Reform UK Drops Promise To Cut Taxes

Harriet Symonds

November 3, 2025.

Reform leader Nigel Farage has abandoned plans for tax cuts, breaking from Reform UK’s previous manifesto commitments.

Farage has declared that a Reform government would not be able to deliver “substantial” tax cuts at the moment as he attempts to build his party's economic credibility. 

“We want to cut taxes, of course we do, but we understand substantial tax cuts given the dire state of debt and our finances are not realistic at this current moment in time", he told the press conference in the heart of the City of London, rowing back on his party's 2024 election manefesto promise to deliver £90bn in tax cuts. 

Farage also vowed that a Reform government would raise income tax thresholds to £20,000 to get people back to work and “immediately remove” inheritance tax (IHT) on family farms and family-run businesses. 

“It’s vital that with benefits and getting people back to work, we have incentives. I think that’s really, really important. As well as toughening of the rules, it needs the carrot and stick approach. So they were only ever aspirations.”

The Reform leader also sought to reset his party’s record on benefits and welfare policy, promising “the biggest benefit cuts you’ve probably ever heard any government do”. 

He re-iterated the party’s welfare proposals, first announced by Reform MP Lee Anderson and Yusuf last week, to reintroduce in-person appointments and reform PIP payments. 

Farage also clarified that he only supports removing the two-child benefit cap for British working couples.

“For lower-paid couples who are both working, the cost of childcare is exorbitant. It’s a disincentive for having more children, a disincentive for going out to work and so I thought a tax credit for a couple where both were working, was actually a very, very pro-family policy in every single way.”

The Reform leader declared he wants more high-earners in Britain, rejecting the “hard-Left socialist dogma that it’s popular to tax the rich”.

He said: “I want as many high-earning people as possible living in this country and paying as much tax as they legally have to, because if the rich leave and the rich don’t pay tax, then the poorer in society will all have to pay more tax. It’s as simple as that."

Farage hit out at IR35 rules for “hammering” small businesses: “They are embattled by IR35 regulations designed by the Treasury and weak Conservative chancellors who assume that everyone out there who isn’t working for a big firm is some kind of crook.”

He added: “Well, I’m sorry, but the IR35 rules are ridiculous. They’re stifling innovation. They even drive some in their fifties just to throw their hands up and go into early retirement.”

Later this month Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce tax rises in the Budget to fill the black hole in the public finances. Farage predicted the markets will force Reeves into delivering “a genuine austerity Budget” that will lead to “economic collapse”.

He told the audience: “The markets are getting nervy. We’ve seen this with 10 and 30-year gilt yields. In fact, I think my own view is that in two budgets’ time, the markets will actually force the Chancellor into what will be a genuine austerity Budget.

There has been increasing pressure on Reform to put forward a clear vision on the economy, as PoliticsHome reported in September. In a recent interview with The House magazine, Farage acknowledged that bringing down debt levels is essential. “If we don’t, we’re done for,” he said. “Gilts will become junk bonds. If we don’t, we’ll become a third-world country in terms of relative prosperity.”

Farage sought to double down on his party’s embrace of cryptocurrency, claiming Britain is “being left behind”.

“There’s a global boom in the trade in digital assets, in the use of stable coins, in the usage and investment in all forms of cryptocurrency. We’ve literally turned our backs on it. Both the Bank of England and the FCA [Financial Conduct Authority] have been guilty of this.”

The Reform leader also criticised the “rapid pace” of deindustrialisation in Britain which is making us lose out to China.

“It’s all going: chemicals, refining, cement, heavy engineering, steel. We’re losing literally all of it.” Farage promised a Reform government would “get the North Sea operating” again and declared his party’s support for developing nuclear energy. He said: “We will scrap all net zero subsidies. We will bring down the cost of energy. We will get rid of the insane North Sea taxes put on by Jeremy Hunt and that have been added on the top by Rachel Reeves."

A Labour Party spokesperson, responding to Farage’s economy speech, said: “Nigel Farage has promised a return to damaging austerity, taking an axe to public services, with no cuts off the table. He complained the minimum wage is too high for young workers, while doubling down on his golden giveaway to foreign billionaires.

“Reform would slash the NHS, schools, and pensions - and cancel Labour’s investment in local roads, rail, and clean energy, putting millions of jobs at risk and wreaking havoc on family finances. Only this Labour government is fixing the long-term damage to our economy to renew Britain. We had the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year, international investors are putting billions into the UK, and interest rates are falling - meaning more money going into the pockets of working people.” 

Responding to Farage's speech Mel Stride, shadow chancellor, said: “After a speech that was supposed to be Reform’s attempt to restore their economic credibility, Nigel Farage has left the public with far more questions than answers.

“He did not take this opportunity to reverse Reform's profligate policy to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which shows he is not serious about tackling the spiralling welfare bill. The only welfare reform policies he could name were watered down versions of what the Conservatives have already announced.

“After this rambling, incoherent speech, it is clear Reform’s economy policy is in chaos. Farage might claim he’s not a ‘one man band’, but he can't even tell us who his Chancellor would be. This is not serious, it is just more announcements without a plan.”

© Harriet Symonds / Politics Home 2025

Image - Alamy via Politics Home

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