Reform UK promises to scrap 20mph limits and cut taxes ahead of May Senedd vote
Reform UK Wales has launched its 2026 Senedd election manifesto, promising to upgrade the A55 North Wales Expressway, establish a new dental school in Bangor and cut income tax across all bands if the party wins seats in May.
Welsh leader Dan Thomas set out the pledges at an event in Newport, joined by Reform UK’s UK leader Nigel Farage MP.
On transport, the manifesto commits to safety upgrades on the A55, including widening where appropriate, junction improvements and resilience measures to reduce disruption on what the party describes as the “main artery of the North Wales economy.”
Reform also pledges to scrap the default 20mph speed limit in urban areas, returning decisions on local speed limits to individual councils, and to ban councils from introducing pay-per-mile road charging schemes.
For health, the manifesto proposes a new dental school jointly serving Bangor and Aberystwyth universities, aimed at improving NHS dentistry access in North Wales and mid-Wales.
The party says approximately one in four people in Wales are currently waiting for an appointment or treatment, and sets out a plan including rapid diagnostic centres, expanded surgical hubs and a strategy to eliminate corridor care in Welsh hospitals by the end of a Senedd term.
The manifesto also pledges to end the Nation of Sanctuary policy, stop the use of migrant hotels in Welsh communities, scrap international aid spending in devolved budgets and prioritise Welsh people for social housing, with a proposed 10-year residency requirement for social housing eligibility.
Exemptions to that residency rule would apply to armed forces veterans, domestic abuse survivors and care leavers under 25.
Other pledges include a 1p cut to every band of Welsh income tax by the end of the Senedd term, a referendum requirement for council tax rises above 4.99%, a review of business rates, and scrapping the proposed Welsh tourism tax.
On energy, Reform pledges to ban new onshore wind and solar farms, scrap devolved Net Zero targets, and act as an “active enabler” of nuclear development at Wylfa on Anglesey and Trawsfynydd.
The party says it will support the Welsh language, maintain funding for the Royal National Eisteddfod and the Royal Welsh Show, and press Westminster to continue supporting S4C.
Dan Thomas said: “This manifesto is a blueprint for real change here in Wales.
“These promises put Wales and Welsh communities first, and unlike the pledges put forward by other parties, these are deliverable.”
Nigel Farage MP said: “In a Senedd Election campaign that has been characterised by fantasy economics from the other parties, this document is a serious plan to deliver the real change Wales deserves.
“I look forward to campaigning alongside Dan and the Welsh team between now and May 7.”
The launch came during a week in which Plaid Cymru, Welsh Labour and the Welsh Conservatives also set out their plans ahead of the election on 7 May.
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