Reform UK has pledged to increase the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 within the first 100 days of forming a government after the next general election. Robert Jenrick, who is expected to serve as Chancellor, announced the plan as part of the party's effort to "get Britain standing again."
The personal allowance, the amount individuals can earn before paying income tax, has been frozen at £12,570 since 2021, with current plans extending this freeze until 2031. Reform UK estimates that raising the allowance to £15,000 would save approximately 40 million taxpayers around £500 annually and would remove 2.9 million people from the income tax system entirely. The party also stated it would ensure the state pension remains untaxed.
Reform UK argues that the current freeze, a practice they refer to as "fiscal drag" and accuse both Labour and Conservative administrations of employing as "stealth taxes," has effectively lowered the allowance by £3,500 compared to what it would be if adjusted for earnings growth. Jenrick stated that the personal allowance is currently £3,500 lower than it would have been without the freeze.
"As Chancellor, I will wake each morning with one purpose," Jenrick said in a speech at the party's conference in Birmingham. "To make Britain a better place to be a worker than it was the day before. In the first 100 days of a Reform government, in our first Budget, we will raise the tax-free personal allowance from £12,570 to £15,000."
Reform estimates the cost of this tax cut to be £17.7 billion in the first year, rising to £21 billion by the fifth year of a new parliament. The party intends to fund this through an identified £80 billion in government spending cuts, targeting welfare, Net Zero initiatives, and the foreign aid budget. Jenrick challenged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to match Reform's pledge, framing the choice as between "welfare waste, foreign aid and migrants — or the British worker."
The party's long-term aim remains to increase the tax-free allowance to £20,000, a target they had set in the 2024 general election. Jenrick confirmed this remains the party's ambition, to be pursued incrementally as funding allows.
The conference was reportedly overshadowed by a donations row, with Jenrick confirming that two senior party aides had been suspended following undercover filming that appeared to show them discussing the disguising of foreign donations. He stated that the aides had been permanently suspended pending an investigation, describing some of their comments as "disappointing and inappropriate."
A Labour Party spokesperson criticized Reform's proposal, suggesting it was a distraction from scandals and that the proposed spending cuts could jeopardize public services. The spokesperson reiterated Labour's commitment to making people better off and driving economic growth.