Major parties unveil their election pledges to Britain

The three main parties have now set out their manifestos for the forthcoming general election, with all three promising a “fairer” and “better” Britain.

Today, the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg launched his party’s pledge to voters, saying he wanted to “hardwire fairness into British society”.

Mr Clegg said his policies, including raising the state pension and a tax cut for low and middle earners combined “hope and credibility”.

The four main themes of the 103-page booklet are fair taxes, more chances for children, a fairer and greener economy, and cleaning up politics.

He said his party pledges – which include plans to break up banks, put an extra 3,000 police on the streets and give a £700 tax cut to low and middle earners – represented “hope married to credibility”.

“If you have ever looked at the Liberal Democrats and thought they have got the right ideas but can they deliver, the answer is this manifesto. We can and we will.”

Yesterday, Conservative leader David Cameron offered a “plan to change Britain for the better”.

He said the “optimistic” plan would bring a “new kind of government” with less state and more “people power”.

Pledges include allowing people to set up their own schools and veto high council tax rises.

Mr Cameron added it was the “the biggest call to arms this country has seen in a generation”. He said the Tories’ would block the bulk of Labour’s planned 1% rise in National Insurance is in the manifesto, which would save more than 50,000 jobs and would make “seven out of 10 working people better off than under Labour”.

Labour leader Gordon Brown kicked off the manifesto launches on Monday, insisting his party had a “plan for the future”.

Mr Brown said Labour was facing “the fight of our lives” adding “The future will be progressive or Conservative but it will not be both.

“We are in the future business, we are building a future fair for all.”

He added they would be “relentless reformers” of financial markets and public services if they won a fourth term. Pledges include minimum wage increases and not to raise income tax. But Labour does not rule out a VAT rise.

Meanwhile, a poll by an independent, online organisation has shown that in a blind ‘taste test’ of policies, the Green Party won the biggest share of the vote.

The Vote for Policies website polled nearly 100,000 visitors to its website and found that, when asked to choose between specific policies rather than policies, the Green Party ended up with 28.35% of the vote.

The Liberal Democrats came second in the poll with 17.97%, Labour was third with 17.08% and the Tories in fourth with 16.24%.

Those who took part in the survey did not know which party were putting forward the policies they were asked to rate, leading Green Party leader Caroline Lucas to say her party trusted the “common sense” of the British people.

“We have a good deal of faith in the British public,” she said. “It’s no surprise to us that they’re showing real common sense when it comes to policies that will create a fair and sustainable future for Britain.”

Bristol’s full slate of six Green Party candidates for Westminster will launch their general election campaign next Tuesday at 1pm at Temple Meads, which they plan to turn into a state-of-the-art transport hub for Bristol.