What do
Reform UK think?

Key policies and pledges

• Abolish Stamp Duty on homes under £750,000 to make buying more affordable 
  
• Scrap Section 24, reinstating tax relief on mortgage interest for landlords 
  
• Explicit commitment to repeal the Renters’ Rights Act as part of a wider “Great Repeal Bill”, framed as necessary to restore rental supply and reduce costs
  
• Place housing policy under a new Business, Trade and Energy super department, implying the break-up of MHCLG and tighter alignment between planning, infrastructure, and industrial growth
  
• Reconsider whether planning consent is required for certain low-impact developments, including minor extensions and upgrades to existing assets
  
• Introduce a new category of “Trusted Planning Partners”, granting selected developers or retailers greater automatic planning permissions, with safeguards for non-compliance
  
• Protect Leaseholders by mandating transparency and consent for all charges, and enforcing Section 106 agreements 
  
• Prioritise local residents in social housing allocation (Scotland): Pledge to introduce Holyrood legislation to prioritise Scottish nationals on housing lists, closing what Reform describes as an SNP-created “homeless loophole”.
  
• End Glasgow’s asylum dispersal status: Commit to lobbying the UK Government to remove Glasgow’s role as a dispersal city and return those without legal status to Home Office detention facilities.
  
• Charge overseas students council tax: Propose legislative change to allow councils to levy council tax on international students, with all revenues ring-fenced for new social housing delivery.
  
• Review affordable housing requirements: Reform deputy leader Richard Tice has called for a “sensible” reassessment of local authority affordable housing quotas, arguing current requirements are undermining development viability for housebuilders.
  
• Build on Brownfield Sites using a ‘loose fit planning policy’ with pre-approved developer guidelines 
  
• Incentivise New Construction Technology including modular building, digital tools, and waste-reducing site practices 
  
• Require Swift Bricks in all new homes to support endangered cavity-nesting birds 

Narrative framing 

Recent interventions sharpen Reform’s framing of housing as a delivery and cost problem created by over-regulation. Tice increasingly presents planning reform as an economic competitiveness issue, arguing that excessive consent requirements inflate costs and suppress supply. This reinforces Reform’s pro-developer credentials, while continuing to link housing allocation and migration control in devolved and local contexts, particularly in Scotland.

Implications for business 

Developers may see clearer signals that a Reform-influenced government would prioritise speed, certainty, and cost reduction over social and affordability requirements. However, the explicit repeal of renter protections and selective planning liberalisation heighten reputational exposure for housing providers, councils, and partners perceived to benefit at tenants’ expense.

Key policies and pledges

• End what Reform describes as “net stupid zero”, repealing the Electric Vehicle Mandate and climate targets through a Great Repeal Bill
• Maximise onshore and offshore oil and gas production as a “patriotic duty”
• Characterise renewable energy providers as exporting jobs and value overseas, while increasing domestic energy costs
• Establish a £500bn British Sovereign Wealth Fund to invest in strategic energy, infrastructure, nuclear, and industrial assets
• Deploy sovereign capital to support Small Modular Reactors, grid infrastructure, and energy-intensive industryScrap all renewable subsidies, Contracts for Difference mechanisms, and revoke the Climate Change Act 2008 
• Introduce a windfall tax and new levies on wind and solar generation, recovering previous subsidies 
• Invest in North Sea gas and oil with fast-track licences and a two-year test phase for shale gas 
• Ban Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) due to safety concerns 
• Mandate underground cables for new energy infrastructure 
• Fast-track new nuclear development, including small modular reactors 
• Nationalise 50% of the water sector, with the remainder funded through private investment 
• Bring 50% of all utilities into public ownership, with the rest owned by UK pension funds 
• Lower fuel duty by 20p per litre and scrap VAT on energy bills 
• Increase food and farming budget to £3 billion and strengthen food security with UK sourcing targets 

Narrative framing 

Energy is now framed as the foundation of national prosperity. Tice argues that cheap, abundant energy is a prerequisite for growth, explicitly rejecting climate-led constraints. The language has become more confrontational, portraying renewables and net zero as elite-driven projects that undermine British industry and household living standards.

Implications for business 

Energy-intensive sectors may welcome Reform’s emphasis on cost reduction and domestic supply. However, companies aligned with renewables, ESG investment, or climate commitments face increased political and reputational risk if associated with “net zero orthodoxy”. The proposed sovereign wealth fund could materially reshape investment flows in infrastructure and energy markets.

Key policies and pledges

• Mandate weekend operating theatre use to cut backlogs
• Hold a public inquiry into “excess deaths and vaccine harms”
• Abolish the NHS Race and Health Observatory
• Offer vouchers for fully funded private treatment when NHS waiting times exceed set thresholds
• Provide 20% tax relief on private health insurance and private treatment costs
• Increase NHS funding by £17 billion a year
• Charge for missed appointments
• Exempt NHS and social care staff from basic income tax for three years and offer partial student loan write-offs
• Cuts to disability benefits, including scrapping Pip payments for those with low-level anxiety to save £3.5bn
• Changes to public sector pensions (hinting to scrap defined benefits for public sector workers)
• Scrap the two-child limit on payments of some benefits such as universal credit for UK nationals where both parents work.
• Convene a Royal Commission on social care reform
• Impose a five-year residency requirement for access to benefits 

Narrative framing 

Reform casts its health policy as a fight against bureaucracy, political correctness, and inefficiency. Farage’s repeated suggestions of an insurance-based model hint at a longer-term push for structural change, even as the public remains overwhelmingly supportive of a tax-funded NHS.

Implications for business 

Private healthcare providers could benefit reputationally and commercially from a Reform-shaped debate that normalises private options within the NHS. However, mainstream parties may react by reasserting defence of the NHS, creating reputational risk for any company perceived to support privatisation. 

Key policies and pledges

• Oppose new HFSS and advertising restrictions
• Target 70% domestic food production, with taxpayer-funded bodies sourcing 75% of their food from UK suppliers
• Empower the CMA to tackle supermarket price-fixing and support direct farmer sales
• Abolish business rates for farm shops
• Abolish the Labour Government’s changes to inheritance tax on farms
• Increase the farming budget to £3 billion and replace subsidies with direct payments
• Provide tax breaks and incentives for smaller processors and abattoirs 

Narrative framing 

Reform pitches food policy as an issue of fairness and national pride. It links food costs to net zero scepticism, arguing that green regulation drives up prices. Among Reform voters, personal freedom strongly outweighs health-based policy: most oppose restrictions on high-fat or sugary foods and reject climate-linked dietary change. 

Implications for business 

FMCG brands face a cultural split: Reform’s narrative resonates with consumers hostile to health or environmental regulation, but it sits at odds with regulatory trends in Westminster and devolved governments. Retailers should be alert to politicised framing of food choice, sustainability, and pricing. 

Key policies and pledges

• No immediate tax cuts, with reductions conditional on future fiscal headroom
• Maintain Bank of England independence, but remove its net zero mandate
• Retain the Office for Budget Responsibility, while diversifying its modelling and recruiting external “super-forecasters”
• Deliver £4bn in immediate Civil Service savings, with a further £1bn from reduced pension liabilities
• Reduce Civil Service headcount by up to 68,500 roles
• Reaffirm the Britannia Card, with proceeds redistributed as direct payments to low-income households
• Reinstate the two-child benefit cap, reversing Reform’s earlier position
• Cut welfare and foreign aid, targeting savings of up to £25bn
• Raise the VAT threshold to £150,000
• Exempt firms with profits under £100,000 from corporation tax
• Reduce the main Corporation Tax rate from 25% to 20%, with a stated ambition to reach 15% in later years
• Abolish business rates for high-street SMEs, funded by a 4% online delivery tax on large multinationals
• Oppose the abolition of non-dom status, arguing it risks driving high earners and investors overseas
• Raise the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million, with optional charitable donation offsets
• Reverse Labour’s inheritance tax changes on farms, one of the few firm fiscal commitments Farage has reiterated
• Introduce a £250,000 “Britannia Card”, granting non-domiciled individuals 10 years’ exemption from UK tax on overseas income and assets
• Set a 5% public spending savings target, focused on administrative and management costs rather than frontline services
• Income tax threshold of £20,000 now framed as an eventual aspiration, not a firm pledge
• Question current minimum wage levels for younger workers, arguing they may be too high
• Amend workers’ rights legislation to reduce compliance burdens on small businesses

Narrative framing 

Reform now presents fiscal caution as a virtue, contrasting itself with what it calls irresponsible promise-making by other parties. Jenrick frames institutional reform as necessary to break a “cosy consensus” in economic policymaking, positioning Reform as challengers to Treasury, OBR, and Whitehall orthodoxy.

Implications for business 

Businesses should expect a Reform economic offer that prioritises structural reform over short-term giveaways. Public-sector suppliers, professional services, and consultancies face heightened exposure to cost-cutting and headcount reductions, while firms aligned with long-term capital investment may benefit from sovereign funding and deregulatory momentum.

Key policies and pledges

• Make London a leading hub for digital assets and cryptocurrencies
• Repeal the Online Safety Act in full
• Maintain Bank of England independence while curbing its remit
• Consolidate Local Government Pension Scheme assets to capitalise a British Sovereign Wealth Fund
• Protect free expression under the banner “Police the streets, not the tweets”
• Overhaul City of London regulation, stripping the FCA of its banking oversight role
• End Bank of England interest payments on QE reserves, saving £35 billion
• Oppose the active sale of QE-era gilts
• Create a new £500bn British Sovereign Wealth Fund that would be given a strategic “British growth” mandate and deploy capital into UK equities, data, AI, defence tech, energy, and critical infrastructure

Narrative framing 

Reform increasingly frames financial reform as a national competitiveness issue. Farage and Jenrick position themselves as challengers to central bank orthodoxy, while Tice promotes an activist state willing to back domestic capital markets and strategic technologies.

Implications for business 

Asset managers, pension administrators, and City institutions should track Reform’s growing focus on capital consolidation and sovereign investment. Tech firms aligned with national infrastructure, data, and AI may benefit, while those reliant on global regulatory alignment face uncertainty.

Key policies and pledges

• Scrap HS2 and reinvest in regional transport links
• Ban ULEZ, Clean Air Zones, and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
• Abolish legal requirements for electric vehicle sales
• Introduce tight quotas and significant tariffs on foreign imports of automotives, particularly Chinese EVs
• Focus infrastructure on coastal regions, Wales, the North, and the Midlands
• Create a new £500bn British Sovereign Wealth Fund that would be given a strategic “British growth” mandate to invest capital in strategic national assets, such as British primary steel – to restart the industry in the UK

Narrative framing 

Reform positions local government as a frontline of waste and ideological excess. Transport restrictions and council spending are framed as visible symbols of elite governance imposed on communities without consent.

Implications for business 

Local authority partners and infrastructure providers should anticipate more politicised scrutiny of transport, climate, and inclusion policies. Reform’s approach may shift the balance towards cost visibility and central control over local experimentation.