The 6th May manifesto

A little while ago I asked readers to suggest what they thought were (1) the most electorally potent and (2) the most transformational Conservative policy pledges.

This is the list I gleaned from the comments thread:

The most electorally potent Tory policies

1. The abolition of inheritance tax for all but millionaires.
2. Tax relief for savers.
   
3. A two year freeze in the council tax and a long-term power for local communities to veto large rises in their council tax.
4. New powers for headteachers to exclude disruptive schoolchildren.
5. An end to mixed NHS wards.
6. Scrapping ID cards and the wider promises to dismantle Labour's surveillance state.
7. A reduction in the number of MPs.
8. A promise to give all voters a referendum on any future transfer of power to the European Union.
9. Powers for English MPs to take charge of scrutinising legislation that only affects English constituencies.
   
10. An annual cap on the number of people that can enter Britain from outside of the European Union.
    

The most transformational Tory policies

1. The control of public expenditure so that Britain lives within its means again. The establishment of the Office of Budgetary Responsibility will ensure that no Chancellor can bend the fiscal rules for political convenience.
2. Publishing all government expenditures over £50,000 (the 'Google government' policy) will force politicians and civil servants to think more carefully about how they spend taxpayers' money.
3. Freedom for parents to establish new schools and for those schools to be able to decide their own system of examination and their teachers' pay and conditions.
4. Ending all forms of discrimination in the tax and benefits system against the married family.
   
5. The direct election of police chiefs so that local communities get more responsive, more effective crime-fighting.
6. The £6,500 energy efficiency facility which will see hundreds of thousands of homes become cheaper to heat and less damaging to the environment.

Tim Montgomerie