“I work hard, but at the end of the month there seems to be nothing left”.
That’s what I heard time and again when I visited one of the remaining potteries in Stoke this week.
Reform UK Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick wants to cut tax on overtime to help get Britain working Credit: Getty
The workers there embody the best of Britain.
They work bloody hard. I suspect most MPs wouldn’t last a month in their shoes.
And their craftsmanship is respected around the world. From America to South Korea the “Made in Stoke-on-Trent” print is known as a mark of the highest quality.
But just as this industry is struggling, so are the proud Stokies who have been powering our industrial base for generations.
In reality, with their wages haven’t increased since 2008.
The same sky-high energy bills that threaten their jobs at the factory are hurting them at home too.
Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick say Brits are too heavily taxed and they want to ease the burden Credit: PA
It’s a similar story across the country. Workers are doing whatever they can to get ahead, only to see their quality of life going backwards.
The patriotic workers that are the backbone of our country have been left short changed.
At times, governments have shown contempt for them. Raising taxes on them to fund the ballooning benefits bill for people taking the mickey at home.
Piling onto bills so they can look good on visits to other countries.
As if to rub their noses in it, politicians have sneered at their love of our country for good measure.
People have rightly had enough. The country voted for after they promised change.
But after nearly two years of can anyone honestly say they feel better off?
After landslide local election victory it’s clear that we are now the real opposition.
have forgotten their roots, and we will proudly pick up the mission mantle as the champion for working people.
Our offer to the country is for real change. New ideas that break from the failed past and a system that doesn’t work for people.
Not tinkering here and there like the announced this week.
That’s why and I are announcing today that under a Reform Government there will be no tax on overtime. We’re not messing around. This is a big change.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visit a children’s activity centre in Brentwood, Essex, Credit: PA
So if you want to take on extra shifts, you won’t pay income tax on it.
That’s yours to keep and spend as you’d like – on a holiday perhaps, or that new car you’ve been eying up – because we want to reward people that do the right thing.
We want to give relief to the hardworking people that are the backbone of our country.
The brickies building the new homes we need, the warehouse workers getting our country moving and the nurses in our hospitals saving lives.
We could do with a lot fewer clipboard inspectors in HR and a lot more people doing productive jobs.
No on overtime will make these shift roles far more attractive.
Under our policy a newly qualified nurse working 6 hours extra a week would stand to be £1300 pounds better off at the end of the years.
And a typical warehouse worker in Makerfield taking on an extra 6 hours a week would be £700 better off.
At Reform UK we know who we are for. Our policy applies to overtime above a 40 hour work week for those earning less than £75,000. That means over 90% of workers are eligible.
While Labour court the votes on Benefits Street and theof the luxury-belief class in Belgravia, we are for the hardworking majority that keep getting squeezed.
The majority that the old parties forgot.
We’ve already set out how we will lower your bills by £200 by removing green levies, and how we’ll make family holidays cheaper by removing the tax on flights.
We’ve identified over £40 billion in savings from appalling waste.
From handing out foreign aid to rich countries, benefits to those that don’t need it, and migrants who have only just arrived here.
That allows us to focus on what actually matters, like lowering taxes on working people.
As the so-called Red Wall shifts turquoise, the mission to defend working people is being taken up by Reform UK.
Unlike the, we are proud to have the support of hard workers and we will unashamedly champion them.
While the implodes, Reform is busy doing the work needed to turn the country around.
We’ve already set out how we will fix our broken immigration system, end lawless Britain, and treat our sickly economy.
So if Keir Starmer won’t govern the country, then and Reform UK will.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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