Manifesto comparison
We know it can be difficult to decide who to vote for, especially if it’s your first time voting in a UK general election.
To help you make up your mind, we have put together a comparison of some of the main five parties’ policies on things that may affect your life as a student. We’ve covered education, transport, housing, employment and the cost of living, as well as immigration and equality matters.
This page only provides a top line overview of each policy commitment, and doesn’t cover other important topics such as defence, taxation and healthcare. We recommend that you read each of the manifestos in full, especially if there’s something you’re really interested in, or you’re still undecided on who to vote for. You can find the link to each manifesto below.
Please note that we have selected the five parties currently considered to be most popular in election polling. They are listed in alphabetical order.
Conservative
Education and young people
- Cut “low value” university courses.
- Introduce mandatory National Service for 18-year-olds, with the choice between a competitive placement in the military or civic service roles.
- Ensure students get their contact hours and that exams get marked (reiteration of previous promises).
Transport
- No policies relevant to UEL students
Housing
Employment and cost of living
- Maintain the National Living Wage at two thirds of median earnings in each year of the next Parliament. Current forecasts project a rise to around £13/hour.
Immigration
- Introduction of an annual migration cap, declining each year.
- Remove the current discount to the Immigration Health Surcharge for international students.
Equality
- Amend the Equality Act to define sex as biological sex only.
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Green
Education and young people
- “Fully fund” every higher education student, restore maintenance grants and scrap undergraduate tuition fees.
- Seek to “cancel the injustice of graduate debt” in the long term.
- Rejoin the Erasmus Programme.
Transport
- Invest in a “modern, efficient, publicly owned railway, with affordable fares”.
- Increase funding for urban bus services.
Housing
- Empower local authorities to introduce rent controls.
- End no-fault evictions.
Employment and cost of living
- Push for the introduction of a universal basic income in the long term.
- Introduce a universal £15/h minimum wage.
- Legislate for workers to have full rights from day one of employment – including gig economy workers.
Immigration
- Simplify the visa application system.
- Make NHS access “free and comprehensive” for migrants with visas.
- Push for migrants (including students) to be allowed to bring family members who would normally live with them to the UK.
Equality
- Implement a Race Equality Strategy to address inequalities.
- Tackle hate crime, including misogyny.
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Labour
Education and young people
- “Act to create a secure future for higher education”.
- Improve access to universities and raise teaching standards.
Transport
- Bring railways into public ownership.
- Reform the bus system.
Housing
- Overhaul the regulation of private renting, including abolishing no-fault evictions and empowering tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases.
Employment and cost of living
- Implement a “plan to make work pay” including action to ban zero hours contracts and to introduce basic employment rights from day one.
- Ensure the minimum wage is “a genuine living wage”, removing age banding.
Immigration
- Reform the points-based immigration system to be fair and properly managed.
Equality
- Introduce a Race Equality Act.
- Focus on women’s rights.
- Champion the rights of disabled people.
- Ban conversion therapy.
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Liberal Democrat
Education and young people
- Establish a review of higher education finance.
- Deliver Sharia-compliant student finance.
- Reinstate maintenance grants for disadvantaged students.
- Return to the Erasmus Plus programme as an associated country.
Transport
- Work to introduce a ‘Buscard’ – giving discounts to young people like the existing Railcard.
Housing
- Ban no-fault evictions and make three-year tenancies the default.
- Create a national register of licensed landlords.
Employment and cost of living
- Improving employment rights for gig economy workers, including setting a 20% higher minimum wage.
Immigration
- Report international student flows separately to estimates of long-term migration.
Equality
- Implement a Race Equality Strategy to address inequalities.
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Reform
Education and young people
- Scrap interest on student loans and extend the loan capital repayment period to 45 years.
- Restrict undergraduate student numbers to way below current levels.
- Enforce minimum entry standards to university courses.
- Cut funding to universities that undermine free speech.
- Require universities to offer two-year undergraduate courses.
Transport
- No policies relevant to UEL students
Housing
- Abolish the renters reform bill.
- Instead, boost the monitoring, appeals and enforcement process for renters with grievances.
Employment and cost of living
- Scrap remaining EU regulations on matters including employment.
Immigration
- “Stop backdoor route to immigration through use of low-quality degree courses”.
- Introduce new visa rules for students and their dependants, where dependants are barred and only students with essential skills can remain in the UK after studying.
Equality
- Ban discussion of race (“Critical Race Theory”) and gender (“transgender ideology”) in schools.