Reform’s Spending Cuts: The Real Threat to Bishop Auckland Constituency

Introduction

Reform UK has shifted its position. From today (October 13^th 2025) the party is no longer promising the £90 billion of tax cuts set out in its 2024 manifesto. Instead, Richard Tice and Nigel Farage have confirmed that their priority is now to deliver colossal cuts to government spending, with tax cuts only an “aspiration” for later.

For the Bishop Auckland constituency, this change does not remove the danger. It makes it clearer: the first impact of Reform’s plan would be deep cuts to services, social security, and jobs that sustain the local economy.

From Tax Cuts to Spending Cuts

• In 2024, Reform pledged £90bn of tax cuts, including raising the personal allowance to £20,000.
• That commitment has now been dropped. Tice has said these are no longer firm pledges, but aspirations.
• The new priority is to slash public spending before any tax cuts are delivered.

Independent analysis has already shown that Reform’s original plans were unrealistic. The Economist warned they would create a “colossal fiscal shock”. The new approach still risks the same outcome — but with service and benefit cuts coming first.

What Spending Cuts Mean for Bishop Auckland Constituency

For the Bishop Auckland constituency, the consequences of large-scale spending cuts would be immediate and visible:

• NHS and social care: Longer waiting times, fewer staff, and overstretched local services.
• Schools and youth services: Reduced funding for classrooms, fewer opportunities for young people, and cuts to support programmes.
• Transport and infrastructure: Less investment in rural bus routes, road maintenance, and regeneration projects.
• Local councils: Already under strain, councils would face further reductions, leading to library closures, fewer community facilities, and weaker social support.
• Social security and benefits: Cuts to Universal Credit, housing benefit, disability support, and pensions would hit the most vulnerable hardest. Crucially, this money is usually spent locally — in shops, services, and on essentials. If benefits are cut, that spending power disappears from the constituency’s economy, with no realistic alternative income to replace it.
• Public sector jobs: Teachers, nurses, care workers, and council staff are public employees. If their jobs are cut, not only do services decline, but the wages they spend in Bishop Auckland constituency’s shops, cafés, and businesses vanish too.

The combined effect is a double blow: families lose income and support, while the constituency’s economy loses the spending that keeps it alive.

The Doom Loop Still Applies

Even though the headline £90bn tax cuts are no longer a firm pledge, the danger of a doom loop remains:

1. Cuts to services, benefits, and jobs reduce local incomes.
2. Lower local spending weakens businesses and employment.
3. Declining local economies reduce tax revenues further.
4. More cuts are then demanded to “balance the books”.

This cycle would hit the Bishop Auckland constituency harder than wealthier regions, because it relies more heavily on public investment, social security, and services.

Labour’s Alternative: Investment, Not Cuts

Labour’s approach is to invest in communities and families, not strip them back. For the Bishop Auckland constituency, this means:

• £20 million Pride in Place funding: Already allocated to regenerate high streets and local spaces, supporting small businesses and community pride.
• Free school meals for all primary pupils: Announced and being rolled out, easing pressure on family budgets and ensuring children are well fed at school.
• Expansion of free breakfast clubs: A confirmed policy to help parents manage work and childcare, while giving children a better start to the school day.
• Youth hubs: Part of Labour’s national programme, providing safe spaces and activities for young people.
• A higher minimum wage (£11.44): Already in force, giving thousands of local workers a pay rise.
• Investment in skills and apprenticeships: Funding confirmed to expand training opportunities, helping young people in the constituency build careers locally.

Local Impact

• Parents in the constituency are already saving money through free school meals, with more support coming through breakfast clubs.
• The Bishop Auckland Town Deal Fund, boosting local shops and services will continue.
• The government’s recently announced Pride in Place programme will bring £20 million to Crook Tow Law and Billy Row. The government will only approve spending if community groups, local organisations and social clubs have been included in decisions on how the money should be spent.
• The minimum wage rise is putting extra money directly into the pockets of low‑paid workers, much of which is spent locally.

Conclusion

Reform UK may have stepped back from its headline £90bn tax cut pledge, but its new priority — colossal cuts to public spending, social security, and benefits — poses just as great a threat to the Bishop Auckland constituency.

The choice remains stark:

• Reform’s cuts-first approach, which would hollow out services, weaken the safety net, and trap the constituency in a doom loop of decline. Not at all what
  Reform supporters are expecting.
• Labour’s investment-led alternative, already delivering free school meals, higher wages, and regeneration funding, which seeks to rebuild services, protect families, and give communities the tools to prosper.