Reform UK’s economics chief Robert Jenrick has labelled a package of tax and regulatory reforms aimed at small businesses as the “biggest plan” presented in a decade.
The announcement comes just one week before the party’s conference in Birmingham, with Jenrick targeting bosses who employ fewer than 50 people.
A central pledge is the scrapping of GDPR, the EU-derived rules governing how companies use personal data, replacing them with a “light-touch” law designed to ease regulation and boost innovation.
Reform cited research from a Washington DC-based think tank suggesting that EU data laws introduced in 2018 have cut venture capital investment in tech firms by more than 20 per cent.
A separate paper indicated that GDPR led to a third of available apps on the Google Play Store being removed, with new app entries falling by half.
One Adam Smith Institute report suggested GDPR reduced the size of the UK economy by around 0.4 per cent, hitting small firms’ sales and profits harder than larger companies.
Party officials described GDPR alongside regulations relating to net zero and workers’ rights as “silly rules” that disproportionately burden smaller organisations.
Jenrick has put forward a new data privacy model based on New Zealand’s approach, which involves smaller fines and broader definitions around anonymity in data collection.
Reform has also pledged to partly reverse former Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to raise the employer national insurance rate from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, while lifting the VAT threshold from £90,000 to £150,000.
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, which offers tax reliefs to private investors in early-stage startups, would be expanded under Reform’s plans to allow relatives to invest in small businesses.
The party has further pledged to scrap income tax on overtime and repeal the Employment Rights Act, policies that have drawn criticism from some economists.
“Under a Reform government, the UK will be the best place in the world to start and grow a small business,” Jenrick said, arguing the combined measures would stop six million firms from “fall[ing] by the wayside.”
A Labour Party spokesperson hit back sharply, saying: “First Reform want to rip up the Online Safety Act which keeps kids safe online. Now they plan to scrap vital safeguards that protect people’s private data.”
The spokesperson added: “These unworkable and unserious plans are just a desperate attempt to distract from Nigel Farage’s secret £5m ‘gift’ from a Thai-based crypto billionaire.”