1. Economy and taxation
In short: Liz Truss on steroids. There would be cuts to personal tax worth £70bn a year, including scrapping income tax below £20,000, and big cuts to stamp duty and inheritance tax. Cuts to business levies including corporation tax would cost £18bn a year.
Reform says this would be paid for by scrapping plans to reach net zero carbon emissions (more on that below), plus £50bn a year from cutting government departments and quangos, and £35bn from the technical process of making the Bank of England stop paying interest on commercial bank deposits created through quantitative easing.
2. Immigration
There is only so much room to the right of the Conservatives on this subject, but Reform would use most of it, pledging a freeze on “non-essential” immigration, with only a handful of exceptions, and higher national insurance imposed on overseas workers.
On asylum seekers, Reform would take Britain out of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), process people offshore and “pick up illegal migrants out of boats and take them back to France”.
3. Environment and energy
A major part of Reform’s offer is to roll back green targets, including to scrap net zero goals altogether, which the party says would save £30bn a year over 25 years. The International Energy Agency estimated that the UK spent less than £9bn a year between 2021 and 2023 on low-carbon energy policy. This is less than comparable developed countries, and, according to an LSE study, higher green investment is likely to lower household bills and boost growth more than tax cuts.
The manifesto says net zero has increased bills, damaged industries such as steelmaking, and made the UK less energy secure. However, evidence from the IMF shows energy bills have risen because of the UK’s heavy reliance on imported gas.
4. Healthcare
As part of the tax cuts, frontline NHS and social care staff would pay zero basic-rate tax for three years, with the aim of boosting staff numbers. There would also be 20% tax relief on private health insurance.
5. Policing and crime
As well as promising 40,000 more police officers, the party has pledged mass stop and search, and the end of what it terms “woke policing”.
The sentencing regime would be significantly toughened, with mandatory life sentences for anyone convicted of drug dealing, or a second violent or serious offence. And 10,000 new prisons places would be built.
6. Education
This section is low on specifics and seems to be led more by culture war issues, with the first two points calling for a “patriotic curriculum” and an end to “transgender ideology” in schools. There would be another tax cut, this one offering tax relief on private school fees.
7. Housing and transport
On housing, Reform says it wants to “unleash” housebuilding, but the party would also protect landlords, scrapping plans to ban no-fault evictions or other renting changes.
On transport, the party would end the “war on drivers”, unilaterally scrapping any clean air zones, low-traffic neighbourhoods and almost all 20mph zones.
8. Other policies
Social security: “motivate” people to work, and withdraw all benefits if they turn down two job offers.
Brexit: abandon the Windsor framework, which sought to find a compromise over EU trade and not having a hard Irish border.
Constitution and voting: replace the Lords with an elected second chamber; move towards a proportional voting system.