What are Reform’s economic pledges – and how sensible are they?

The former Tory minister made his first speech as Reform’s Treasury spokesman

Robert Jenrick has unveiled his plan for the economy if Reform UK were to win the next general election in his first major speech as the party’s economic spokesperson.

After being given the role in Nigel Farage’s top team less than a month after his chaotic defection from the Conservative Party, Mr Jenrick sought to lay out his fiscal priorities.

Referring to his time in Cabinet as a Tory, Mr Jenrick said seeing how government “doesn’t work” would shape his approach.

Robert Jenrick making his first speech as Reform UK's Treasury spokesman, in London, on Wednesday (PA)

His policies included a pledge to reinstate the controversial two-child benefit cap and a commitment to reform the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Mr Jenrick also said Reform UK would not raise taxes unless they had generated the “fiscal headroom necessary”, adding: “Today, I give you my word that a Reform Government will never play fast and loose with your savings.”

Here are some of the key policies Mr Jenrick committed to, and what they actually mean for the UK economy:

Bank of England

Mr Jenrick said the Bank of England will remain independent under Reform, but said it “must perform better”.

One element, he said he would strip, was the requirement for the Bank to help the UK’s transition to net zero, which he dubbed “a distraction”.

In 2021, when Rishi Sunak was the chancellor, the Bank’s remit was changed to include a duty to support the government’s net zero carbon ambition.

In response, the bank’s Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme (CBPS) received a green overhaul.

In a speech earlier this year, the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said that net zero is slowing global economic growth.

In 2021, however, he suggested that the costs of failing to act on the climate crisis may be larger, saying that“ignoring [the effects of climate change] is not an answer”, and warned that inaction would lead to “greater” costs of adjustment.

The Bank of England’s rate-setting committee voted to hold rates at 3.75% earlier in February; Mr Jenrick has said the bank ‘must perform better’ (PA)

Office for Budget Responsibility

Mr Jenrick accused the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) of overestimating the benefits of low-skilled migration, but pledged not to abolish it altogether.

He said: “The OBR have consistently overestimated the short-term benefits of migration and downplayed its long-term costs. They have underestimated the dynamic effect of cutting taxes.”

There have been debates among experts as to whether the economic benefit of immigration is being overstated by the OBR, which was established in 2010 to provide independent analysis of the government’s fiscal policies.

“We will break up this cosy consensus and ensure it has diversity of opinion,” Mr Jenrick said.

“And we’ll run competitions for super-forecasters to join the body and pay competitive salaries to those who most accurately model the impact of Treasury decisions.”

Mr Jenrick with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (PA)

‘Britannia card’

One policy Mr Jenrick recommitted the party to was it’s so-called “Britannia Card” visa.

Reform has said the card would allow wealthy foreign nationals a residence permit in exchange for a one-time fee of £250,000. In return, they would not be taxed on wealth, income or capital gains earned abroad.

The party believes that the scheme would produce around £2.5bn a year which it plans to hand out as a dividend of £1,000 to those on the lowest incomes.

“We will also make foreign investors welcome in Britain again with a Britannia investor visa ready to undo the economic self harm done in recent years,” Mr Jenrick said.

Dan Neidle of Tax Policy Associates has previously said the policy would cost the economy £34bn over five years, saying: “The card would provide a very large and expensive tax windfall to a small number of very wealthy people who are already here. Office for Budget Responsibility data shows that this would amount to £34bn of lost Government revenue over five years.”

Nigel Farage unveiled his top team this week, which included top appointments for Tory defectors Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman (Getty)

Universal credit and capping foreign aid

Mr Jenrick said Reform UK would save £25bn in annual savings through measures such as ending universal credit for foreign nationals, raising the Immigration Health Surcharge, and capping foreign aid at £1bn.

In 2024, UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend was £14.08bn, a decrease of £1.26bn from 2023.

According to figures seen byThe Telegraph, the UK also spent approximately £10.1bn on universal credit payments for households with at least one non-UK or Irish citizen.

This means Reform UK would save £23.18bn if it were able to carry out these reforms, and would need to raise the Immigration Health Surcharge to meet their pledge of saving £25bn.

Labour is already implementing plans to cut the UK overseas aid budget from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent which MPs have dubbed a “tragic error” that will put Britain’s national security at risk.

Civil service

Mr Jenrick claimed the party’s plan to cut back the civil service will generate an extra £4bn in “immediate savings” and a further £1bn in averted pension liabilities.

Reform MP Danny Kruger previously announced plans to cut 68,500 civil service jobs, and said the proposal aims to reduce the salary bill by 17 per cent and save taxpayers £5.2bn annually.

However, this policy will likely not save money for several years due to the cost of redundancies.

Mr Kruger said he expected the cost of civil service redundancies to pay for itself within two years under Reform UK plans – based on it costing around £60,000 to let someone go.

Boris Johnson’s plan to cut 91,000 jobs was later dropped by Liz Truss due to reports that it would cost up to £7bn in redundancy costs.

Mr Jenrick announced plans to cut back the civil service, which he suggested would generate an extra £4bn in savings (PA)

Two child benefit cap

Reform UK would reinstate the two-child benefit cap if it wins the next general election, Mr Jenrick confirmed, in a U-turn on the party’s previous stance.

Sir Keir Starmer said Reform’s pledge to bring back the benefit cap showed a “total disregard for the lives of young people”.

The government estimates that the scrapping of the cap will pull 450,000 children out of poverty.

Labour Party chair Anna Turley also criticised the policy shift, saying: “Robert Jenrick has united the right behind a cruel child poverty pact that would see nearly half a million kids pushed into poverty.”

Tax cuts

In what may have been an unexpected announcement for some, Mr Jenrick said Reform UK will not commit to cutting taxes if elected.

The party’s new ‘shadow chancellor’ blamed Rachel Reeves for making “previous assumptions” about the economy “no longer realistic”.

“We will never make promises we can't keep to the British people,” he said.

“So we'll only cut taxes when we have generated the fiscal headroom necessary to make those tax cuts sustainable.”