Nigel Farage’s 65-point plan to save the economy in full – number 21 is pure gold dust

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has set out a 65-point plan to fix the UK’s broken economy, as experts predict inflation, energy prices and mortgage payments could all rise in 2027. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey are set to deliver their first Budget this week, and Labour has said it wants to provide help with the cost of living.

But Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and his Treasury spokesman, Robert Jenrick, got in early and set out their own economic plan. Mr Farage said: “The British public is frankly fed up with successive governments dodging the big decisions. It’s clear that urgent action is required. Reform’s proposals will create a vibrant, growing private sector that delivers well-paid jobs for British citizens. Britain is broken. Britain needs Reform.”

The list in full

• 1 – Approve Rosebank immediately
• 2 – Restart licensing for new oil and gas fields
• 3 – Legalise onshore exploration in new licences
• 4 – Abolish the Energy Profits Levy immediately
• 5 – Return the statutory objective of the North Sea Transition Authority to maximum economic extraction, removing the net zero obligation, and revert its name to Oil and Gas Authority
• 6 – Abolish the Emissions Trading Scheme
• 7 – Cease the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, including the fertiliser tax
• 8 – Repudiate the AR7 contracts for difference and scrap AR8
• 9 – Implement the recommendations of the Fingleton Review for nuclear energy in full immediately
• 10 – Legislate for the automatic approval of French and South Korean nuclear designs as safe
• 11 – Reduce affordable housing requirements to 0% for brownfield developments outside of major cities and 5% for major cities
• 12 – Implement a broad Permitted Development Right for brownfield residential development
• 13 – Repeal biodiversity net gain rules
• 14 – Exit the Aarhus Convention
• 15 – Repeal and reform the Habitats Regulations, including nutrient neutrality
• 16 – End the ban on household boilers
• 17 – Legalise the use of air conditioning to meet overheating requirements and prohibit cooling hierarchy rules
• 18 – Remove mandatory Energy Performance Certificate improvements for residential and commercial buildings
• 19 – Revoke the Future Homes Standard
• 20 – Repeal the Renters’ Rights Act
• 21 – Legislate planning and environmental approval for new runway projects, including Heathrow and Gatwick, including full overrides of other legislation, unlike the broken HS2 Act
• 22 – Introduce competitive auctions for airport take-off and landing slots, starting with new and surrendered slots at Heathrow and Gatwick
• 23 – End the use of target-consistent carbon pricing in project evaluation
• 24 – Prohibit consideration of carbon emissions in individual planning applications
• 25 – Make all water reservoirs Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, bringing them into the national fast-track for major projects
• 26 – Make Development Consent Orders truly a one-stop shop, by removing the requirement that the original authority agree
• 27 – Restrict judicial review for planning decisions by the Secretary of State
• 28 – Scrap net zero rules that apply during construction (for example, National Highways’ requirement that the Lower Thames Crossing be constructed without using diesel)
• 29 – Scrap social value test for procurement

• 30 – Remove limits on the number of launches from SaxaVord Spaceport
• 31 – Open the already-built sections of East-West Rail by resolving the industrial disputes
• 32 – Joining the AI revolution
• 33 – Rapidly review regulatory barriers in the way of AI adoption across the economy
• 34 – Explicitly permit on-location dispatchable generation, including gas engines or turbines, for industrial developments, including data centres
• 35 – Return the Employer National Insurance rate to 13.8% for British workers, down from Rachel Reeves’s 15%
• 36 – Introducing a migrant worker levy to reduce the incentive to hire low-skilled foreign workers, instead of investing in British workers or automation
• 37 – Repeal Angela Rayner’s ruinous Employment Rights Act, including mandatory trade union access
• 38 – Clarify that “reasonable steps” to protect workplace rights do not require mandatory training courses
• 39 – Reform the CSCS system for tradesmen, allowing experienced tradesmen to use their experience in lieu of a qualification on government contracts and opening the system up to competition
• 40 – Review capital requirements on banks to encourage lending to the real economy
• 41 – Send a remit letter to Britain’s financial regulators, including the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority, ruling out net zero considerations
• 42 – Repeal climate-related financial disclosures rules
• 43 – Remove the requirement that airports have ‘surface access strategies’ to reduce car traffic, thereby reducing the pressure on parking and drop-off fees
• 44 – Abolish the electric and hybrid vehicle mandates that ban new pure-internal combustion cars by 2030 and all non-zero-emission vehicles, including vans, by 2035
• 45 – Allow all HGV trips inside the United Kingdom to be subject to domestic GB hours
• 46 – Prohibit Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods
• 47 – Provide UK Treasury or British Sovereign Wealth Fund support to the Welsh Government to get the M4 Relief Road built
• 48 – Move the requirement for a new car’s first MOT from three years to four in Great Britain, in line with Northern Ireland and European norms
• 49 – Abolish the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation
• 50 – Replace the GDPR with a New Zealand-style Privacy Act that retains adequacy
• 51 – Fully re-legalise the use of Imperial units
• 52 – Review all unchanged EU law and repeal or modify all that which does not match the UK’s circumstances
• 53 – Automatically repeal all remaining unchanged EU law in five years, unless a specific decision is taken to retain it under an affirmative procedure
• 54 – Make quarterly reporting voluntary under Making Tax Digital
• 55 – Reduce the legal obligations on non-executive directors for small and medium enterprises
• 56 – Double the number of days land can be used for events, markets and other activities without planning permission from 28 to 56 days annually
• 57 – Grant pavement dining licences automatically and make them permanent unless revoked, rather than automatically expiring after two years
• 58 – Generally permit shops to stay open until 10pm, except on Sundays
• 59 – Repeal board diversity and inclusion rules
• 60 – Remove the mandate for Sustainable Aviation Fuel
• 61 – Abolish Extended Producer Responsibility (the so-called packaging tax)
• 62 – Scrap the preference for the BBC and Channel 4 on YouTube and other streaming sites
• 63 – Remove the Public Sector Equality Duty
• 64 – Adopt a five-year regulatory sunset on all existing quangos, requiring them to justify their existence or be automatically abolished
• 65 – Require all new regulations to have a sunset clause within five years, with a post-implementation review completed before the sunset, forcing ministers to actively re-commit to new rules