‘Zero tolerance’ policing and tackling ‘woke madness’: Reform UK’s pledges at a glance
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Reform UK is on course to cost the Conservatives dearly at the next general election as it refuses to stand down its candidates to help Rishi Sunak’s party.
Richard Tice’s insurgent Right-of-centre party scored double-digit vote shares in Wellingborough and Kingswood on Feb 15, matching its national polling levels and depriving the Tories of victory in the latter contest.
Mr Tice has said unlike the Brexit Party in 2019, he will not step aside for the Tories at the next national poll, even if his refusal to do so would result in a Labour government. He insisted that Mr Sunak’s administration should be “punished”.
There is also speculation about the role that Nigel Farage, Reform’s honorary president, could play at the election. He has declined to rule out a return to frontline politics.
The party has, in the meantime, announced a host of policies that would be included in its election manifesto. Here is a summary of those pledges.
NHS and social care
Reform would aim to cut NHS waiting lists to zero in the space of two years, an objective it has described as “challenging but achievable”.
In its healthcare plan, which was unveiled in Dec 2022, it promised to exempt two million frontline healthcare and social care workers from the basic rate of income tax for three years as part of a push to retain existing staff and ensure the return of former staff.
More private healthcare providers would also be used by the NHS “as needed” to drive waiting list numbers down.
Reform said its healthcare plan would cost £15 billion a year for two years, funded by reorganising Bank of England quantitative easing debt into 75-year bonds. The Bank of England would no longer pay interest on quantitative easing reserves for commercial banks, which Reform says would raise billions.
Tax and spending
The tax burden has become one of Reform’s key attack lines in the wake of tax rises under the Conservatives that have seen the overall burden reach its highest level since the Second World War.
Reform would raise the minimum income tax threshold from £12,571 to £20,000, exempting six million people from having to pay income tax.
It would scrap VAT on energy bills, saving households £100 per year, while lowering fuel duty by 20p per litre and reducing VAT from 20 per cent to 18 per cent. It calculates that these measures would save £240 per driver and £300 per household per year.
Government spending would be reduced by £5 in every £100, amounting to £50 billion a year.
Economy
Reform has said it would reduce the main corporation tax rate from 25 per cent to 20 per cent.
Its other proposals for the economy include the abolition of IR35 rules - regulations introduced by the Conservatives in recent years to govern off-payroll working.
Inheritance tax would be abolished for all estates under £2 million and business rates removed for small and medium firms, while an online delivery tax, levied at three per cent, is intended to “create a fairer playing field” for high street businesses versus online competitors.
Environment
Reform has insisted “we all care about the environment” and promised to achieve cleaner air in a “strategic, affordable way”.
It would nationalise 50 per cent of key utility companies, such as energy and water giants, “to stop consumers being ripped off”.
Before entering frontline politics, Mr Tice used a ConservativeHome article in 2018 to praise plans to build on brownfield sites, while stressing the need to “drastically reduce the number of houses that have to be built on open countryside” to protect the green belt.
Energy and net zero
Mr Tice has been one of the most vocal opponents of net zero in British politics – referring to it as “net stupid” – and Reform would abandon all existing carbon emissions targets.
The party plans to accelerate oil and gas licences in the North Sea, build high-efficiency combined cycle gas turbines and restart coal mines “using the latest cleanest techniques”.
Renewables would be stripped of existing government subsidies, with Reform claiming “they must stand on their own merit”.
“Westminster’s obsession with net zero is making us all net poorer every year,” its pre-manifesto document said last year. “It is creating more emissions, not less, as it forces us to buy our energy from overseas.”
Education and childcare
Reform would require schools to “focus on the basics of teaching every child to read and write” as part of sweeping changes to the national curriculum.
A “pre-manifesto” published by the party in Oct 2023 claimed university students were “being ripped off with high fees” and suggested condensing some degree courses from three years to two to save students many thousands of pounds.
In the wake of Covid lockdowns, Reform vowed to “never again” shut schools or force children to learn from home for weeks on end.
It has also promised to combat “divisive woke ideologies” including critical race theory and gender ideology, ensuring “age-appropriate” sex education which teaches children that “there are only two sexes and two genders”.
Defence
Reform would overhaul the military procurement process as one of its defence priorities while also promising to invest in “properly equipping and housing” Armed Forces personnel.
It would put more money into the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, which has been established by the current Tory Government, while also resolving to “properly protect our troops and veterans from unwanted, never-ending legal claims”.
In February 2024, Mr Tice told the Express that Britain and its allies “must all spend more on defence to preserve peace”, but did not put a number on the increase he wished to see.
Mr Farage has claimed “woke madness” is harming the Armed Forces after The Telegraph revealed plans to relax security checks on diversity grounds, with the former Ukip leader arguing diversity, equity and inclusion policies should be scrapped.
Pensions and welfare
The Reform pre-manifesto promised reform to the savings and pensions taxation system.
Mr Tice’s party would seek to bring more than one million people back into work, describing a reduction to pre-Covid levels of benefit claimants as “eminently realistic”.
Writing in The Telegraph last year, the Reform leader said the 5.4 million people on out-of-work benefits presents a challenge that other politicians “find too uncomfortable” to address.
He pledged Reform would freeze benefits for unemployed young people, adding: “Cue uproar and my immediate cancellation, but someone has to say it. Sometimes the tough decisions are actually the kindest. Make work pay. It is good for us all.”
Policing and crime
Reform has vowed to adopt a “zero tolerance approach” towards crime and antisocial behaviour, starting by putting more police officers on the streets.
“More visible” policing would see a greater number of policemen on the beat with a focus on tackling violent crime, burglaries and robberies.
Police would be given “much better technology” as part of an overhaul of existing IT and communications systems, while the courts system would also be reformed to work “faster and smarter”, although this is another area where few specifics have been given.
Migration
Mr Tice’s plan to end illegal immigration and vastly reduce legal migration includes leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and introducing a “one in, one out” migration quota.
He told an event in Jan 2024: “We’ve got to freeze non-essential immigration – one in, one out. That is what the British people voted for, I believe that’s what the people want. The British people never voted for mass immigration.”
Reform would create a new Department of Immigration “staffed by people who believe in the cause of sovereign independence” after abolishing the Home Office.
Mr Tice has also urged ministers to declare immigration a “security threat”, adding: “We have to have a difficult conversation that far too many of these people coming illegally actually do not have good intent.”
