该党在年度大会召开前夕公布了一项计划：拟投入7亿英镑为高收入群体提供育儿补贴，旨在消除现行制度中“收入超过10万英镑便无法享受免费育儿服务”这一不合理现象。
have unveiled a proposed £700m childcare giveaway for high earners ahead of their annual conference, saying they would end the “cliff edge” where free entitlement ends at salaries above £100,000.
这项计划于伯明翰大会开幕前一天公布，此前基米·巴登诺赫领导的保守党已提议取消大部分印花税——这一税收调整同样会让富裕阶层获得更多实惠。
The plan, set out the day before the event begins in Birmingham, follows the earlier proposal by Kemi Badenoch’s party to abolish most stamp duty another change to taxation that would disproportionately benefit wealthier people.
目前，在里希·苏纳克政府推行的制度下，英格兰境内有年幼子女的家庭每周可享受30小时的免费育儿服务。但倘若家庭中有一方家长的收入超过10万英镑，无论另一方收入多少，该福利便不再适用。
Under the current system, put in place under Rishi Sunak’s government, families with young children in England are eligible for 30 hours a week of free childcare, but this cuts off if one parent earns more than £100,000, irrespective of another parent’s salary.
按照保守党的新计划，这一收入上限将被取消，今后只要每周工作16小时及以上的家长均可申领育儿补贴。
Under the Conservative plans, this limit would be abolished, with all parents working 16 or more hours a week able to claim the childcare.
该党称，这项计划每年将耗费约7亿英镑，资金将通过削减英格兰艺术委员会、环境署等机构的开支来筹措。
The party says it would cost aabout £700m a year, which it says would be paid for by cutting jobs at organisations such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency.
为宣传这一举措，巴登诺赫表示现行制度“荒谬至极”，还会打击人们工作的积极性。她说道：“保守党认为，人们不应因努力工作而受到惩罚，但现行的育儿福利门槛恰恰起到了这种负面作用。
In comments released to promote the idea, Badenoch said the current system was “absurd” and a disincentive to work more. She said: “Conservatives believe that you shouldn’t be punished for working more, but this childcare cliff edge does exactly that.
作为一名三个孩子的母亲，我也曾面临众多家庭都要面对的工作与育儿抉择。这些选择本身已十分艰难，政府不应再雪上加霜。
“I’m a mum-of-three and I’ve had to make the same choices many families have had to make on work and childcare. Those choices are difficult already, government should not be making them harder.
任何人都不该因为实在负担不起额外开支，而不得不放弃升职机会或拒绝加薪。”
“No one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they literally cannot afford to earn more.
“通常都是女性承担更多的育儿责任，因此任何让女性难以在事业上取得进展的制度，既无益于家庭，也无益于女性，更无益于经济发展。”
“It is often women who end up carrying more of the childcare responsibility so a system that makes it harder for them to progress in their careers is not helping families, it is not helping women and it is definitely not helping the economy.”
工党发言人表示：“从保守党急于废除的税收政策来看，一切便不言而喻了——他们首先想废除的正是那些惠及高收入群体的政策。显然，他们不愿承认这些税收起征点最初正是由他们自己设定的。”去年，巴登诺赫在党代会上提出了废除英格兰和北爱尔兰地区住房印花税的提议，据估计此举每年将造成90亿英镑的财政损失。
A Labour spokesperson said: “It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that the first of their own tax policies they want to unpick is one helping higher earners. They clearly don’t want to admit that they set the thresholds in the first place.”The idea of abolishing stamp duty on people’s primary residences in England and Northern Ireland was unveiled by Badenoch at last year’s conference, costing an estimated £9bn a year.
尽管部分经济学家认为，印花税会抑制房屋交易，进而拖累房地产市场乃至整体经济，但直接废除该税种而非加以改革，实际上只会让富裕阶层以及伦敦和英格兰东南部地区的居民获益更多。
While some economists have argued that stamp duty can have a drag on the housing market and even the economy, as it disincentivises moving, scrapping it rather than reforming the tax would disproportionately benefit better-off people and those in London and south-east England.
此次党代会上公布的另一项重要政策，便是在英格兰和威尔士新建5万个监狱床位，使监狱容量提升50%。这笔开支的一部分将通过将海外援助资金削减至每年10亿英镑来筹措，这一数额仅为原计划的10%。在基尔·斯塔默领导下，工党曾承诺到2027年将援助支出占GDP的比例从0.5%降至0.3%，即便如此，这一数额仍相当于每年90亿英镑。
The other main policy set out ahead of the conference was a plan to build 50,000 new prison spaces in England and Wales, a 50% expansion in capacity. This would be paid for in part by slashing overseas aid to £1bn a year, a 90% cut on current plans. Under Keir Starmer, Labour said they would reduce aid from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3% by 2027, but even that lower proportion would still amount to £9bn a year.
此前，英国改革党宣布将海外援助资金削减至每年10亿英镑的计划后，多家援助机构警告称，这一数额甚至不足以支付英国对联合国、世界银行等国际机构的现有捐款，必将严重削弱英国的国际影响力。
When Reform UK announced plans to cut aid to £1bn a year, aid groups warned that this would not cover existing contributions to global bodies such as the UN and World Bank, shredding Britain’s international influence.