02-05-2025
What are Reform UK's key policies, from immigration to taxes?
Reform UK has secured a dramatic by-election victory by six votes over Labour in Runcorn and Helsby as a former Tory minister became the party's first elected mayor.
In one of the closest parliamentary votes ever, new MP Sarah Pochin took the seat that Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 less than a year ago.
The knife-edge result came after weeks in which Reform has been surging in popularity in nationwide polls and, in the first major electoral test since the 2024 general election, the party showed it is a force to be reckoned with.
As more local election results trickled in on Friday, polling expert Sir john Curtice said that Reform UK were now 'in business' on what looked to be a significant set of results for the party.
"The big question we were looking to these elections to answer was, the message of the opinion polls is that Reform are now posing a big threat to both Conservative and Labour, neck and neck with them according to the polls.
'Is that really true? And I think we now already know that the answer to that question is 'yes'.
'Ukip never managed to win a parliamentary by-election afresh in the way that Reform have managed to do in Runcorn.'
Sir John said Reform had put in 'some quite remarkable performances' as the more evenly spread vote was not a disadvantage to them at local level.
He added: 'Reform are in business. They are a major challenge.'
Labour has suffered from a significant backlash in recent months with the winter fuel allowance, disability benefits and small boat crossings being raised by voters as major issues ahead of the local elections.
A sluggish economy also remains a factor. According to Ipsos Mori, 73% of Britons describe the current state of the economy as "poor". Among those who view the economy negatively, the decisions of Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are seen as the biggest contributing factor by 56% of people.
The Conservatives have struggled to regain ground since their crushing defeat last year, with many still distrustful of them following their 14 years in power.
Reform has has made immigration front and centre of its platform and has been particularly critical of the small boats crossing the Channel.
Immigration overtook health as the second most important issue to voters last summer. According to YouGov, 44% of voters say immigration is the most important issue facing the country, with the economy in first at 54%.
Prior to the election, Luke Tryl, executive director at More in Common, said that among people who considered voting for Reform, there is a feeling of "we may as well roll the dice on getting something different".
He added: "This is a disillusionment election, it's also a bit of a rolling the dice election and trying to send a signal to the powers that be election as well."
Reform has 22 policy areas in its 'Our Contract with You' document on its website covering all areas of public life, but it narrows down to five key pledges to attract voters.
These are cutting immigration, ending the boat crossings, ending NHS waiting lists, cutting taxes on working people and affordable energy bills.
To cut immigration, they have pledged:
To freeze non-essential immigration
To deport and withdraw citizenship from all foreign nationals who have committed serious crimes
Stop student visas allowing dependents to come with them
Require five years of residency and employment to claim benefits
Increase national insurance on foreign nationals working in non-critical industries
To process all asylum seekers from a "safe country" rapidly and offshore "if necessary" without providing them with legal aid
On cutting taxes for working people, they have pledged to increase the personal allowance from £12,570 to £20,000. They have also pledged to move the threshold for the higher rate from £50,271 to £70,000.
Reform says this, along with a few other tax pledges like slashing stamp duty, would cost £70bn.
To tackle NHS waiting lists, they say they will make all NHS staff and social care staff exempt from the basic tax rate for three years to attract more workers.
They also say they will use more private healthcare to support the NHS and give tax relief to people who use private health insurance. Reform says this will cost £17bn.
The party has said most of the cost of their pledges will be paid for by the new taxes on foreign workers and massive cuts to government spending.
Economists dismissed some of Reform's election claims last year. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies said at the time: "The claim that they could eliminate NHS waiting lists at a cost of £17 billion a year is demonstrably wrong, while the vast tax cuts would cost even more than stated, by a margin of tens of billions of pounds per year."
