Reform UK has unveiled plans to cut £140 a year off the average household’s food bill by removing billions of pounds in government-imposed costs from the food chain.
The party’s six measures would target costs faced by farms, food factories, wholesalers and shops, taking an estimated £4 billion a year out of the process of getting food onto supermarket shelves.
Spread across 29 million households, Reform estimates that the savings would amount to around £140 per household each year.
Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice accused the government of adding to the pressures facing families already struggling with rising prices.
“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.”
The party’s six measures would target costs faced by farms, food factories, wholesalers and shops, taking an estimated £4 billion a year out of the process of getting food onto supermarket shelves.
Spread across 29 million households, Reform estimates that the savings would amount to around £140 per household each year.
Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice accused the government of adding to the pressures facing families already struggling with rising prices.
“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.”
The announcement comes after food prices rose by 45% between 2020 and 2026, according to ONS estimates. Polling also shows that rising food bills are voters’ joint top cost-of-living concern, alongside energy bills.
Under Reform’s proposals, scrapping the packaging tax on producers would deliver an estimated annual saving equivalent to £52 per household.
Removing Net Zero levies and carbon taxes from the electricity and gas used throughout the food chain would account for a further £63.
The remaining £25 would come from reducing employment costs, including returning employer National Insurance to 13.8% for British workers and repealing the Employment Rights Act.
“Reform will scrap the crazy packaging tax and cut the many hidden levies of Net Zero that drive food prices up”, Tice said.
The proposals focus on the costs businesses face before food reaches the checkout. Reform’s argument is that reducing the expense of producing, processing, transporting and selling food would allow savings to flow through to shoppers.
The food pledge sits alongside the party’s existing commitments to cut household energy bills by £250 a year and make the fuel duty cut freeze permanent, keeping fuel bills down by £50 annually.
Reform has also pledged to raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 within its first 100 days in government, which it says would save the average household £1,000.
Tice said: “We’re the only party with a real plan to cut the cost of living for working people.”
Under Reform’s proposals, scrapping the packaging tax on producers would deliver an estimated annual saving equivalent to £52 per household.
Removing Net Zero levies and carbon taxes from the electricity and gas used throughout the food chain would account for a further £63.
The remaining £25 would come from reducing employment costs, including returning employer National Insurance to 13.8% for British workers and repealing the Employment Rights Act.
“Reform will scrap the crazy packaging tax and cut the many hidden levies of Net Zero that drive food prices up”, Tice said.
The proposals focus on the costs businesses face before food reaches the checkout. Reform’s argument is that reducing the expense of producing, processing, transporting and selling food would allow savings to flow through to shoppers.
The food pledge sits alongside the party’s existing commitments to cut household energy bills by £250 a year and make the fuel duty cut freeze permanent, keeping fuel bills down by £50 annually.
Reform has also pledged to raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 within its first 100 days in government, which it says would save the average household £1,000.
Tice said: “We’re the only party with a real plan to cut the cost of living for working people.”
