Mauricio Alencar

Reform UK economics chief Robert Jenrick has unveiled a package aimed at supporting small businesses, including replacing GDPR with a lighter privacy regime, raising the VAT registration threshold, partially reversing an employer national-insurance increase, expanding SEIS eligibility, easing company regulations and scrapping income tax on overtime. Reform says the measures would help millions of firms, while Labour dismisses them as unserious and accuses the party of using them to distract from allegations involving Nigel Farage.

Economists expect Chancellor John Healey to raise taxes in the 2026 Budget because higher borrowing costs, defence and welfare commitments, and fiscal rules leave limited scope for spending cuts. Potential measures include replacing stamp duty and council tax with a land value tax, aligning capital gains tax with income tax, expanding national insurance to investment and pension income, increasing taxes on banks, warehouses and vape retailers, closing property-tax loopholes, and reducing pension tax-free allowances. Some proposals could raise billions but risk discouraging investment, damaging confidence or provoking political backlash. A broad wealth tax is considered unlikely, while changes to green levies, welfare and devolved tax powers may also feature.

John Caudwell and Stuart Rose have joined a Helm-led campaign urging the Labour government to halt what business leaders describe as the steady increase in taxes on entrepreneurs, including levies on dividends, capital gains and business assets. Rose argues that employers’ National Insurance and regulation are suppressing investment and employment, while Caudwell has questioned Labour’s electoral prospects despite previously donating to the party. Ahead of the 28 October Budget, the Institute of Economic Affairs warns that successive governments have weakened investment incentives, expanded the tax burden on personal income and made the system substantially more complex. The campaigners and economists contend that recent tax increases, including about £65bn raised by Labour since 2024, are making it harder to build and scale UK businesses and recover from the country’s prolonged growth slowdown.