Reform UK would strip foreign nationals of most benefits under £50bn welfare plan

Reform says welfare cuts could save billions

The party’s economy spokesman, Robert Jenrick, said one in six Universal Credit claimants is not a British or Irish citizen and argued the money should instead be used to “make the lives of British people better”.

Reform claims the exclusion alone would save £21bn a year by its fifth year in office, part of a 50-page package it says would cut £50bn annually. The government expects to spend £322bn on welfare in Great Britain this year, BBC News reported, 10.6% of GDP, just over half of it on pensioners.

A separate “welfare to work” strand would require anyone claiming benefits for more than 12 months, and deemed fit to work, to do 20 hours a week of community work organised by their local council. Those who refuse would face sanctions, including cuts to their payments.

"The British taxpayer is acting as the welfare state for the world. That’s unfair, we all know it."

- Robert Jenrick, Reform UK economy spokesman

Speaking at an event in central London, Jenrick said claimants would “work to clean up high streets and parks, to beautify neglected places, to carry out minor repairs, to staff libraries and community centres”. He added: “If people who are capable of work refuse, then they’ll get nothing. That’s fair.”

Labour insists the “vast majority” of migrants already have no access to benefits, while the Conservatives dismissed the plans as “cobbled together”. Joe has previously reported on Labour's polling lead over Reform.