๐จ Reform UK has published a set of proposals that put British citizens first.
If Rachel Reeves adopted these measures tomorrow, she could save or raise ยฃ25bn this year alone, enough to plug the fiscal black hole without hammering working families with yet more tax rises.
โTough decisions must be madeโ has become the refrain of a political class that insists British people tighten their belts, again and again, while they continue writing blank cheques to the rest of the world.
Whether it was the Tories before, or Labour today, the script never changes: taxes go up, services get worse. What they never admit is that the only people ever asked to sacrifice are the British people themselves, while the state funnels ever larger sums to foreign nationals.
Britain has been turned into a global food bank, funded by taxpayers who can barely keep up with their own mortgages and energy bills. It is immoral, economically illiterate and politically indefensible.
And it must end.
Here is how:
1. End Universal Credit for foreign nationals โ saving ยฃ6bn
The Government hides most of the data on how much welfare is spent on foreign nationals. The exception is Universal Credit: foreign nationals receive around ยฃ8bn a year in UC alone.
Even allowing for a reasonable three-month transition period, this would save ยฃ6bn this year.
This includes those with EU settled status. And it must include them, because the system we inherited from Theresa May and Boris Johnson is ludicrously asymmetric. In 2015, there were around four times as many EU citizens claiming benefits in the UK as Brits claiming in the entire EU. Since then, the number of EU claimants here has risen sevenfold.
Prime Minister Nigel Farage will renegotiate these one-sided arrangements.
2. Raise the Immigration Health Surcharge โ raising ยฃ5bn
The population has grown by 10 per cent since 2010, almost entirely through immigration, while NHS spending has nearly doubled in real terms, from around ยฃ110bn to ยฃ205bn. And yet NHS bed capacity has fallen. That alone tells you the system is being overwhelmed.
The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is supposed to offset the cost of treating visa holders. But Tory ministers deliberately set it far below the real cost. The standard charge today is ยฃ1,035, a number so absurdly low that the Government admits it represents just 38 per cent of actual per-capita NHS expenditure. The Tories signed off an effective 62 per cent taxpayer-funded discount for foreign nationals to use the NHS.
Reform will raise the IHS to the Governmentโs own calculated cost of ยฃ2,718 a year and end the maze of exemptions that allow thousands of migrants to avoid paying entirely.
Based on Labourโs migration forecasts, this raises ยฃ5bn this year.
3. PIP reform โ saving ยฃ3.5bn
Reform will focus Personal Independence Payment on serious, life-impacting disabilities, not mild anxiety issues. Shifting these claimants on to back-to-work programmes will save ยฃ32-37bn over five years, and ยฃ3.5bn this year alone.
By 2029/30, annual savings reach ยฃ8.9bn.
4. Cap foreign aid at ยฃ1bn โ saving ยฃ10bn
Charity begins at home. It is indefensible that while British children go without dental appointments and pensioners cannot get GP slots, the UK funds a ยฃ52m โroad to nowhereโ in Guyana.
While Labour resisted a national inquiry into grooming gangs, Britain wired ยฃ19m to Pakistan for child exploitation prevention programmes.
The Tories sent Pakistan more than ยฃ100m for โfamily planningโ.
We even send millions to Turkey, whose teenagers now outperform Welsh 15-year-olds in basic education.
Reform will cap foreign aid at ยฃ1bn, enough to meet our core UN obligations, support Ukraine, provide emergency relief and promote British interests abroad. Everything else is an unaffordable luxury.
This alone saves ยฃ10bn this year.
5. Deport foreign national offenders โ saving ยฃ580m
Britainโs prisons are full. Labour and the Tories want to release offenders early. Reform says deport foreign nationals from our prisons.
Foreign nationals make up around 12 per cent of the prison population, 10,800 inmates, and cost ยฃ643m a year. Under Operation Restoring Justice, they would be prioritised for deportation or transfer to their home countries.
Net of costs, this saves ยฃ580m a year.
We are a generous country but we are not a limitless one. Reformโs proposals restore a principle that Westminster abandoned years ago: the British state exists to serve the British people.
If Rachel Reeves wants to avoid hammering working families with yet more taxes, the solution is sitting right in front of her.
The only question is whether she will finally put British citizens first.
Thatโs precisely what Prime Minister Farage will do.
Did you come on a boat or a lorry?โฆโI donโt speak Englishโ!
We donโt know who these men are!
This is the UK ๐ฌ๐ง โฆwho are they? @RTCORGUK
๐จ๐ฌ๐ง BANK OF ENGLAND: IMMIGRATION IS DRIVING THE HOUSING CRISIS
Britainโs own chief economist has said what the political class refuses to admit - mass immigration is directly fuelling the housing shortage and skyrocketing rents.
Even the Bank of England canโt hide the truth anymore.
๐ด Huw Pill: record rent hikes are caused by soaring demand, not interest rates
๐ด Net migration hit 745,000 in 2022, pushing housing supply to breaking point
๐ด Report shows 89% of Englandโs housing deficit now comes from migration
๐ด Planning failures and political cowardice mean Britain โdoesnโt build enough homesโ
๐ด Landlords are selling up as taxes and rates rise, squeezing renters even further
๐ด The Bank says responsibility lies with politicians - not monetary policy
Decades of uncontrolled immigration created this crisis.
Millions warned it would happen - and now even the Bank of England is spelling it out.
Rhiannon Whyte's brave sister spoke out as concerned families protested in Wolverhampton about the invasion of the UK.
Rhiannon was stabbed 23 times by a Sudanese invader.
The far left turned up to scream "refugees welcome" over the families speeches!