{"id":268763,"date":"2025-11-18T00:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/268763\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T00:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:52:08","slug":"reform-would-cut-benefits-for-eu-nationals-and-hike-nhs-immigration-surcharge-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/268763\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform would \u2018cut benefits for EU nationals and hike NHS immigration surcharge\u2019 | Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Reform UK<\/a> government would block EU nationals from receiving universal credit, a move that would rip up the post-Brexit trade deal with Europe and risk potential retaliation from Brussels.<\/p>\n

It is among several proposals that will be announced by Nigel Farage<\/a> at a press conference on Tuesday. The party claims its measures would save \u00a325bn a year in total \u2013 enough to cover the supposed shortfall faced by Rachel Reeves in next week\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

Other proposed cost savings would involve cutting overseas aid to a maximum of \u00a31bn a year \u2013 a 90% reduction from the current level of 0.3% of national income \u2013 and almost tripling the NHS surcharge paid by non-UK residents.<\/p>\n

While Farage will present the package as prioritising the welfare of British nationals over non-citizens, the proposal to unilaterally junk elements of the post-Brexit deal with Brussels could affect the UK economy if it sparked reciprocal measures such as trade restrictions.<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage claims his party\u2019s policies would fix the country\u2019s finances. Photograph: Andy Rain\/EPA<\/p>\n

According to a Reform statement released on Monday night, all overseas nationals \u2013 including those with EU settled status \u2013 would lose the right to claim universal credit after a three-month notice period, which the party said would save \u00a36bn a year.<\/p>\n

EU nationals \u2013 plus citizens from the European Economic Area and Switzerland \u2013 were able to apply for settled status under the terms of the Brexit deal, allowing access to public services and some benefits.<\/p>\n

While Reform has described this deal as \u201catrocious and one-sided\u201d, ending elements of it without negotiation could see UK nationals in the EU also face action, and possible trade measures.<\/p>\n

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Another policy would see the health surcharge increase from \u00a31,035 a year to \u00a32,718, which Reform believes would raise \u00a35bn. The party argues the current cost is \u201cclearly too low\u201d, and says overseas nationals used the NHS more on average.<\/p>\n

Other elements of the claimed \u00a325bn in annual savings include \u00a3580m that would be recouped by deporting all foreign criminals.<\/p>\n

The plans were first reported in The Times \u2013 with Reform\u2019s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, telling the newspaper: \u201cLabour has a choice. They can either go ahead and raise taxes on British citizens or they can enact our proposals which put British people first and ask foreign nationals to bear the brunt of the black hole, not British citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost British people would consider it outrageous to expect British people to pay higher taxes or see their services cut whilst their money is being spent this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Labour spokesperson said: \u201cNigel Farage\u2019s fantasy numbers don\u2019t add up, and he\u2019d leave British taxpayers footing a hefty bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarage is happy to slap British shoppers with higher prices at the checkouts by risking a trade war with Europe. He\u2019d betray working people and hammer British businesses who want to trade with the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Reform UK government would block EU nationals from receiving universal credit, a move that would rip up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-268763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}