The Conservative Manifesto 1997

The Best Place in the World to Live

Britain is admired the world over. Every year, millions of tourists travel here to enjoy our heritage and culture, our cities and countryside, our way of life. Our nation�s history is an anchor in a sea of change. We need to protect, cherish and build upon what is great about our country, so our children grow up in a better Britain. We also must make sure that everyone, wherever they live, has the support of a strong, tolerant and civilised community.

Our aim is for this generation and future generations to take pride in Britain as the best place in the world to live.

Britain�s Cities

Many of our cities have undergone a complete transformation over the last decade. We have promoted partnerships - through schemes such as Urban Development Corporation, the Single Regeneration Budget and City Pride to attract private enterprise and investment back to inner-cities. These initiatives are bringing hope, opportunity, and prosperity to what were once wastelands of urban decline.

As the country thrives and becomes more prosperous, one of our central tasks is to apply the same approach to transform the legacy of soulless, decaying public housing estates. They are places that suffer from the very worst kind of poverty - poverty of aspiration.

We have already made a start - spending over �2bn over the last 10 years on improving 500 of the worst estates. And we have shown how it is possible to tackle the economic and social problems alongside new investment in buildings - where possible, bringing in a greater mix of public tenants and private housing to recreate a more balanced community. Now we will extend this approach, focusing the Single Regeneration Budget to launch a combined attack on crime, unemployment and under-achievement, and developing the government�s partnership with the private sector to help fund the massive investment that will be required.

Over the next decade, we aim to raise some �25bn of new private investment in housing estates by encouraging tenants in more than half of the remaining public sector housing stock to opt for transferring their homes to new landlords. These transfers will only occur where tenants choose this route to improve their estates.

We will use this approach to regenerate the worst housing estates and transform the lives of those who live on them - targeting support for programmes to improve education standards, employment and crime prevention alongside new private sector investment.

As well as this attack on poor housing, we will continue to help the homeless. We will carry through our planned extension of the Rough Sleeper Initiative from London to other big cities.

We will provide sufficient hostel places to ensure that no-one needs sleep out on the streets.

Rural Communities

We need to protect the best of countryside whilst ensuring good jobs, and living conditions for people who live there.

We have to strike a balance: our rural communities must not become rural museums, but remain vibrant places to live and work. We will make sure government departments work together to ensure that balance is kept.

We will continue to protect the green belt from development making sure that derelict and under-used urban land is developed in preference to greenfield sites.

We will use the planning system to ensure that more new homes are built on reclaimed sites in our towns and cities. We will aim for more than 60 per cent of all new homes to be built on derelict sites.

This will reduce the pressure to build in our countryside and expand choice where it is needed most.

We will support our rural communities, by giving special rate support to small village shops and post offices. The planning system can do more to help too.

We will introduce a new Rural Business Use Class to encourage job creation in the countryside.

We will increase support for schemes which promote care for the countryside - like Countryside Stewardship. We believe participation in traditional country pursuits, including fishing, is a matter for individuals. A Conservative Government will not introduce legislation that interferes with the rights of people to take part in these activities.

We will also encourage managed public access to private land - in agreement with farmers and landowners - but strongly resist a general right to roam, which would damage the countryside and violate the right to private property.

We aim to double Britain�s forest cover over the next fifty years. We will continue to encourage tree planting by targeting grants, encouraging investment in wood processing, and using new freedoms with the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Agriculture and Fisheries

Public health and food safety have been the government's top priorities throughout the BSE crises.

We will tighten up control over food safety by appointing a powerful and independent Chief Food Safety Adviser and Food Safety Council to advise government.

We will continue to push for fundamental reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, moving away from production support to measures that will give our farmers the opportunity to compete while safeguarding the rural environment. We will ensure that no change to the Common Agriculture Policy unfairly disadvantages British farmers.

Fishing is a vital industry in many parts of coastal Britain. We will continue our fight to secure a prosperous long term future for the industry and sustainable management of our fish stocks.

We will insist at the IGC and elsewhere on measures to stop quota hopping and prevent the vessels of other countries from using UK fishing quotas.

The integrity of our 6 and 12 mile fishing limits is not negotiable. We reject any idea of a single European fishing fleet.

We believe that fishermen should have more say in decisions affecting their industry. We will press the European Commission to establish regional committees to give fishermen a direct influence in fishing policy. We will use these committees to develop new ways of managing quota and regulating fisheries which are more sensitive to the industry's needs.

Animal Welfare

We will seek to ensure that all European countries have to raise animal welfare standards.

We are not going to take any risks with rabies. There may however be ways other than quarantine which maintain or increase protection for public health, while improving the welfare of pets and reducing the costs to travellers.

We will publish a Green Paper on rabies protection, setting out all the options including the existing controls, early in the new parliament.

Britain�s Environment

We have clear objectives to build on this record. We will set tough, but affordable targets, with published environmental strategies to improve air quality and banish city smog - with tighter standards on vehicle emissions and pollution crackdowns around the country. We aim for sustained improvements in water quality, at a pace which industry and consumers can afford. We will develop labelling of products that gives consumers information to show the environmental impact of how they were made.

In addition, we will continue to use the tax system and other incentives to encourage the use of vehicles and fuel which do not pollute the environment. And, we will continue to explore policies based on the principle of polluter pays: those who contaminate land, pollute the environment or produce harmful waste should be made responsible for their actions and pay for the consequences.

Britain - A Tolerant Country

Everybody, regardless of colour or creed, has the right to go about his or her life free from the threat of intimidation. We are taking tough action to tackle harassment. Under proposals in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, it will be a crime to behave in a way which causes someone else to be harassed. The maximum penalty will be 6 months in prison.

Firm, but fair, immigration controls underpin good race relations. We will ensure that, while genuine asylum seekers are treated sympathetically, people do not abuse these provisions to avoid normal immigration controls.

A World Leader of Sports, Arts and Culture

The National Lottery, which John Major set up, will pump billions of pounds into Britain�s good causes. Its proceeds will weave a new, rich thread of opportunity and charity into the tapestry of British life. In addition to benefitting major national institutions, about half of the awards are for amounts under �25,000 - benefitting local communities up and down the country. We will encourage new ways of distributing awards to support the performing arts - through support for amateur productions and community events, providing more musical instruments, and helping productions tour round the country.

The National Lottery will also help us train and promote British sporting talent. The English National Stadium and British Academy of Sport, funded by the Lottery, will be new focal points for sporting events and excellence. We will encourage more young people play sport, by ensuring every school plays a minimum level of sport, including competitive sports, and developing a network of Sporting Ambassadors - sporting celebrities who will visit schools to inspire young people. We also encourage the Sports Council to use Lottery money to employ over 1000 additional community sports coaches to assist in Primary Schools.

The development of young talent is important in all fields.

We will encourage the use of Lottery money to train young athletes and artists, with revenue funding for bursaries, concessionary tickets to professional performances and support for young people�s organisations and productions.

The Lottery will also fund our Millennium celebrations. They will be inspirational as well as enjoyable. We want these be a showcase of British excellence. Britain will be able to look back on past achievements with pride, and look forward with confidence.