Reform UK could begin implementing financial policies immediately after a general election rather than waiting for a budget, Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick suggested at the party’s conference today.
Speaking on a panel covering the economy, the self-described shadow chancellor said there was “an opportunity” that Reform could start with “immediately beginning to legislate” on entering government, “within a week of a general election.”
The Treasury is normally required to give at least 70 days’ notice to the Office for Budget Responsibility for it to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast before a major fiscal event.
Instead, Jenrick floated using statutory instruments to make major fiscal changes such as slashing the civil service workforce by more than 100,000 to pre-Brexit levels “within days or weeks.”
Reform dropped its plans to abolish the OBR when Jenrick was appointed Treasury spokesperson, which he said “wasn’t an easy decision,” and that the party “want to keep it, but reform it,” including by looking “at how the budget process works.”
Jenrick added that the party would avoid “the mistakes that Rachel Reeves did” by being “prepared long in advance” with economic policies upon entering government.