Reform UK has announced a package of policies to support British small businesses, including scrapping EU data regulation laws, reversing Labour's national insurance tax hike, and removing income tax on overtime.
The plans, unveiled by party leader Nigel Farage, are designed to extend a lifeline to family firms if he becomes Prime Minister. Data protection laws would be replaced by what the party calls a light-touch privacy law modelled on New Zealand's.
Tax cuts for workers and businesses
Income tax on overtime is set to be binned, meaning employees earning under £75,000 would be exempt from paying income tax on any overtime worked above a 40-hour week. Other plans include increasing the VAT threshold, which the party says would boost the bottom lines of around 320,000 small businesses.
Additionally, parents and grandparents would benefit from tax relief on investments worth up to £250,000 in a small business owned by a child or grandchild.
Party leaders back the plan
Mr Farage said: "Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy, yet they have been suffocated by years of punishing taxes, suffocating EU red tape and a big-state obsession that rewards dependency over hard work."
He added: "While the establishment parties drive small firms to the brink of closure, Reform UK is offering a bold, common-sense rescue plan. By slashing burdens like the VAT threshold, reversing the jobs tax on British workers and rewarding hard-work by scrapping tax on overtime, we are unchaining British enterprise and backing the workers who actually create wealth."
Reform's pledge for small firms
Reform Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick, spearheading the announcement, said: "Under a Reform government, the UK will be the best place in the world to start and grow a small business."
He continued: "We will back employers by reversing Rachel Reeves's job tax on British workers and raising the VAT threshold to £150,000 - and we will reward hardworking employees by scrapping income tax on overtime."
Celebrating the anniversary of the UK's vote to leave the EU, Mr Jenrick added: "Ten years after the Brexit referendum, we should not still be following ridiculous EU privacy laws that hurt British businesses."
Labour increased National Insurance contributions for employers by 1.2% in a 2024 Budget, a move employers have blamed for holding back recruitment.
