and then to further high-speed rail connexions between cities in the North of England as part of the Chancellor’s Northern Powerhouse scheme.
• Fares:  Rail fares for commuters would be “frozen in real terms for the whole of the next Parliament”.
• Telecoms:  The party would also continue to invest in the UK’s digital infrastructure and deliver broadband to rural communities, as well as improving mobile phone coverage.

Media:

• BBC:  The licence fee would be frozen and kept frozen until the BBC charter was renewed.
• Press Freedom:  The Tories would incorporate rights for journalists into a British Bill of Rights; ban the police from using journalists’ phone records to identify sources; and provide business rates relief to local newspapers.

Pensions and Retirement:

• State Pension:  The Conservatives would maintain the ‘triple lock’ which ensures the state pension increases by 2.5 per cent against the most favourable metric, as well as see through the Chancellor’s plan to give people more freedom over their pension pots. It will also be possible to pass on pension savings, tax free.
• Residential Care:  The amount that older people could be charged for residential care would be capped. The Tories will also ensure nobody has to sell their home to pay for care.

Welfare:

• Welfare Reform:  A Conservative government would continue to pursue Iain Duncan Smith’s reform agenda and ensure that work paid better than welfare.
• Cap Spending:  Overall welfare spending would be capped, and the household benefit cap reduced to £23,000.
• Immigration:  Reform of welfare rules will be utilised to apply indirect controls to immigration from within the European Union.

Epping Forest Conservative parliamentary candidate Eleanor Laing met shoppers when she visited Waltham Abbey Market today.
Mrs Laing spoke with passers-by about a range of issues, local and national, and also gave her support to the Conservative local election candidates who manned a stall in Sun Street.
Mrs Laing said: “Sun Street is always a great place to meet people. Waltham Abbey is full of small businesses, people working hard, looking after their families - and they know it’s Conservative policies that give them the freedom to spend more of their money the way they want to spend it, to invest in their businesses, to create employment and to give apprenticeships.”
She added: “The atmosphere is great and I’ve met lots of people who are going to vote Conservative.”

Essex Community Messaging (ECM) is a service which you can use to keep informed about the kind of crime and policing issues which affect you.
 
Essex Community Messaging
Sign up for free to receive accurate and up-to-date information, crime prevention advice and notifications from Essex Police officers, Essex Watch liaison officers and other key partners, such as Neighbourhood Watch.

Choose to receive this information via email, text or voice message.
Select what information you would like to receive - based on where you live, work, go to school or socialise, or on issues in which you may have a particular interest, such as scams, internet crime or rural crime.

Play an active role in helping to keep crime down in your community whilst keeping up to date with what’s going on around you.

The Waltham Abbey Conservative group have had their candidates in the forthcoming local elections confirmed.

High Beach - Mrs Syd Stavrou
Honey Lane - Mr Sam Kane
North East - Mrs Ann Mitchell (MBE)
South West - Mrs Ricki Gadsby
South West - Mrs Helen Kane

More information on each candidate can be found here

If you would like to help during the campaign please do contact us on Election2015@wacg.info

Support your Local Conservative Candidates on May 7th 2015

As soon as news of the withdrawal of the 505 bus service was announced, your local Conservative councillors in Waltham Abbey have been working to ensure the continuation of the service. 
We are delighted to announce that a replacement has been secured. The service will be provided by a new Contractor "Galleon Travel" from the 11th of May 2015, the same day that Arriva stop their service.
As things stand, this service will operate at peak times to meet the needs of work and education users, and will operate every two hours during the rest of the day for those with shopping or health needs.
Essex County Council will be funding the Saturday service
Your Conservative councillors having ensured the continuation of this vital local service will continue to campaign for an increase in the frequency of the service.