National Secular Society - What do the main parties have to say on secular issues?

The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat¹ parties have all released their manifestos for the General Election. Read our analysis of what they say on issues from equality to human rights, Islamist extremism and education.

We'll continue to update this article as the other parties publish their manifestos.

Read full post: National Secular Society - What do the main parties have to say on secular issues?

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1. Now includes Green manifesto

LibDems: The Nasty Party is back – Tory manifesto will hit families from cradle to grave

With the announcement of the Conservative manifesto today, Theresa May has shown her true colours. I’ve scarcely seen a colder, more mean-spirited agenda in my entire career.

There’s no doubt about it: the Nasty party is back. The Tories are hitting families from cradle to grave by snatching school lunches from children and homes from the elderly.

This isn’t hyperbole – the policies speak for themselves...

The full text of former LibDem leader Nick Clegg's take on the universally-decried Tory manifesto is here: The Nasty Party is back – Tory manifesto will hit families from cradle to grave

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Some of Theresa May's claims concerning the manifesto are also examined here at Factcheck.org

A copy of the 88-page manifesto in PDF format can be found here.

We compared the Tories' policies to a BNP manifesto. And bloody hell [VIDEO] | The Canary

Theresa May has refused to take part in televised leadership debates for the general election. And one reason may be because she knows her government’s policies and record would not stand up to scrutiny. But one journalist did scrutinise the Tories’ policies – comparing them to those of the British National Party (BNP) in 2005, under then leader Nick Griffin. And the results are shocking...

Read more: We compared the Tories' policies to a BNP manifesto. And bloody hell [VIDEO] | The Canary

Government responded to “Exempt Non-EU NHS professionals from £35,000 salary threshold”

So, there was this petition, which ran as follows:

Exempt Non-EU NHS professionals from £35,000 salary threshold

Since April 2016, Non-EU citizens wishing to remain permanently in the UK have been required to earn £35,000 a year on a single contracted salary. I find this rule discriminates unfairly against those who chose to work in the NHS, where such a salary is impossible within first 5 years of employment.

Like many others I came to the UK to complete my MSc and now wish to remain working for NHS making differences to people's lives on a daily basis. I have been living here for over 7 years and working extra hours during nights/weekends to meet the threshold however it is not good enough to secure my place here unless something changes. 

Sadly there are many others facing the same hardship and I believe that the threshold should be lowered to at least the average UK salary £28,000 for NHS staff.

The petition having reached 10K signatures (it's open for signatures until 3rd May), the relevant Govt. department was required to issue an official reply. The current Secretary of State for the Home Department is Amber Rudd (see photo). The Petitions Committee will also take a look at this petition and its response. They can press the government for action and gather evidence.

Please note: this response was issued after the announcement of a General Election on 8th June.