Ahead of the general election on 4 July, political parties in the UK have begun to roll out their manifestos so Logistics Manager is breaking down each party’s policies on a range of factors that could impact supply chains, including the economy, security, skills, employment, transport, infrastructure and trade.
This, the fifth and final in the series on the Logistics Manager website this week, looks into Reform UK’s manifesto for the 2024 general election.
In the foreword to Reform UK’s manifesto, its leader Nigel Farage said: “Britain has so much potential. Our country is full of talent and energy. Brexit is the opportunity of a lifetime.”
He continued: “The unprecedented population explosion has pushed Britain to breaking point. There’s a housing crisis, a benefits crisis, record crime, record NHS waiting lists, wages are stagnating [and] net zero has sent energy costs soaring. It is making us poorer and colder, damaging British industry and forcing drivers off the road.”
Key policies relating to supply chain and logistics include:
Economy, security and trade
- Scrapping ‘thousands of laws that hold back British business’
- Legislating to scrap EU regulations with immediate effect
- Abandoning the Windsor Framework
- Preparing for renegotiations on the EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement
- Regenerating Britain’s defence manufacturing and technology by introducing incentives and tax breaks to ‘boost the UK defence industry’ and improving equipment self-sufficiency while manufacturing ‘world-class products for export’
- Reforming defence procurement by launching a Joint Acquisition Corp and ensuring that the Ministry of Defence ‘must listen to soldiers on the front line and ensure they get the equipment they need’
- Increasing the farming budget to £3 billion
- Scrapping climate-related farming subsidies
- Granting powers to the Competitions and Markets Authority to ‘ensure fair pricing’ for produce
- Ensuring that taxpayer-funded organisations source 75% of their food from the UK
- Ensuring that ‘every foreign fishing vessel must pay for a licence to gain access to the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ)’
- Banning non-UK supertrawlers from UK waters
- Introducing tax incentives and vocational training to increase UK fishing fleets
Transport and infrastructure
- Reforming the planning system, fast-tracking infrastructure projects to ‘boost businesses, especially in coastal regeneration areas, Wales, the North, and the Midlands’
- Scrapping the HS2 project
- Legislating to ban ULEZ clean air zones and low traffic neighbourhoods
- Removing proposed bans on petrol and diesel cars as well as legal requirements for manufacturers to sell electric vehicles
- Scrapping 20mph zones on UK roads
- Accelerating transport infrastructure, focusing on coastal regions, Wales, the North and the Midlands
- Introducing tighter regulation and a new ownership model for critical national infrastructure that would bring 50% of each utility into public ownership, with the other 50% owned by UK pension funds
- Overhauling and merging the National Infrastructure Commission and the Infrastructure Bank
Skills and employment
- Introducing reforms to benefit support and training in order to help people back into work, with a particular focus in 16-34 year-olds
- Introducing tax relief for businesses that undertake apprenticeships
- Ensuring ‘all jobseekers and those fit to work must find employment within four months or accept a job after two offers, otherwise benefits are withdrawn
- Offering free education both during and after military service ‘to ensure a successful return to civilian life’
Energy
- Scrapping net zero plans to ‘cut bills and restore growth’
- Scrapping £10bn per year of renewable energy subsidies
- Starting fast-track licences of North Sea gas and oil
- Granting shale gas licences on test sites for two years
- Fast-tracking clean nuclear energy with new Small Modular Reactors, built in Britain
- Increasing and incentivising ‘ethical UK lithium mining’ for electric batteries, combined cycle gas turbines, clean synthetic fuel, tidal power and exploring clean coal mining
Read the other stories in this series on the Logistics Manager website:
- What the Conservative Party manifesto could mean for UK supply chains
- What the Labour Party manifesto could mean for UK supply chains
- What the Liberal Democrat manifesto could mean for UK supply chains
- What the Green Party manifesto could mean for UK supply chains
