On Tuesday 20th February, the Keynes and Political Societies hosted Richard Tice. Mr. Tice has been the leader of Reform UK since 2021. The party is currently polling in double digits (third highest behind the Conservatives and Labour), leading to widespread speculation that this significant share of the right-wing vote will cause further problems regarding the upcoming general election for the governing Conservative party. Prior to leading Reform UK, Tice founded and was the chairman of the Leave Means Leave pro-Brexit campaign group (now defunct). 

The focus of his talk on Tuesday was what hope remains for the younger generation in “broken Britain.” Accordingly, Mr. Tice began by addressing the student debt crisis in the UK and believes that university loans were a “ponzi scheme” and that the current system financially exploits students.  Mr. Tice suggested there should be zero interest on all student loans and toyed with the idea of slashing the period to acquire certain university degrees from three years to two years. 

Mr. Tice also shared his views on climate change, outlining that the planet’s climate has changed for billions of years and thus it is paramount that we realise that achieving net zero carbon emissions will not stop the climate from continuously changing. Indeed, Mr. Tice repeatedly downplayed the dangers that human-induced climate change poses. This view was particularly pressed ba on during the subsequent Q&A session, with an F Blocker in particular garnering passionate applause for challenging Mr. Tice’s assessment of the climate situation. 

The Reform UK leader also claimed that “a good chief executive” (i.e. Prime Minister) could steer the country out of the current recession and resolve many of its economic woes within a span of just “two to three years.” Indeed, Mr. Tice often stated in his talk that the key to stimulating the British economy was to “make work pay” and that this could party be achieved by raising the income tax threshold.

Under a Reform UK government, Mr. Tice outlined that a robust immigration policy was needed to stop the current influx of migrants placing a burden on Britain’s public services. However, it is worth noting that Mr. Tice considers frontline healthcare workers to be “essential immigrants.”