Reform UK has announced plans to provide thousands of pounds in much-needed tax relief for around 40 million Britons within 100 days in office.
Despite the struggles of the British economy, which has yet to fully recover from the cost of coronavirus lockdowns and the energy crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, successive governments have refused to slash taxes, which have risen to their highest level since the Second World War.
At Reform UK’s annual conference in Birmingham on Saturday, Robert Jenrick, who has been tapped by Nigel Farage to lead the Treasury should Reform win at the next election, said that the taxpayers have been “squeezed for twenty years”.
“No wonder so many of our most ambitious young people are seeking their futures abroad. The old parties did this. Not by accident — by consensus. A twenty-five-year conspiracy against the British worker,” he declared.
Mr Jenrick said that if elected, he would immediately raise the personal allowance income tax threshold — before which no tax is paid — from £12,570 to £15,000.
The Shadow Chancellor noted that the threshold has been unchanged since 2021 and is set to remain in place until 2031, which would effectively amount to a tax hike due to inflation and fiscal drag.
Mr Jenkrick claimed that his tax cut would save some 40 million Britons money and would represent the largest rise in personal allowance in history.
This would be paired with £108 billion in budget cuts and other measures to reduce government spending, including £50 billion in cuts from Britain’s bloated welfare system, notably by preventing foreign citizens from accessing benefits.
The Shadow Chancellor further committed that if he failed to deliver the tax cut within 100 days of taking office, he would resign from his post, releasing a pre-signed letter of resignation.
“If I don’t deliver this exactly when I have said that I will, I will resign. No ifs, no buts, I will be gone,” he said.
This came in the wake of two prominent suspensions of senior Reform figures, longtime Farage aide Dan Jukes and policy chief James Orr, after footage was published by far-left climate activists purporting to show them accepting donations and the commission of a poll from a fake American political donor.
Reform has denied any wrongdoing but has suspended Jukes and Orr amid an internal investigation.
Party boss Nigel Farage said on Friday that Reform was being targeted by the establishment for challenging the status quo, and maintained that the party had not accepted any illicit money or broken any election rules.
In addition to announcing major tax cuts, the party also made waves at its conference by having French National Rally leader Jordan Bardella sign an agreement with Farage on stage, committing to a policy of migrant boat pushbacks in the English Channel, a concession from Paris which has eluded multiple governments in London.
Meanwhile, Deputy Reform UK leader Richard Tice committed to lowering average annual household energy bills by £250. Tice told the conference that he would do so by eliminating carbon taxes on generators and removing Value Added Tax (VAT) from consumer energy bills.
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