Reform’s Treasury spokesman, Robert Jenrick, will today pledge that scrapping the packaging tax and cutting green energy levies and employer National Insurance would take £140 a year off the average household food shop.
Reform says abolishing the packaging tax, formally Extended Producer Responsibility, would save £52 a year; that cutting eco and carbon levies on electricity and gas, which Jenrick says suppliers would pass on through the food chain, would save £63; and that cutting employer National Insurance from 15% back to 13.8% would save £25, for a total of £140.
All three measures appear in Reform’s Economic Rescue Plan, published on 26 October, which abolishes the packaging tax under measure 60. What is new today is the claim that, taken together, they would cut £140 from the food shop.
A DEFRA impact assessment put the packaging levy at roughly £47 a year two years ago. It is believed to be slightly higher today. In the October plan, the National Insurance cut is phased in for the second tax year.
Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, told the Sun: “Burnham hasn’t got a clue how hard things are right now. The cost of the weekly food shop is going through the roof and yet the government is making things worse. Reform will scrap the crazy packaging tax and cut the many hidden levies of net zero that drive food prices up. We’re the only party with a real plan to cut the cost of living for working people.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said on X that the packaging tax “costs the average household £52 a year. We’ll scrap it in our first Budget. Altogether, with lower taxes, cheaper energy and less mad regulation, we’ll cut your food and shopping bills by £140 a year.”
Jenrick also posted about the pledge on X this morning, as did Tice.
The National Pulse has previously reported Reform’s plan to cut employer National Insurance from 15% to 13.8%, and has covered pledges by Farage and Tice to dismantle net zero policy and cut household energy bills.
