Travelling around the country ahead of the recent local elections, the overwhelming reaction I encountered on the doorstep was one of growing frustration. Frustration at failing public services. Frustration at soaring council tax bills with little to no improvement in any of the local infrastructure.
Most of all, however, I was made aware of the deep frustration felt by hard-working people who put in the extra hours at work yet continue to see no real reward at the end of the month. They look around and see that hard work in this country simply doesn’t pay. That benefits often match or beat what they earn and that ordinary families are being dragged into higher tax bands with nothing to show for it.
Meanwhile, they see a Labour government - stuffed with human-rights lawyers who are obsessed with rejoining the EU and Net Zero lunacy - that has absolutely no understanding of their day-to-day struggles. More significantly perhaps, they also feel that the party that was once on the side of workers is now more on the side of welfare.
Seriously, this is the number one dividing issue in the country right now. I expect that goes some way to explaining Reform UK’s stunning success in those elections, particularly in those old Labour heartlands in the North East, the North West, in Yorkshire and the West Midlands. For me, the message those voters sent was loud and clear: Labour is simply no longer the party of the patriotic working class. That mantle now belongs to Reform UK. Because people recognise that Reform UK is now the party of those who work hard but for whom the system no longer works.
That is why last week we unveiled our bold new policy that will finally make work pay, drive up productivity and restore the appeal of a strong work culture. I am happy to announce that under a Reform UK government, there will be no tax payable on overtime. That’s right. Our Hard Work Bonus will institute a new UK-wide, uncapped personal allowance for overtime above a 40-hour working week for those earning less than £75,000, which works out at around 90 per cent of the UK workforce.
We will reform related legacy EU law, such as the Working Time Regulations, to ensure that people can safely take advantage of this tax break. We will also introduce anti-avoidance rules to stop employers classifying regular working hours as overtime. Don’t worry, there’ll be no getting around this.
Britain has spent 18 years since the financial crash failing to close its productivity gap. Successive Conservative and Labour governments’ solution to that has simply been to recruit cheap foreign labour through mass immigration - a reckless, stop-gap solution that only stifles long-term growth.
If we are going to turn around Britain’s economy, it must be a collective endeavour. That means incentivising our workforce and making sure their hard graft is properly rewarded. And believe me when I say the effects of the Hard Work Bonus on people’s take-home pay will be considerable. Take a worker at the Heinz factory in Wigan, for example, who is on a 40-hour contracted week working an extra hour and a half a day on top. Under Reform UK’s Hard Work Bonus, they would keep £3 extra for every hour of overtime worked.
This would leave workers at the Heinz factory over £1,000 better off across the year. Similarly, a newly qualified nurse up the road at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary who has a 40-hour contracted week and works an extra six hours of overtime each week would keep £5 extra for every hour of overtime worked. This would leave nurses there over £1,300 better off across the year.
And yes, before you ask, all of this has already been meticulously costed. We estimate that the Hard Work Bonus will cost £5 billion per year based on average annual gross overtime. We’ve already committed to over £40 billion of cuts and savings a year, including ending welfare entitlement for foreign nationals, capping foreign aid at £1 billion, removing PIP for non-serious anxiety conditions, scrapping Net Zero schemes, and cutting back-office roles in the Civil Service and axing quangos - so this scheme is something we can comfortably afford. And it will be worth every penny.
At the moment, people in this country who work hard receive nothing from the state but eye-watering bills and sky-high taxes. Under a Reform UK government, that will all change. Our message is clear: If you work hard, you will be rewarded.
Because Reform UK is the true party of the workers now.
Most of all, however, I was made aware of the deep frustration felt by hard-working people who put in the extra hours at work yet continue to see no real reward at the end of the month. They look around and see that hard work in this country simply doesn’t pay. That benefits often match or beat what they earn and that ordinary families are being dragged into higher tax bands with nothing to show for it.
Meanwhile, they see a Labour government - stuffed with human-rights lawyers who are obsessed with rejoining the EU and Net Zero lunacy - that has absolutely no understanding of their day-to-day struggles. More significantly perhaps, they also feel that the party that was once on the side of workers is now more on the side of welfare.
Seriously, this is the number one dividing issue in the country right now. I expect that goes some way to explaining Reform UK’s stunning success in those elections, particularly in those old Labour heartlands in the North East, the North West, in Yorkshire and the West Midlands. For me, the message those voters sent was loud and clear: Labour is simply no longer the party of the patriotic working class. That mantle now belongs to Reform UK. Because people recognise that Reform UK is now the party of those who work hard but for whom the system no longer works.
That is why last week we unveiled our bold new policy that will finally make work pay, drive up productivity and restore the appeal of a strong work culture. I am happy to announce that under a Reform UK government, there will be no tax payable on overtime. That’s right. Our Hard Work Bonus will institute a new UK-wide, uncapped personal allowance for overtime above a 40-hour working week for those earning less than £75,000, which works out at around 90 per cent of the UK workforce.
We will reform related legacy EU law, such as the Working Time Regulations, to ensure that people can safely take advantage of this tax break. We will also introduce anti-avoidance rules to stop employers classifying regular working hours as overtime. Don’t worry, there’ll be no getting around this.
Britain has spent 18 years since the financial crash failing to close its productivity gap. Successive Conservative and Labour governments’ solution to that has simply been to recruit cheap foreign labour through mass immigration - a reckless, stop-gap solution that only stifles long-term growth.
If we are going to turn around Britain’s economy, it must be a collective endeavour. That means incentivising our workforce and making sure their hard graft is properly rewarded. And believe me when I say the effects of the Hard Work Bonus on people’s take-home pay will be considerable. Take a worker at the Heinz factory in Wigan, for example, who is on a 40-hour contracted week working an extra hour and a half a day on top. Under Reform UK’s Hard Work Bonus, they would keep £3 extra for every hour of overtime worked.
This would leave workers at the Heinz factory over £1,000 better off across the year. Similarly, a newly qualified nurse up the road at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary who has a 40-hour contracted week and works an extra six hours of overtime each week would keep £5 extra for every hour of overtime worked. This would leave nurses there over £1,300 better off across the year.
And yes, before you ask, all of this has already been meticulously costed. We estimate that the Hard Work Bonus will cost £5 billion per year based on average annual gross overtime. We’ve already committed to over £40 billion of cuts and savings a year, including ending welfare entitlement for foreign nationals, capping foreign aid at £1 billion, removing PIP for non-serious anxiety conditions, scrapping Net Zero schemes, and cutting back-office roles in the Civil Service and axing quangos - so this scheme is something we can comfortably afford. And it will be worth every penny.
At the moment, people in this country who work hard receive nothing from the state but eye-watering bills and sky-high taxes. Under a Reform UK government, that will all change. Our message is clear: If you work hard, you will be rewarded.
Because Reform UK is the true party of the workers now.
(This is a slightly edited version of an article published in the Daily Telegraph on 23rd May.)
