The Liberal Democrats manifesto has been described as “encouraging”, “very vague”, and “deeply disappointing” by industry experts.
The manifesto, which was published today (June 10), included policies that covered a range of topics, such as pensions, housing, tax, and carers.
FT Adviser spoke to experts in these areas to get their opinions on what the Liberal Democrats were proposing.
Tax
One pledge made by the Lib Dems was to “end retrospective tax charges”, such as the loan charge brought in by the Conservatives, and to “review the government’s off-payroll working IR35 reforms to ensure self-employed people are treated fairly”.
These proposals were received positively by IR35 Shield founder and CEO, Dave Chaplin, who said: “The Liberal Democrats have always understood the importance of the flexible workforce and supported freelancers.
“The commitment to a review of the off-payroll working reforms is certainly welcome, as is the focus on ensuring the self-employed are being treated fairly.
“The IR35 reforms are proving to be a disaster and the 25-year-old HMRC idea of ‘deemed employment’ which simply does not work.
“Self-employed people are the backbone of our economy but poor government policy-making has let down and damaged their livelihoods.
“It’s time we had a new government that champions the self-employed rather than punishing them.”
Housing
The manifesto pledged to ensure that everyone can access housing that meets their needs.
However, Ray Boulger, senior mortgage technical manager at John Charcol, cast doubt on this pledge.
“The manifesto might be believable if it said something like ‘we will take action to help more people access suitable housing’.
“Despite all parties claiming to have fully costed their proposals there appears to be no indication of how many tens of billions of pounds this proposal would cost, as much of it would have to be social housing.”
But Propertymark CEO, Nathan Emerson, said it was encouraging to see house building targets being taken seriously, he was also pleased with plans to cap ground rents.
He added: “Propertymark has always believed that ground rents should be capped so it’s good to see that similar proposals are being referenced in the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto.”
Social care
Meanwhile, Quilter tax and financial planning expert, Rachel Griffin, argued the manifesto highlights some areas of policy that “badly need addressing”.
One area is social care with Griffin pointing out that the Lib Dems made a number of pledges to improve this area, such as increasing the carer’s allowance and expanding eligibility, as well as ending the postcode lottery of service provision.
“Data from the 2021 census has found that 5mn people in the UK from age 5 and up provide unpaid care in the UK,” she added.
“This staggering figure shows how integral unpaid carers are to propping up the UK’s crumbling care system and it is positive that the Lib Dems are focusing on it.
“Particularly for young carers fulfilling a caring role for a family member can have a lasting effect on their life chances.”
Pensions
Griffin also spoke on the Lib Dem’s pension plans, describing them as “very vague”.
“Other than a commitment to keep the triple lock in place, the manifesto makes sweeping statements such as simply to develop measures to end the gender pensions gap in private pensions and ensure working-age carers can save properly for retirement,” she explained.
“This is certainly an area of pensions that needs looking at, but a clear and specific plan is required to help close the gender pensions gap and a huge part of the gap boils down to continued unequal burden of childcare and that’s impact on retirement savings.”
Additionally, the International Consortium of British Pensioners board member, Edwina Melville-Gray, stated she was “deeply disappointed” by the manifesto.
She specified that the omission of ending ‘“frozen” pensions and the longstanding “injustice” dealt to Brits living overseas.
“Despite this party’s previous support on this issue, we are faced once again with empty promises and a political party unwilling to stand up for this key, yet further forgotten, group,” she added.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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