Reform UK vows to raise tax-free personal allowance to £15k
Reform UK pledges to raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 at its annual conference, aiming to remove 2.9 million people from income tax.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Reform UK promises a £15,000 tax-free personal allowance threshold
- Most taxpayers would save £500 annually under the proposed policy
- First-year cost estimated at £17.7bn, rising to £21bn by year five
- Policy funded through £80bn in planned public spending cuts
Reform UK has pledged to increase the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 if it wins the next general election, marking what insiders consider the flagship tax policy of the party's conference.
According to party estimates, raising the threshold by £2,430 would save most taxpayers £500 a year while taking 2.9 million people out of paying income tax altogether.
The party states that the policy would cost £17.7bn in its first year, scaling up to £21bn by the fifth year. Funding would be secured through £80bn of public spending reductions, including a £50bn reduction in welfare spending, saving £8bn by trimming civil servant numbers, and £7.1bn by capping the foreign aid budget.
"As chancellor, I will wake each morning with one purpose. To make Britain a better place to be a worker than it was the day before,"
Photo by Claudio Schwarz / Unsplash
The policy announcement comes as Reform UK faces intense scrutiny over a party funding controversy uncovered by an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have referred the party to the Metropolitan Police, and the Electoral Commission is currently reviewing all relevant regulatory information.
Despite the funding row overshadowing the event, Robert Jenrick criticized the current freeze on the tax-free allowance at £12,500 since 2021, noting that Labour's plan to freeze it until 2031 dragged 1.3 million people into paying tax last year. Jenrick reaffirmed that the party's ultimate long-term aim remains lifting the threshold to £20,000.
Source: BBC Politics
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