Dominic Raab will unveil a manifesto for the Tory leadership with more than 40 pledges including tougher action on knife crime and higher pay for teachers in failing schools and wide-ranging tax cuts.

The pledges, which will form the heart of the former Brexit Secretary's agenda, were published briefly on his campaign website last week before being taken down.

They represent one of the most advanced manifestos of any of the candidates, with a series of policies predominantly targeted at helping increase opportunity.

On schools, Mr Raab will pledge to pay teachers more for teaching in “the toughest schools” as part of a bid to “give children from the hardest backgrounds exposure to our very best teachers”.

He will revive Young Apprenticeships and expand degree apprenticeships, which he says would offer “the opportunity of university without the debt the average student incurs after a normal degree”.

Mr Raab will also pledge new measures to encourage young entrepreneurs while expanding an initiative to give children from poorer backgrounds the chance to attend private school with “means-tested fee support”.

On crime, Mr Raab says that police need “more flexibility” to use stop and search powers. He suggests police should be able to more easily conduct searches even when there is not “reasonable suspicion” about an individual.

He also wants to promote initiatives to “divert at risk young people away from gangs and into training and work”.