THE Liberal Democrats became the last of the three main parties to launch their manifesto yesterday — with a promise to build a fairer Britain if elected on May 6.

Key components of the manifesto include fairer taxes, economic reform, a £2.5 billion investment in education for the poorest children and sweeping constitutional change include a new electoral system.

The Lib Dems’ Bolton West candidate Jackie Pearcey said she was proud of the manifesto.

She said: “We promised a fully costed, realistic manifesto and that is what we have. I look forward to seeing a good quantity, if not all of it, being implemented and I am very proud to stand with this manifesto.

“The other manifestos are full of promises which the parties know will have to be broken in July whereas ours is a plan for recovery.”

The party has also pledged to boost the pay of the lowest ranking members of the Armed Forces to bring them into line with the starting salary of their emergency services counterparts.

“Under the manifesto commitments, prison inmates would be forced to work and contribute to a compensation fund for victims.”

With opinion polls suggesting the possibility of a hung Parliament, Mr Clegg claimed a vote for the Lib Dems could spell the end of the political “stitch-up” between Labour and the Tories which has lasted since the Second World War.

He said: “Only the Liberal Democrats have the big ideas for fundamental, structural changes in the way our country works to make it fair.”

The headline pledge from the manifesto is a change to income tax thresholds so that no one pays the tax on the first £10,000 they earn.

To cut the deficit, Mr Clegg says his party would scrap ID cards and the national intercept database, cut the Eurofighter military jet contract, scale back the HomeBuy shared ownership scheme, reform Regional Development Agencies and scrap seven quangos.