Reform would raise taxes on employers hiring foreign workers
British companies which employ foreign workers would have to pay higher taxes under a Reform Government, the party has announced.
Listen to this article
The party's economic spokesperson, Robert Jenrick, announced on Monday that the rise in employers' national insurance contributions implemented by Labour's Chancellor Rachel Reeves would be scrapped if Reform wins power.
But added that it would only revert to a lower rate for British workers, with companies continuing to pay a higher rate for foreign nationals.
This would be in addition to a new "migrant labour levy" in the form of an annual fee for each foreign national a company employs.
Read More: Starmer sets out plan to ‘fire up’ UK skills and cut reliance on foreign labour
Mr Jenrick said the tax would hit companies which rely on “cheap foreign labour”, incentivising them to replace overseas workers with Brits “currently languishing on benefits”.
He said: “The logic is very simple. Right now, say that you are running a care home or a distribution centre, and there’s a national living wage vacancy – it makes no difference to you whether you take on somebody who is a British citizen or you hire a foreign worker, but it makes a huge difference to our country.”
He added the levy would be “extremely minor” for highly skilled foreign nationals such as scientists, AI researchers and those working in financial services.
“But it will clamp down hard, very hard, on employers who are dependent on cheap foreign labour, employers who are choosing to employ migrant workers over Brits, who are undercutting the wages of British workers, and every penny of the levy will go towards cutting employment taxes for businesses of British workers,” Mr Jenrick said.
It comes after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage pledged to evict foreign nationals from social housing if his party came to power.
In a lengthy essay published on Substack, the Clacton MP said those to unable to find private rented accommodation within three months of being evicted would be liable to deportation, claiming Britain is a “two-tier state against white people”.
Asked about criticism from homelessness charities such as Shelter, which told The Guardian the proposal is “racist and morally wrong”, Mr Jenrick defended the plan.
He said: “It is completely wrong that people who are recent arrivals to our country are getting access to social housing. Social housing should be for British citizens.
“How can you possibly justify someone who is not a British citizen getting access to a council house, when there is a military veteran sleeping rough on the streets?
“Where there is a young mum with kids, who’s a Brit living in temporary accommodation?
“Where there’s a British victim of domestic abuse unable to escape their abuser, or living in a hostel, and not getting access to that housing?
“That is wrong, and only Reform has the courage to say so and speak up for British people and get this done.”