Election 2015: UKIP manifesto at-a-glance

UKIP has launched its 76-page manifesto ahead of the general election. The full document is available online. Here are the main things you need to know.

Key messages

UKIP leader Nigel Farage introduced his party's "gold standard" manifesto "Believe in Britain" by claiming it was the only one that had been "fully costed" and independently verified by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

In his opening remarks, he called for an "Australian-style" points system to assess all potential migrants to Britain and claimed benefits would only be paid to migrants who had been in the UK for five years and had paid their taxes.

Key policies

The main policies the party says it will fight for in government, in addition to leaving the European Union, include:

• Banning foreign criminals entering or remaining in Britain

• No tax on the minimum wage up to £13,000

• Raising the threshold for paying 40% tax to £55,000 and introduce a new 30% intermediate rate on earnings between £45,300 and £55,000

• Scrapping HS2 rail scheme

• Scrapping inheritance tax

• Building a 500-bed military hospital

• Bringing in power to sack your MP

• Ending the transport of live animals for slaughter and CCTV on slaughterhouses

Economy

The party says it believes in low taxation, enterprise and fairness. It claims economic policy and spending commitments are rooted in savings made from leaving the EU, making "reasonable cuts to the overseas aid budget", reviewing the Barnett Formula and cancelling HS2.

• Increase the transferable tax allowance for married couples to £1,500

• Ensure big corporations pay their fair share of tax

• Remove VAT from listed building repairs and sanitary products

Immigration

UKIP says it believes immigration "is far too high" and the pressure on housing, schools, hospitals, transport networks, power and water supplies, "is far too great".

• End immigration for unskilled jobs for a five-year period

• Tackle the problem of sham marriages

• Introduce a new visa system for workers, visitors, students, families and asylum seekers

• End access to benefits and free NHS treatment for new immigrants until they have paid tax and NI for five years

• Require all visitors and new immigrants to the UK to have their own health insurance.

NHS

UKIP says it is "fully committed to keeping the NHS free at the point of delivery and at time of need for UK citizens". The party will spend £12 billion more on the NHS in England by 2020 "to make sure it stays that way".

• Fund 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs and 3,000 more midwives

• Invest an extra £1.5 billion in mental health and dementia services over the next five years

• Scrap hospital parking charges

• End "health tourism" by making sure those ineligible for free NHS care pay for treatment

• Replace Monitor and the Care Quality Commission with powerful new County Health Boards to drive up standards

Care for the elderly and pensions

The party claims there is "a national crisis" in elderly care, with one million hospital bed days lost each year because patients cannot be discharged. UKIP also claims raising the retirement age to 67 "will be especially tough on women".

• Integrate health and social care, bringing both under the control of the NHS

• Increase social care funding in total by £5.2 billion between 2015 and 2020

• Invest any tax profits from fracking into setting up a Sovereign Wealth Fund to pay for elderly care

• Protect services such as day care centres, home care and Meals on Wheels

• Abolish the practice of arranging home-care visits in 15-minute windows

• Keep the current free bus pass, winter fuel allowance, free TV licence and free prescriptions and eye test schemes for all pensioners, without means testing

• Introduce a flexible state pension window so a slightly lower state pension can be taken at age 65 even as the state pension age increases

• Double the budget for free pensions advice to help pensioners make sound financial decisions

• Make it a criminal offence to coldcall someone in respect of pension arrangements

Welfare and disability

UKIP says it is fully committed to maintaining "a strong and supportive safety net for those who fall on hard times" but without being a soft-touch on welfare.

• Support a lower cap on benefits

• Crack down on benefit fraud

• End welfare tourism with a five-year embargo on benefits for migrants

• Stop child benefit being paid to children who don't live in UK permanently and limit child benefit to two children for new claimants

• Scrap the "bedroom tax"

• End work capability assessments and return the system and funding to GPs

• Increase Carers' Allowance to match Job Seekers' Allowance - £572 more a year

• Put 800 advisers into food banks to help users with additional problems such as debt, addiction, family breakdown and mental or physical health problems, and to offer employment and legal advice

Education and childcare

UKIP says it will prioritise teaching and learning, and bring forward improvements to primary, secondary and higher education. Childcare should be "affordable and accessible for all parents," it adds.

• Extend existing childcare voucher schemes to informal, non-Ofsted registered childminders

• Offer wrap-around childcare before and after school for every school-age child

• Amend planning legislation to ensure more nurseries are built to expand childcare places

• Legislate for an initial presumption of 50-50 shared parenting in child residency matters, and give grandparents visiting rights

• Initiate a thorough review of childcare and child safeguarding systems

• Scrap teachers' performance-related pay

• Abolish Key Stage 1 SAT tests at primary level

• End sex education for primary school children

• Bring back grammar schools and support a range of secondary schools including vocational, technical and specialist schools

• Waive tuition fees for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) subjects at university

• Make First Aid training part of the national curriculum

Housing and transport

UKIP claims there "is a dire shortage of affordable homes in Britain" and green fields "are being concreted over". On transport, the party says it does not want to "wage a tax war" on the motorist.

• Bring empty homes back into use

• Build one million homes on brown field sites by 2020

• Prioritise social housing for those with local connections to an area

• Give local people the final say on major planning developments in their area

• Restrict "Right-to-Buy" and "Help-to-Buy" schemes to British nationals

• Oppose the "Mansion Tax"

• Campaign to re-open Manston airport in Kent to address the lack of airport capacity in the South East

• Ensure speed cameras are used to improve road safety, not just to raise money

• End road tolls wherever possible

• Charge foreign lorries extra to use Britain's roads

• Roll back the VED exemption for classic vehicles to 25 years

Energy

UKIP pledges to:

• Support fracking for shale gas

• End subsidies for wind turbines and solar panels

• Seek to rejuvenate the coal industry

• Abolish "green levies" to cut the cost of fuel bills

• Force energy companies to end higher charges for pre-payment meters

Employment and small business

UKIP claims being in the EU "is damaging job prospects for British workers", while "uncontrolled mass immigration has lowered wages".

• Protect workers' rights

• Enforce the minimum wage

• End the abuse of zero-hours contracts

• Allow British businesses to choose to employ British workers first

• Prevent access to EU schemes which encourage businesses to hire foreign workers

• Prevent big businesses deliberately delaying payments to smaller companies

• Cut Business Rates by 20% for companies having premises with a total Rateable Value of less than £50,000

• Make it easier for small and medium-size businesses to tender for public service contracts

• Push for 30 minutes free parking in every high street and shopping parade.

Farming

UKIP pledges to:

• Introduce a new Single Farm Payment to support farmers

• Change the remit of the Competition Commission so dairy farmers get a fair price for milk

• Give a free vote in parliament on GM foods

• Label food to show the country of origin, method of production, transport and slaughter

Animal welfare and fishing

UKIP pledges:

• Triple the maximum jail sentences for animal cruelty and torture

• Impose lifetime bans on animal care and ownership for anyone convicted of animal cruelty

• Tightly regulate animal testing and keep the ban on animal testing for cosmetics

• Challenge companies using animals for testing drugs or other medical treatments on the necessity for this form of testing

• Ban the export of live animals for slaughter

• Insist on formal non-stun training and certification for all religious slaughtermen and enforce the highest standards

• Install CCTV in every abattoir and deal severely with any contraventions

• Introduce a 12-mile limit for UK fishermen only and a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone under UK control, as is our right under international law

• Return £2.5 billion a year in fish sales to the UK economy and support our fishing industry for future generations

• End the slaughter of dolphins by banning pair trawler fishing for bass

• Reverse any EU-wide drift-net ban in British waters

• Foreign trawlers will have to apply for and purchase fishing permits to fish British waters when fish stocks have returned to sustainable levels

Heritage and tourism

UKIP pledges to:

• Create a new Minister of State for Heritage and Tourism

• Zero rate VAT on repairs to historic churches and listed buildings

• Save the Pub through tax breaks for smaller breweries, and amending the smoking ban

• Oppose calls for minimum pricing for alcohol and reverse plain packaging legislation for tobacco products

Crime and justice

UKIP pledges to:

• Fund 6,000 additional posts spread between the police service, prison service and Border Agency

• Prevent foreign criminals coming into the UK and deport those who commit crimes here

• Reduce the number of territorial constabularies and Police and Crime Commissioners to cut costs and tackle serious crime

• Prosecute all cases of adult sexual behaviour with minors

• Take a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable "cultural" practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM)

• Amend the licensing laws to lower the maximum stake on all Fixed Odds Betting Terminals from £100 to £2

• Refuse to give criminals the vote

• Insist those who wish to appeal against deportation do so from their home country

• Decriminalise non-payment of the BBC licence fee and review its cost with a view to its reduction

• Prohibit the deployment of Euro Gendarmerie police officers on the streets of Britain

Political reform and local government

UKIP pledges to:

• A national referendum every two years on the most popular petition with over two million signatures

• Debate petitions gathering over 100,000 signatures in the House of Commons

• Give voters real power to sack their MP, councillor or other elected politician

• Only MPs for English constituencies will vote on laws affecting only England.

• Give Commons' Select Committees powers to approve or veto senior ministerial, civil service and quango appointments and public spending plans

• Introduce a new proportional voting system that truly reflects the number of votes cast

• Restrict postal votes to those with a valid reason to have one

• Adopt a zero-tolerance approach to noisy or anti-social neighbours

• Make the setting up of a traveller pitch without permission illegal

• Reinstate weekly bin collections where they have been lost, if residents want them reinstated

Trade and foreign affairs

UKIP pledges to:

• Seek to establish free trade agreements across the globe

• Negotiate a bespoke UK-EU trade deal

• Consult Parliament before committing Britain's armed forces and taxpayers' money to combat situations

• Protect the British sovereignty and territorial integrity of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands

• Encourage peace efforts in the Middle East and support a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict

Defence and the military covenant

UKIP pledges to:

• Exempt all service personnel on duty overseas from income tax

• Increase defence spending to 2% of GDP as required by our membership of NATO

• Restore the armed forces to 2010 manpower levels and capability

• Appoint a new Director of National Intelligence

• Keep our Trident nuclear deterrent

• Oppose the creation of the EU Army

• Appoint a new, dedicated Minister for Veterans, attached to the Cabinet Office

• Issue a National Defence Medal to all veterans

• Build 500 affordable rent houses every year for veterans

• Build eight halfway house hostels for homeless veterans

• Guarantee jobs in the police, prison and border services to ex-servicemen and women who have served for 12 years

• Support ex-forces personnel who want to set up their own businesses

• Issue a Veterans service card to ensure fast-track access to mental health services

Overseas aid

UKIP pledges to:

• Cut the overseas aid budget from 0.7% to 0.2% of GNI, on a par with the US

• Continue to spend at least £4 billion annually on current figures (more than Spain and Italy combined), prioritising clean water and sanitation, healthcare, inoculation and emergency aid programmes

• Remove trade barriers to provide sustainable livelihoods for the world's poorest people

• Close the Department for International Development and merge its essential functions into the Foreign Office