Reform-Linked Thinktank Calls for Scrapping State Pension

A thinktank linked to Reform UK has called for the abolition of the state pension and £75bn worth of sweeping tax cuts in a "radical" report likely to shape the party's platform for the next election.

The Centre for a Better Britain (CFABB) will formally launch the report at a private event with City executives on Wednesday. The document goes well beyond pension policy. It also proposes abolishing inheritance and capital gains taxes.

The report's scope is broad. CFABB calls for weaker rules for UK banks. It backs Trump-style investment accounts offering £1,000 to newborns. And it frames the package as a fundamental rethinking of the size and role of the state rather than a conventional tax-and-spend adjustment.

The state pension proposal is the most politically explosive element. Abolishing it would mark a break with one of the pillars of the postwar British welfare settlement. No major UK party has proposed scrapping the pension outright in recent decades, and the idea is likely to draw fire from across the political spectrum if Reform adopts it.

The £75bn headline figure signals the scale of what CFABB has in mind. Combined with the removal of inheritance and capital gains taxes, the package points toward a dramatic shrinking of the tax base — a stance that aligns with the broader small-government direction Reform UK has taken under Nigel Farage's leadership.

The thinktank's links to Reform UK give the report weight beyond a typical policy paper. The document is described as likely to influence the party's platform for the next election, making Wednesday's private launch with City executives a first test of how seriously the proposals will be taken by business.

The choice of venue matters. Launching behind closed doors with City executives suggests CFABB wants to build support in the financial sector before the proposals face wider public scrutiny. The inclusion of Trump-style investment accounts for newborns points to the influence of US policy thinking on the group's agenda.

For investors and business leaders, the report is a signal of the policy terrain Reform UK intends to contest the next election on: lower taxes, lighter financial regulation and a radically restructured welfare state. Whether the party formally adopts the abolition of the state pension — and defends it on the campaign trail — will be the test of how far its platform shifts.

The report's full contents and its reception among City executives will become clearer after Wednesday's launch.