Political Manifestos and The
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General Election 2010: Summary of the party manifestos The attached paper provides extracts from the manifestos (kept in the parties own words), brought together by the Campaign for National Parks (CNP) and the BMC. A summary of the key issues for sport and recreation is provided along with issues affecting the National Parks and areas of interest such as transport and energy. The manifestos of Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and UKIP have all been analysed. The Labour Party - A Future Fair for All http://www2.labour.org.uk/uploads/TheLabourPartyManifesto-2010.pdf Sport Olympic Games - A golden decade of sport with the 2012 Olympics as a great national and world-wide celebration. Our aim is to achieve outstanding medal success at the Olympics and Paralympics, with a talent development system striving for excellence, and successful British athletes spanning all disciplines and events. The Games will deliver a golden legacy for future generations, ushering in a new era of sporting excellence. The Olympics are already inspiring a new generation of British volunteers: over a quarter of a million young people have signed up to help run the Games. We will ensure that the Olympics are delivered on time and on budget, to the highest standards. Britain will be the first Olympic hosts to create a world-class sports system, from elite level to the grass roots. The impact of the Olympics will be felt throughout the country, helping to boost the UK tourist industry. Sport for All - Taking part in sport uncovers talent, improves physical fitness, and encourages important social skills. We are providing more resources to give every child the opportunity to do at least five hours’ sport per week. This will be provided through extended schools, community sports clubs and 3,000 new Olympic-inspired sports clubs. We will invest in a new national network of school sports coaches to increase the quality and quantity of coaching in some of the most deprived areas Every pupil should have access to regular competitive sport along with coaching, a choice of different sports, and pathways to elite and development. We will continue our investment in free swimming for children and the over-60s. We will work with governing authorities to ensure that professional clubs are accountable to their stakeholders, and run transparently on sound financial principles, with greater involvement of local communities and supporter representation. Sports governing bodies will be empowered to scrutinise takeovers of clubs, ensuring they are in the long-term interests of the club and the sport. We will develop proposals to enable registered Supporters Trusts to buy stakes in their club. We will host the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup. We aim to bring more major international sporting 1 competitions to Britain, beginning with our current partnership with the English FA to bring the 2018 World Cup to England. Transport At the heart of our growth plan is the commitment to a new high-speed rail line, linking North and South. Built in stages, the initial line will link London to Birmingham, Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds, and then to the North and Scotland. We will consult fully on legislation to take forward our high-speed rail plans within the next Parliament. We rule out the introduction of national road pricing in the next Parliament. We support a third runway at Heathrow, subject to strict conditions on environmental impact and flight numbers, but we will not allow additional runways to proceed at any other airport in the next Parliament. Green Economy We have established low-carbon policy as one of the principal engines of our economic recovery and future growth. Our aim is to create 400,000 new green jobs by 2015. Energy We are planning for around 40 per cent of our electricity to come from low-carbon sources by 2020 – renewables, nuclear and clean fossil fuels. We are committed to meeting 15 per cent of our energy demand from renewables by 2020. We already have more offshore wind-power than any other country in the world, and our plans could see this increase up to 40 times, alongside other renewable technologies such as tidal and marine, solar and sustainable bio-energy. We will make a decision early in the next Parliament on the feasibility of alternative options for a tidal energy project on the Severn, taking full account of the environmental impacts. We have taken the decisions to enable a new generation of nuclear power stations, and a programme of four clean coal plants with carbon capture and storage technology with a levy to fund them. Protected areas & access to our countryside We are committed not only to protecting but also to enhancing our natural environment, and enabling it to be enjoyed by all. We have created two National Parks in the New Forest and South Downs, and given the public a Right to Roam our mountains, moors and heaths. We will now extend this to the whole English coastline. We will put forward new areas for protected landscape and habitat status, focusing on green corridors and wildlife networks to link up existing sites. And we will commit to increasing the area covered by forest and woodland. 2 Farming We want British farming to be profitable and competitive. We need our farmers to produce more food, nurturing our countryside and biodiversity. We will continue to seek reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to facilitate the creation of fairer and better functioning agricultural markets, enabling farmers to return a reasonable profit from food production at lower cost to the consumer. Rural communities Those who live in rural areas are entitled to excellent amenities and services, as are those who live in towns and cities. Rural communities face unique challenges. We are committed to continued investment in frontline services in rural areas. We will protect the Post Office network, so that it can fulfil its historic role as a trusted institution serving the community. Wales We will work with the Welsh Assembly Government on a referendum to enhance the powers to make laws affecting Wales in Wales; and to ensure that Wales is not disproportionately disadvantaged by the application of the central government funding formula. http://www.welshlabour.org.uk/ The Conservative Party- Invitation to Join the Government of Britain http://media.conservatives.s3.amazonaws.com/manifesto/cpmanifesto2010_lowres.pdf Sport We will restore the National Lottery to its original purpose. Sports, heritage and the arts will each see their original allocations of 20 per cent of good cause money restored. Olympics- We will deliver a successful Olympics that brings lasting benefits for the country as a whole. Part of the community sports budget of the National Lottery will be responsible for delivering an Olympic legacy, including the vigorous promotion of competitive sports through a national Olympic-style school competition. To support high-level sport further, we will: • work with the Scottish government to deliver a top-quality Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014; • ensure that the 2013 Rugby League and the 2015 Rugby Union World Cups are successful; and, • strongly support England’s bid to host the 2018 Football World Cup. 3 Transport A Conservative government will begin work immediately to create a high speed rail line connecting London and Heathrow with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. This is the first step towards achieving our vision of creating a national high speed rail network to join up major cities across England, Scotland and Wales. Stage two will deliver two new lines bringing the North East, Scotland and Wales into the high speed rail network. Our goal is to make Heathrow airport better, not bigger. We will stop the third runway and instead link Heathrow directly to our high speed rail network, providing an alternative to thousands of flights. In addition, we will block plans for second runways at Stansted and Gatwick. We will support sustainable travel initiatives that work best for local communities by: • giving the concerns of cyclists much greater priority • encouraging partnerships between bus operators and local authorities • helping people cut down on work-related travel Green Economy We will encourage private sector investment to put Britain at the forefront of the green technology revolution, creating jobs and new businesses across the country. We will create Britain’s first Green Investment Bank – which will draw together money currently divided across existing government initiatives, leveraging private sector capital to finance new green technology start-ups. We will increase the proportion of tax revenues accounted for by environmental taxes, ensuring that any additional revenues from new green taxes that are principally designed as an environmental measure to change behaviour are used to reduce the burden of taxation elsewhere. Energy The way our energy is produced and transmitted is stuck in the last century. A Conservative government will transform this ‘dumb’, unresponsive network and create an ‘electricity internet’ – a highly interactive network, based on a new smart grid that will interact with smart meters in people’s homes, to manage supply and demand. This will allow a huge increase in renewable power, and far greater choice for consumers. To limit harmful emissions from UK power stations, we will take steps to encourage new low carbon energy production, including: • clearing the way for new nuclear power stations