What the country has learned about the new prime minister’s plans this week, from Brexit to human rights

This is what Theresa May's Tory Britain will look like

Theresa May indicated the direction she hopes to take the country in through a series of policy announcements during the Conservative party conference – from the timing of serving notice to quit the European Union through to plans to end the NHS’s reliance on foreign doctors and the creation of army cadet units in schools.

Here’s a full list:

Article 50 to be triggered by the end of March

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May appearing on the Andrew Marr Show. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA

May said she would trigger article 50, starting the two-year EU withdrawal process, by the end of March.

The remarks were welcomed by the European council president, Donald Tusk, who said the EU would now act “to safeguard its interests”.

May signalled control of immigration would be the priority: “Let me be clear, we are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again and we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European court of justice.”

A ‘great repeal bill’ to get EU law on to the British statute book

May laid out plans for a “great repeal bill”, so four decades of EU legislation would become part of British law – and could then be unpicked by governments. However, she insisted the government wanted to protect workers’ rights currently guaranteed under EU law.

George Osborne’s surplus target ditched

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, confirmed he would jettison the target for the UK economy to be in surplus by 2020. Hammond said the “task of fiscal consolidation must continue” but said there was a case for “targeted high-value investment in economic infrastructure”.

A total of 1,500 new places for trainee doctors, to end the reliance on foreign doctors

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A surgeon and his theatre team. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Hunt promised medical schools in the UK would be allowed to offer up to 1,500 extra training places a year, and released figures showing one in four NHS doctors were trained abroad. Medical schools will be allowed to lift the cap on training places, as long as they take steps to attract students from deprived backgrounds.

Derogation from the European convention on human rights for British troops in future conflicts

The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, announced controversial plans for the military to opt out of the ECHR, criticised by human rights groups. May said the change would “put an end to the industry of vexatious claims that has pursued those who served in previous conflicts”.

New army cadet units launched in state schools

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, during the launch of a combined cadet force unit at Rockwood Academy in Birmingham. Photograph: Corporal Paul Shaw ABIPP/MoD Cro/PA

Fallon announced 150 new army cadet units for state schools, with the first launched on Tuesday at the Birmingham school at the centre of the “Trojan horse” row over alleged attempts to introduce a hardline Islamist ethos.

Rockwood Academy, Fallon said, was “a phoenix from the ashes of a Trojan horse school that is now instilling British values”.

Major new restrictions on overseas students, including two-tier visa rules for poorer quality universities and courses

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Foreign students outside a campus of the London Metropolitan University. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

The home secretary, Amber Rudd, said the Home Office would consult on a new student immigration system. Proposals include a multi-tiered student visa system, under which rights to bring in families and their right to work, to go on to post-study jobs or come to the UK without passing an English language test, would be tied to the quality of the course and the university.

Firms could be pushed to declare their number of foreign employees

Rudd set out a consultation paper on how to encourage businesses to hire British staff, but denied a proposal to make firms list numbers of foreign employees was intended as a “badge of shame”. She admitted it was “not something we’re definitely going to do”.

EU migrants’ rights are one of ‘main cards’ in negotiations

In a much-criticised pronouncement, the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, said the uncertain status of EU nationals in the UK was “one of our main cards” in the Brexit negotiations.

Fox said the government would “like to be able to give a reassurance to EU nationals in the UK, but that depends on reciprocation by other countries”.

£3bn for a new homebuilding package

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Builders lay blocks on a building site near Bristol. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

The homebuilding fund is a repackaged version of an existing scheme – less than half of the money is new.

A third of the £3bn is short-term loan funding to push for 25,500 new homes before 2020, and an incentive to build faster.

The remaining £2bn is longer-term funding intended to lead to the creation of up to 200,000 more homes, particularly on brownfield sites.

Drive to recruit more prison officers from ex-service personnel

A campaign will try to recruit former armed forces staff as prison officers, and the justice secretary, Liz Truss, pledged to publish a prison safety and reform plan that will detail “the most far-reaching reforms of our prisons in a generation”.

Landlords could be prosecuted for letting to illegal immigrants

Landlords renting property to people with uncertain right to remain could end up going to prison, Rudd said.