Tories promise new national financial advice line

The Conservatives have announced plans to pay for a proposed new consumer money advice line via a levy on the financial services sector.

The Tory manifesto says that the party will launch Britain’s first free national financial advice service if it is elected to form a government at next month’s general election, which will be paid for by a new ‘social responsibility levy’ on the financial services sector.

The Tory manifesto also confirmed the party’s pledge to scrap the Financial Services Authority and create a new Consumer Protection Agency.

Amongst a series of measures designed to encourage inward investment, the manifesto says a Conservative government will make the UK a more attractive location for multinationals by simplifying the ‘complex’ Controlled Foreign Companies rules.

And it says a Conservative will consult on a reform of corporate taxation to ensure that only profits generated in the UK are taxed. The measures to encourage inward investment are part of a package designed to create the most competitive tax system in the G20 by cutting corporation tax.

The manifesto also says a Conservative government will take forward the Pitt review’s recommendations to improve flood defences and curb construction in areas at high risk of inundation.

And it confirmed that the Tories will introduce a one-off voluntary insurance scheme, worth an estimated £8,000, to pay for residential social care costs.