Paul Luke

The Restore Britain Budget. Britain has spent decades being governed by politicians who believe the answer to every problem is yet more government - that policy has destroyed our country. More spending. More borrowing. More regulation. More taxes. More state. Parasitic overreach into our lives - delivered by politicians and civil servants who have no understanding or appreciation of how real wealth and opportunity is generated in the private sector. And what have the British people received in return? A country where working families struggle. Where businesses face punishing costs. Where young people cannot afford homes. Where failing public services demand ever more money, whilst prioritising endless third world migrants. Where inflation runs rampant. For British men and women, it is a government-backed scam. Corrupt incompetence. It is impossible for Britain to tax itself into prosperity. I repeat, IMPOSSIBLE. Wealth is created by people - the public sector should exist to support the private sector, not the reverse and that is the principle which underpins our philosophy. Restore Britain backs the farmer producing food, the white van man driving the economy, the engineer designing machinery, the shopkeeper serving customers and the entrepreneur risking everything to start a business. It comes down to this - Restore Britain will protect their freedom to succeed. If you work hard and contribute, we are on your side. Our Budget would begin the work of returning power, responsibility and money to the British people. First, the spending cuts - to come before ANY reductions in tax. Our 20 point plan to restore prosperity… 1. Freeze working-age benefit rates. We will freeze working-age benefit rates for the duration of the first Parliament. Britain cannot indefinitely increase expenditure without considering the burden on the people funding it. That would be morally wrong. The healthy indolent will not be rewarded. 2. Restrict welfare eligibility. No more benefits for foreigners, saving billions. No need to expand. 3. Reform sickness and disability benefits We will overhaul eligibility, assessment procedures and return-to-work support. People with serious disabilities and health conditions must receive appropriate protection. But those who can work, will work. If they refuse, they will be put to work. That simple. 4. Reform pensions. We will protect the State Pension while replacing the triple lock with annual CPI uprating. Public-sector pension arrangements will be overhauled to address differences with private-sector provision. These measures will save tens of billions - all outlined in full in our economic paper, The Wealth Of Our Nation. Next, take an axe to unnecessary government spending 5. The quango bonfire. We will conduct a comprehensive review of arm's-length public bodies, the default will be abolish unless there is a serious reason to retain. Where its functions duplicate a government department, consolidate them. Deliver accountability and savings. AI will mean vast cuts are possible. A LOT of Whitehall civil servants will lose their jobs. To be frank. 6. Freeze most departmental budgets. We will introduce a three-year nominal spending freeze across most government departments - the main exception will be our programme of mass deportations, which in the short term will cost, however as we know, any immediate funds will be quickly recovered and then some. 7. End public spending on Net Zero. We will end all public expenditure directed towards achieving Net Zero. Energy security will be our main priority. We will support investment in dependable domestic energy supplies, including the infrastructure needed to maintain a resilient electricity system. Energy security will be placed above any ideological dogma. If it makes Britain more resilient, we will pursue it. 8. Review government consultancy and discretionary expenditure. We will audit consultancy contracts, procurement services, and ALL external advisory work - spending that cannot demonstrate a clear public benefit should end. The procurement scam will end. All bullshit ESG and social value nonsense will be stripped away - if the public sector wants to use a third party firm, make it the best one - subject to right-to-work checks to ensure no illegals are being employed. As stated - spending cuts first, then tax cuts. Done carefully and responsibly. Here’s an overview of how a Restore Britain Government will lift the tax burden… 9. Raise the income tax personal allowance to £16,000. Nobody should be paying income tax on their first £16,000 of earnings. We will raise the personal allowance and extend the basic-rate income tax band to £100,000. We will also restore the full personal allowance to higher earners, ending the withdrawal that creates exceptionally high effective marginal tax rates. Success will be rewarded, hard work will be rewarded, ambition will be rewarded. 10. Cut corporation tax. We will introduce a zero corporation tax rate on the first £50,000 of company profits. Above that threshold, we will restore the headline rate to 19%, with a longer-term ambition of 15%. As soon as fiscal conditions allow. Let’s give small businesses the genuine breathing room to get their operation off the ground, and then use the corporation tax cut to compete with our neighbours. 11. Abolish inheritance tax and stamp duty. Families should not be punished for saving, investing and passing assets to their children. We will abolish inheritance tax. For farmers, for family businesses, for everyone. The state has no claim to a family's lifetime of accumulated wealth simply because somebody has died. I detest it. It will be binned for all. Stamp duty makes moving home more expensive, discourages mobility and creates unnecessary friction in the housing market. We will abolish it. 12. Reduce disruptive tax. We will cut the standard rate of VAT from 20% to 18%. We will also raise the VAT registration threshold to £150,000, helping smaller businesses grow without immediately facing additional tax burden. The amount of businesses hovering just under the current threshold is painful. The issue is OBVIOUS, yet nobody in government has thought to act. And we will ditch unnecessary taxes. We will abolish: Insurance Premium Tax. Air Passenger Duty. The Climate Change Levy. The UK Emissions Trading Scheme. We will also substantially increase the annual Capital Gains Tax exemption. Restore Britain’s objective is a tax system that is simpler, more predictable and less hostile to investment. Next, we will restore a state that works for our people. 13. Hold the NHS accountable. The NHS will remain free at the point of use for British citizens. We propose charging non-citizens at market rates - ensuring they actually pay the bills. We will make private healthcare expenditure tax deductible. If people want to go private, let’s make it cheaper. Alongside far-reaching structural reform, we will demand basic improvements in patient communication. Answer the telephone. Confirm referrals. Explain test results. Keep patients informed. Use AI to clear pressure on GPs. All patient-facing staff must demonstrate the English-language communication skills necessary to perform their roles safely. If staff can’t speak English to the required standard, they will no longer have a job. 14. Restore Britain’s education system. We will move towards greater school-level autonomy, with funding more closely linked to pupil numbers. We will remove VAT from private education and make private education tax deductible. We will also promote practical education, apprenticeships and stronger links between schools and employers. The aim will be to prepare children for working adulthood - full paper to come. Apprenticeships are vital - my businesses have developed hundreds and hundreds. It works, especially with the rise of AI. Student loan interest abolished for British nationals resident in the UK, full paper published. An overhaul of childcare regulation and funding - led by those in the sector who know what’s necessary and what’s not. Next. The Restore Britain Budget will work to restore a self-sufficient Britain, backed by sovereign AI capabilities. 15. Support British farming and food security. We will review the regulatory and tax burdens facing British farmers. Food security must be recognised as a matter of national resilience and urgency. That will be central to everything. We will make it FAR easier for domestic producers to compete for public-sector food contracts and examine ways to reduce unnecessary administration. Let’s use the public sector spend to back our own people, not import from foreign farmers. Britain should not become increasingly dependent on imported food while making it harder for its own farmers to survive. And we desperately need to bring more young people into the industry… 16. Ease pressure on transport network. We will rebuild Britain's transport network, tackling potholes, congestion and crumbling infrastructure while improving vital freight routes and rural roads - motorists will no longer be treated as cash cows. Fuel duty cut, and plenty more. (Full paper about to be published.) Get this right, and the whole economy is lubricated. 17. Back small businesses. We will review regulations introduced over recent decades, with a presumption in favour of removing law. Compliance simplified, licensing stripped back. Administrative burdens burned away. Scrap IR35, obviously. Business rates abolished for small high street businesses. Review car park charges. Boost police numbers in town centres. Restore confidence on the high street. Bring footfall back. Watch businesses thrive. 18. Develop sovereign AI capability. AI is coming whether we like it or not. We need to ensure that we have our own protected AI capability which can promote and defend our own interests. We’re already falling behind, and it’s getting worse. We have the opportunity to be a genuine world-leader. Let’s pursue it. 19. A foreign policy that puts Britain’s interests first. No endless foreign wars driving up the cost of living for ordinary families, no foreign aid unless explicitly to advance our interests. We will prioritise national security, trade, energy independence and protecting British citizens abroad. Spending will be increased, but our armed forces exist to defend Britain and our vital national interests, not to act as the world's policeman. 20. Protect sound money and fiscal stability. This is the most important of all. We will pursue a balanced Budget over the medium term and a declining debt-to-GDP ratio. Our aim is to cut the debt, not just the deficit. The era of mass money printing will end. Inflation will be controlled. The cost-of-living reduced. The aim - a Britain that belongs to its people Every Budget promises change, while the state grows larger and the taxpayer becomes poorer. Restore Britain offers a completely different direction. A smaller government that spends less - all helped by a massive reduction in the number of migrants living in Britain. Doing a small list of things, but doing them well. A welfare state that protects genuine need and expects personal responsibility. A tax system that rewards work, saving and enterprise. Public services that answer to the people who fund them. An economy built on productive businesses rather than a parasitic state. We do not believe the British people need politicians to manage every aspect of their lives. We believe they need the freedom to build better lives for themselves. In short - we will stop buying votes with other people’s money. Our ambition is not to make government richer. It is to restore the prosperity of the British economy, the British nation and the British people.