Robert Jenrick has pledged to resign from his role if he fails to deliver Reform’s promised policies within the first 100 days of a Reform government, seeking to distinguish the party from what he described as Westminster’s culture of political promises without consequences.
Delivering his keynote speech at Reform’s annual conference in Birmingham, the party’s Treasury spokesman used his pledge to underline his commitment to the party’s programme, including plans to raise the income tax-free personal allowance to £15,000.
“Will Kemi resign if the Tories let you down again? Will Andy Burnham? Not a chance. Not a chance in Westminster,” Mr Jenrick told delegates.
“You fail, you get a peerage – Lord Mandelson. In the real world, if you fail, you’re gone. So hear me. If I don’t deliver this exactly when I’ve said that I will, I will resign. No ifs, no buts. I’ll be gone.”
Mr Jenrick, who left the Conservative party after serving as a minister under Rishi Sunak, referred to his resignation over the government’s Rwanda legislation as evidence that he was prepared to accept personal consequences for political decisions.
“When Rishi Sunak asked me to defend the Rwanda Bill, to promise to you, the British people that it would work, when I knew in my heart that it wouldn’t, to defend the Tory immigration lies, I resigned,” he said.
“I will not be just another politician who makes promises and breaks them. It’s about time politics works the way the rest of the country does.
“Politicians who deliver, politicians whose necks are on the line and say what they mean and do it for once. That’s the Reform difference.”
Mr Jenrick also attacked Prime Minister Andy Burnham, saying he was “not optimistic” about what the Labour leader would achieve during his first 100 days in Downing Street.
“What will Andy Burnham offer when his 100 days are up in October? Will he offer working people a break? Will he come close to offering the change that we need? Well, I’m not optimistic,” he said.
“Not because he doesn’t see the problem, he’s not a fool. Burnham knows that work doesn’t pay right now.
“In fact, he said in June that his own constituents’ top priority was to raise the tax-free personal allowance.
“He even claimed that doing this was ‘lodged in his mind’. But within 48 hours of entering No10, he ruled it out. Why?
“Because to cut taxes on work, you have to make choices. You’d have to cut benefits for migrants, you’d have to cut benefits for those choosing not to work, you’d have to cut the foreign aid budget. You’d have to scrap the net zero subsidies. He won’t, but we will.”
At the centre of Mr Jenrick’s speech was Reform’s proposal to raise the tax-free personal allowance from £12,570 to £15,000 during the party’s first 100 days in government.
“We won’t need a decade to do it, so here is my pledge to you and to the country. In the first 100 days of a Reform Government, in our first Reform Budget, we will raise the tax-free personal allowance from £12,570 – not just with inflation, not just £13,000, not just £14,000, but £15,000. The first £15,000 you earn is yours. Every penny is yours, tax free,” Mr Jenrick said.
“£500 a year back for the average basic rate taxpayer. £://londonlovesbusiness.com/reeves-must-scrap-pension-tax-grab-now/” data-wpil-monitor-id=”52747″>tax on the state pension whatsoever.
“A tax cut for 40 million people. The biggest rise in the personal allowance in its history, and delivered not in 10 years, but in my very first Budget.”
Mr Jenrick sought to temper the scale of Reform’s promises by acknowledging that the party could not reverse decades of economic and political problems immediately.
“I will never tire of putting British people first. Now, I won’t stand here before you and promise you a land of milk and honey in 100 days,” he said.
“You’ve had 40 years of politicians promising everything and delivering nothing, and that 40 years of decline will not be undone in a single Budget.”
He nevertheless set out a broader programme of tax cuts and public-service investment that he said would be delivered over a full parliamentary term.
“But this we will do and we will do it in our first 100 days. Then, over a full parliament, we’ll build a new economy that works for you,” he said.
“Lower taxes, more nurses and doctors, more apprentices, energy that we can afford, more homes for our children and our grandchildren, and a border finally secured – that we will do in 100 days.
“And then when we can, and only when it is paid for in full, I will go further, step by step, until I have reached Reform’s ambition of a £20,000 tax-free allowance. That is my ambition. And here is the difference between Reform and those politicians who know that they will fail you again.”
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