David Cameron promises triple whopper in Tory 'worker manifesto' for 'buccaneering' Britain

David Cameron has attempted to paint the Tories as the "real party of working people" as he launched his general election manifesto with three new big pledges.

The Prime Minister promised that a Conservative government would pull minimum wage workers out of tax, double free childcare and extend the right-to-buy scheme for housing association properties.

Cameron, with just 23 days to go before the general election, described the UK as a "buccaneering, world-beating, can-do country – on the brink of something special".

The Tory leader outlined his vision for creating the "good life" in Britain "for everyone willing to work for it" as he addressed his supporters in Swindon.

Cameron explained that a Tory government would legislate to make sure the tax free personal allowance rises in line with the minimum wage hikes so the low paid are not levied.

The commitment comes on top of his party's pledge to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 ($18,300) by 2020, up from the current rate of £10,600, which will rise to £10,800 next year.

Cameron also promised a Conservative government would increase the free childcare to 30 hours a week for three and four year olds, equivalent to £5,000 a year.

The prime minister said his administration would curb pension relief to pay for the policy.

In addition, a Tory government would extend the right-to-buy programme to more than a million housing association tenants.

The scheme would enable families in the properties to buy the houses with a significant discount.

The initiative would be funded by making councils sell off thousands of their most expensive properties as they become vacant from 2016, raising £4.5bn ($6.6bn) a year, or £18bn by the end of the parliament in 2020.

The discount will be capped at just over £102,700 in London and £77,000 outside the capital.

The proposal is reminiscent of Margret Thatcher's 1980 right-to-buy policy, which is said to have won over working-class voters who would have otherwise picked Michael Foot's Labour Party at the 1983 general election polls.

Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg picked up on that theme and claimed the pledge proved that the Tories had ran out of policy ideas.

"It's a measure of how much the Conservatives have run out of new ideas that the big idea on the day they publish their manifesto is a poor cover version of one of Thatcher's 1980s' hits," he said.

Cameron will hope the trio of pledges will sway the opinion polls in his favour as the Tories are one point behind Labour (34% vs 33%) in the latest survey from YouGov.