General Elections 2019 – What the Manifestos say about Mental Health

The major manifestos for the 2019 General Election have been published and the BPC has produced a briefing  to help you navigate each party’s health care pledges. The briefing includes summaries of the political parties’ key health and mental health policies (Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, DUP, Sinn Fein, SDLP, Plaid Cymru, Brexit Party). As expected, the three main parties are all proposing to increase health spending:

• The Conservatives pledge to increase the NHS spending by 3.2%. The conservative manifesto does not provide a fully costed social/health care policy therefore a like-for-like comparison with other parties is not possible.‌
• Labour pledges to increase NHS spending in England by an average of 3.8% per year between 2019–20 and 2023–24. Overall spending on the Department of Health and Social Care would increase on average by 4.3% per year.
• The Liberal Democrats pledge to increase the NHS spending by 3.7% and overall spending on the Department of Health and Social Care by 3.8%.

Please click on the link below to read the full analysis.

The joint BPC, BACP and UKCP Manifesto where we call for a national strategy to improve choice, availability and access to counselling and psychotherapy for all and we set out our vision on how to achieve this, can also be accessed below. If you would like to contact your Prospective Parliamentary Candidates, you can use the independent website https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/ to find out their contact details and help promoting the creation of a psychoanalytically informed society based on relational well-being.