Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is now more than a week into his eight attempt to become an MP.
The controversial former UKIP figurehead and MEP, who had previously said he wouldn’t be standing in the 2024 general election, is targeting the constituency of Clacton, Essex. His change of heart has created a major headache for Rishi Sunak‘s Conservative Party.
Some polls put Reform UK within touching distance of the Tories, which could cost them vital seats on 4 July. To counter the threat to their right, the Conservatives are targeting their core vote. So far, we have seen pledges to reintroduce national service and bring in a triple lock plus.
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In terms of Reform’s own prospectus, Farage has confirmed that the party would seek to reduce net migration to zero. In terms of money policies, his party wants to implement a major income tax cut – a key dividing line from the Conservatives and the Labour Party – and to reform the Bank of England.
But what else do we know about its policies? Here’s a round up of what Reform has said, so far.
What Reform UK policies could be in its manifesto?
We do not know when Reform UK will be launching its manifesto. But we do have some clues about what it could contain though thanks to what it calls its ‘contract’ with voters – a ‘working draft document’ that seems likely to form the basis of its pitch to voters.
The party’s main policy is a pledge to get net migration down to zero. If this happened, the number of people arriving in the UK would not exceed the number of people leaving the country.
Given the various Conservative governments we’ve had over the past 14 years have offered to bring net migration down in different ways – and with the numbers having gone up in recent years – this target appears to be implausible.
Farage’s party also wants to bring in a tougher stance on crime, for example by resurrecting the controversial stop-and-search policy. It also claims there are ‘Brexit freedoms’ that it can exploit to grow the economy.
Reform UK personal finance pledges
In terms of its main financial priorities, Reform says it wants to “cut taxes to make work pay”. Should it make it into government, it says its first priority would be to lift the income tax personal allowance threshold from £12,570 to £20,000.
Doing so would free up to seven million people from paying the tax and would save the average worker £1,500, it claims. It also wants to see the higher rate kick in from a threshold of £70,000, instead of the current £50,270. So far, only the Lib Dems have made a similar pledge.
The party also wants to scrap VAT on energy bills and lower fuel duty by 20p per litre. Reform also wants the 0% stamp duty threshold to be raised to £750,000, with a rate of 2% for properties priced between this figure and £1.5m, and 4% for anything above £1.5m.
Abolishing inheritance tax is another key goal for Reform. It wants to free all estates valued below £2m from the tax, and apply a 20% rate to anything above this figure – unless the money is given to charity. This is another big dividing line from the Conservatives. Meanwhile, Reform claims two million tourists have been put off coming to the UK by the country’s VAT tourist tax, denying the economy £10bn. So, it wants this tax abolished too.
Reform says these policies would cost £70bn per year. This figure would be paid for by the £91bn a year it believes it can free up by slashing what it calls “government waste”.
It claims £30bn to £40bn of this total would come from putting a halt to the Bank of England paying out interest to commercial banks on its quantitative easing reserves. Party Chairman Richard Tice described the status quo as “gross negligence” and said it meant voters’ cash was being used to “enrich the City of London”. Governor Andrew Bailey has previously said scrapping the measure would limit the central bank’s ability to change the economy through interest rates.
Reform also reckons £50bn could be saved if every public sector manager was forced to find £5 in savings for every £100 of spending, and through the scrapping of “dozens” of arms-length public bodies. It believes these savings can be achieved without affecting frontline services.
Reform UK pension and tax aims
Reform UK has also outlined its likely prospectus for reforming pensions and taxes. For the former, it suggests it wants to adopt a pensions system akin to that of Australia. It says the UK’s current system is “riddled with complexity, huge cost and poor returns”. This part of its manifesto is, as present, uncosted.
Tax reforms the party is targeting include slashing corporation tax to 20% and then cutting it to 15% before the end of the next government’s five-year term. Reform also suggested it wants to slash the UK tax code from 21,000 pages to somewhere closer to Hong Kong’s 500-page tax code. The party hasn’t outlined the specifics of how it would do so.
Other pledges the party has made include reforming the planning system so that home building can be accelerated – particularly in the north and in poorer coastal areas. It also wants to bring in 20% tax relief on private school fees to incentivise those who can afford to send their kids to private school to do so, thus reducing pressure on state schools.
In its own version of the Conservatives’ war on ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees, Reform says it wants to scrap interest on student loans and extend loan capital repayment periods to a period of 45 years. It said it would be able to achieve this by restricting undergraduate numbers “well below current levels” and enforcing minimum entry standards.
