Reform Party 2024 Manifesto

As we head towards a new political landscape, our Barbour writing team will pick out the key policies, pledges and manifesto talking points from all the main political parties that are going to affect you. We'll keep you in the loop leading up to the General Election, and after it, so you won't miss a thing!

The Reform Party have proposed a number of policies regarding Net zero, planning, farming and fishing. 

 

Net zero 

The Reform Party aim to achieve a number of reforms within the first 100 days:

• scrapping net zero and related subsidies;
• scrapping an annual £10 billion of renewable energy subsidies;
• starting fast-track licences of North Sea gas and oil;
• granting shale gas licences on test sites for 2 years; and
• enabling major production when safety is proven, with local compensation schemes.

After this, they propose to fast track clean nuclear energy with new Small Modular Reactors, increase and incentivise ethical UK lithium mining for electrical batteries, combined cycle turbines, clean synthetic fuel. tidal power and explore coal mining. 

Planning

Within the first 100 days, reform want to ensure a fast-track planning and tax incentives of brownfield sites as well as a 'loose fit planning' policy for large residential developments with pre-approved guidelines and developer requirements. 

Farming 

Reform hope to achieve a number of reforms within the first 100 days:

• increasing the farming budget to £3 billion;
• scrapping climate-related farming subsidies;
• protect country sports;

Thereafter, they aim to stop supermarket price fixing by granting powers to the Competitions and Markets Authority to ensure fair pricing. They also hope to help farmers sell their produce directly to the public and change planning laws to support farm shops with zero business rates. 

They hope to encourage people to buy British with:

• a 70% target to ensure food security;
• taxpayer funded organisations sourcing 75% of their food from the UK;
• clear labelling for consumer choice;
• boosting smaller food processors and abattoirs through tax breaks and other incentives.

They also want to cut red tape from HMRC and the British Cattle Movement Service to reduce farming paperwork. 

Fishing

The Reform Party plans to enact the following reforms within 100 days:

• stop EU fishers taking UK quotas;
• expand the Royal Navy Overseas Patrol Squadron;
• ban foreign supertrawlers from UK waters.

They also set out to:

• rebuild UK fish processing so that all fish caught in British waters are landed and processed in the UK;
• revitalise the UK’s Fishing Fleet with tax incentives and vocational training;
• include fishing communities in policy making;
• guarantee Sustainable Stocks;
• implement a ‘dynamic management system’;
• work with national and regional partners such as the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission.

For more information, see the:

• Reform Party 2024 Election Manifesto.