Reform UK is planning an investor roadshow in London and New York as Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick seeks to convince financial markets that the party could be trusted to manage Britain's public finances.
The move comes alongside a pledge from Jenrick to pursue more than £100 billion of spending reductions in Reform's first 100 days in government, followed by tax cuts.
Reform says the programme would include £50 billion of welfare savings, between £20 billion and £30 billion from other government departments, and £28 billion from lower debt-interest costs.
The final element is a projected saving rather than a direct departmental cut: it depends on Reform succeeding in reducing government borrowing costs by winning the confidence of financial markets.
Jenrick plans London and New York investor meetings
Reuters reported on Thursday that Jenrick intends to meet investors in both London and New York to explain Reform's economic programme and answer questions about how the party would handle the public finances.
The plan was announced on the opening day of Reform's annual party conference.
Jenrick said the objective of the meetings would be to explain the party's plans, listen to investors and build confidence ahead of any future Reform government.
He argued that establishing credibility with markets could eventually reduce the cost of government borrowing, although he acknowledged that any improvement would not happen immediately.
Reform promises emergency Budget
Reform has separately confirmed that Jenrick wants an emergency Budget immediately after a general election victory.
The party says the first 100 days of a Reform government would be used to pursue spending reductions on a scale of more than £100 billion.
According to Reform's own breakdown, £50 billion would come from welfare, between £20 billion and £30 billion from other departments, and £28 billion from lower debt-interest costs.
The figures are Reform's proposals and estimates. They have not been presented as savings already achieved, and the debt-interest figure in particular would depend on movements in borrowing costs rather than being a sum ministers could simply remove from a departmental budget.
Welfare at centre of spending plan
Welfare would provide the largest direct saving under Jenrick's proposals.
Reform says people who are capable of working would be expected to do so and that the party would reassess some claimants receiving support on mental-health grounds.
Jenrick has also proposed requiring people who have been out of work for at least a year to work in return for benefits.
The party says the changes would form part of a wider bargain in which welfare spending is reduced while taxes on people in work are cut.
Net Zero, aid and Civil Service also targeted
Reform says further savings would be sought from Net Zero programmes, foreign aid, quangos and the Civil Service.
Jenrick has argued that reductions in those areas, combined with welfare reform, would put the public finances on a more credible path and create room for tax cuts.
The party has not yet set out in the material published on Thursday a full department-by-department implementation plan for the proposed £20 billion to £30 billion of wider reductions.
That means the headline total should be treated as a political spending pledge rather than as a fully delivered or independently verified saving.
Debt-interest claim depends on market confidence
The proposed £28 billion reduction in debt-interest costs is central to Reform's argument that an investor roadshow could have a direct fiscal benefit.
Government borrowing costs are influenced by financial-market expectations about inflation, interest rates, economic growth and fiscal policy.
Jenrick's case is that if investors believed a Reform government had a credible programme to reduce spending and borrowing, gilt yields could fall and the Treasury's future debt-servicing bill could decline.
Reuters reported that British government bond yields had reached their highest levels since the global financial crisis this week, increasing pressure on Chancellor John Healey ahead of his first Budget next month.
However, future borrowing costs cannot be guaranteed by a government or opposition party, meaning the £28 billion figure remains dependent on Reform's assumptions about how markets would react.
Reform seeks economic credibility
The roadshow also highlights a broader challenge for Reform as it seeks to present itself as a potential party of government.
Although Reform has increased its political support since the 2024 general election, it has never run the UK Government and would need to convince investors, businesses and institutions that its programme could be implemented without destabilising the public finances.
Meeting investors in London and New York would give Jenrick an opportunity to make that case directly to major financial institutions.
The strategy mirrors the importance successive governments have placed on maintaining credibility in the gilt market, particularly when announcing major changes to taxation, borrowing or public spending.
Jenrick attacks Burnham Government's economic approach
Jenrick has also used the announcement to attack Prime Minister Andy Burnham's economic agenda, accusing the Government of increasing spending and leaving Britain vulnerable to market pressure.
Those criticisms are political claims made by Reform and are disputed territory rather than established facts.
The Government is preparing for Chancellor John Healey's first Budget next month, against a backdrop of elevated borrowing costs and continuing pressure on the public finances.
Reform's investor roadshow and spending proposals are therefore intended to draw a sharp contrast between the party's approach and the Government's, with Jenrick arguing that deep spending reductions would ultimately allow both lower borrowing costs and lower taxes.