Reform UK Scales Back £90 Billion Tax Cut Pledge, Prioritizes Spending Cuts
A shift in strategy sees the party now focusing on austerity measures as economic realities set in.
Reform UK is recalibrating its economic platform, acknowledging it can no longer guarantee the delivery of the £90 billion in tax cuts initially promised in its manifesto. The party, led by Nigel Farage, will instead prioritize substantial public spending cuts if it gains power, according to deputy leader Richard Tice.
Tice indicated that key election commitments, such as raising the income tax threshold, are now considered “aspirations” rather than firm pledges. The focus, he stated, will be on streamlining the civil service and eliminating the net zero program to generate savings.
Farage is reportedly preparing a speech next month to formally unveil this revised economic policy, a move anticipated by both the Labour and Conservative parties, who view the party’s financial plans as a significant vulnerability. According to reports, Farage intends to emphasize spending reductions as a prerequisite for any future tax cuts.
Previously, Farage outlined a plan to achieve £350 billion in spending cuts over the course of a parliament – a figure equivalent to completely eliminating the annual budget for schools or reducing NHS funding by a third. He identified potential savings through cuts to net zero initiatives, accommodations for migrants, and diversity programs. However, even this ambitious target is now expected to be revised downward.
“A manifesto is based on a point in time,” Tice explained. “The principles behind it are absolutely rock solid. We said we’ve got to make very significant savings in order to fund a different way to run the economy. What’s happened since then is that the state of the economy, because of the mismanagement by this Labour government, the numbers have got far worse. And we will be focusing relentlessly, as I’ve been saying, on the savings.”
The original manifesto included proposals such as increasing the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million, raising the income tax personal allowance to £20,000 and the higher rate to £70,000, reducing corporation tax to 15%, providing tax relief on private school fees, and lowering fuel duty.
“As an aspiration, that is absolutely the plan, the principle behind it,” Tice affirmed. “But we cannot do any of this, given the state of the finances, until we deliver on the savings. We’re focusing on the savings, deliver on the savings, deliver on the regulation cuts, that’s the way we change the way that you run and manage this economy, then you can get performance-related tax cuts further down the road only when you’ve delivered on the savings.”
Reform UK is also targeting local government for cost-cutting measures, particularly following successes in the 2025 local elections. The party is considering implementing cost-cutting teams modeled after the “department of government efficiency” established by former US President Donald Trump.
Tice believes that regulatory changes will facilitate these cuts, arguing that national-level obstacles will be less prevalent. “We will change the obligations that are set down by the government because we will completely, boldly change the way that the government functions, the way the civil service functions,” he stated. “There are a whole range of things, frankly, that the government does at the moment that regulations provide that are a hindrance to productivity, a hindrance to growth.”
The Labour Party swiftly criticized Reform UK’s revised plans, dismissing them as “built on sand.” A spokesperson asserted that Farage is “flirting with Liz Truss’s economy-crashing unfunded pledges – which would leave family finances at risk. Working people simply cannot trust Reform. They offer anger but no answers.” The spokesperson emphasized Labour’s commitment to economic renewal and increasing household incomes.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has previously questioned the feasibility of Reform UK’s manifesto commitments, stating that the proposed package was “problematic” and that spending reductions would likely fall short of projections while tax cuts would exceed anticipated costs by “tens of billions of pounds per year.”
Conservative shadow chancellor Mel Stride echoed these concerns, labeling the plans “all over the place” and warning that Reform UK’s “huge unfunded commitments” would jeopardize the public finances. He characterized the party’s approach as “Corbynism in a different colour – undeliverable, uncosted, and totally detached from reality,” advocating for a “serious and honest plan” to manage the economy responsibly.
