Reform launches manifesto riddled with conspiratorial, contradictory policies

The Reform Party promised to present a “serious plan” at the launch of its manifesto today.

Instead Reform’s leader Nigel Farage presented “Our contract with You”, an embarrassing document filled with conspiratorial, contradictory policies that fundamentally undermine the party’s credibility.

Farage, who is standing in the constituency of Clacton, said: “We ain’t gonna win this election.” He instead hopes to run for prime minister in the 2029 election, and use the poll next month to establish a “bridgehead” in parliament. The party’s platform — as seen in today’s announcement — does not withstand the most basic scrutiny.

Immigration

Reform says it will freeze “non-essential immigration” in order to “protect our culture, identity and values”. Farage, in his manifesto introduction, added: “Multiculturalism has imported separate communities that reject our way of life.” Its policy on illegal immigration is unclear. On the one hand, the party says “illegal migrants who come to the UK will be detained and deported”. Elsewhere, it “all asylum seekers that arrive illegally from safe countries will be processed rapidly, offshore if necessary”, suggesting some claims might be granted. The manifesto called for refugees crossing the Channel in small boats to be picked up and taken “back to France”, toning down the suggestion of Ben Habib, Reform’s deputy leader, of letting them drown in the channel.

Justice

Reform wants to “sack chief constables that allow two-tier policing”, claiming that the justice system is obsessed with woke policies such as diversity, equality and inclusion (a stance eerily similar to that of Tommy Robinson and Lawrence Fox at a recent far-right demonstration in London).

However, Reform twice mentions its proposal to “withdraw citizenship from immigrants” and deport them if they commit crimes. They are seemingly unaware that this creates a much more pernicious two-tier policing system whereby citizenship for Britons of foreign descent depends upon good behaviour.

Climate

As recently as 2022, Reform was promising “Net Smart” climate policies such as the development of wind, solar, biowaste, and tidal power. Today, Reform reneged on its environmental pledges, claiming “renewables are not cheaper”, calling for the fast-tracking of oil and gas licences in the North Sea. It also wants to prevent farmland from being used for solar panels and scrap ULEZ, low traffic neighbourhoods, 20 mph zones, and bans on petrol or diesel cars.

These U-turns are hardly surprising. According to DeSmog, the climate misinformation organisation, 92% of Reform’s money comes from oil and gas interests and climate deniers. In the last five years, Reform has accepted more than £2.3 million from these sources, including £200,000 from a director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the climate denial pressure group.

Tax cuts

The Reform Party wants to increase spending by £50 billion a year while implementing tax cuts that would cost £90 billion a year. It pledges to do this, in part, by “slashing wasteful government spending” on things like foreign aid, quangos, and commissions. 

“The package as a whole is problematic,” writes Carl Emmerson, deputy director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He explains that Reform’s plans are not properly budgeted. “Spending reductions would save less than stated, and the tax cuts would cost more than stated, by a margin of tens of billions of pounds per year.”

The IFS singles out Reform’s proposal to increase NHS spending by £17 billion to clear waiting lists within two years. “Eliminating the waiting list entirely is a feat that has not been achieved in the history of the NHS and seems near impossible within two years,” says Emmerson.

He adds: “Even with the extremely optimistic assumptions about how much economic growth would increase, the sums in this manifesto do not add up.”

Health

Richard Tice, who along with deputy leader David Bull has faced criticism from conspiracy theorists for supporting Covid vaccine mandates for healthcare workers, has thrown his anti-lockdown followers a bone. “Never again can our entire country be locked down on shoddy evidence and lies,” a line in the manifesto reads. 

Education

Tice has elsewhere complained about the politicisation of the school curriculum with “gender ID nonsense”. The party now proposes a “patriotic curriculum” whereby “any teaching about a period or example of British or European imperialism or slavery must be paired with the teaching of a non-European occurrence of the same to ensure balance”.

Free speech

Reform promises a “bill of rights” that enshrines free speech, writing “freedoms must be codified and guaranteed”. However, the party also protests social media companies pushing “baseless transgender ideology and divisive Critical Race theory”. 

Cash

Among the many inconsistencies in Reform’s offering is a pledge to “stop Britain becoming a cashless society”. This references a conspiracy theory popular among the far-right that shadowy elites want to ban the use of cash in order to track people’s digital payments. However, this is at odds with the party’s stance on cash-only Turkish barber shops. Richard Tice has spoken about Turkish barbers opening “all over the country” and are secretly “fronts for money laundering drug profits”. Cash, it seems, is only good when not used by foreigners.

World Economic Forum & World Health Organisation

Throwing further bait to conspiracy theorists, Reform has pledged to “reject the influence of the World Economic Forum”, a common bugbear of fantasists who believe it is trying to take over the planet. The party also threatens to withdraw from the World Health Organisation unless there is “fundamental reform” to its structure and funding — anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists are likely to hear that and think about Bill Gates, a majority funder of the WHO, and accused of baroque and baseless claims about exploiting the Covid pandemic to experiment on people.