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A Reform UK government will strip away the safeguards that prevent exploitation, environmental abuse, unsafe products, and financial misconduct in business.
That’s what his plan for a bonfire of business regulation actually means in practice – as bitter experience has shown.
According to The Guardian, in a speech today (Monday, November 3, 2025), Farage was expected to say: “When it comes to Brexit … we have not taken advantage of the opportunities to deregulate and become more competitive. The harsh truth is that regulations and regulators, in many areas, are worse than they were back in 2016.”
What does he mean by “worse”? Does he mean they are more effective at preventing crime and corruption? That’s how it seems to This Writer!
He will add: “Reform UK will do things very differently. We will be the most pro-business, pro-entrepreneurship government this country has seen in modern times. This will mean more well-paid jobs for workers.”
How is that going to work? Deregulation means fewer rules binding business bosses into fair treatment of workers.
“We will free businesses to get on and make more money. We will bring into government people with real expertise in their areas. And we will signal a change of attitude towards work, making money and success.”
It seems to me he is promising that bosses will be able to make more money for themselves, with fewer incentives to be fair.
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Deregulation always sounds attractive to business lobbyists and to politicians who want to posture as “pro-enterprise”.
But regulations exist because, time after time, companies have shown they will cut corners or cheat unless there are clear, enforceable limits.
When oversight is weakened, it becomes easier for firms to bribe officials, evade tax, or manipulate markets.
The very same “freedom to make more money” can quickly become freedom to pollute rivers, underpay workers, or defraud consumers.
There’s also a deeper irony. Farage frames deregulation as “taking advantage of Brexit opportunities”, but the European Union’s regulatory framework was precisely what protected UK citizens and ensured fair competition.
If Reform UK actually implemented this agenda, we would likely see a repeat of the post-1980s deregulation disasters: privatised monopolies, financial instability, and scandals like PPE procurement fraud — only worse, because there would be even fewer rules left.
Economically, it is incoherent as well. You can’t claim fiscal credibility by cutting the very regulatory capacity that keeps markets functioning honestly.
Deregulation doesn’t automatically lead to growth — it often leads to short-term profit-taking followed by long-term damage.
As I write this, Farage has started his speech, saying he thinks we subscribe to an illusion, denying the economic mess we’re in.
He’s also blaming mass migration for making us poorer – because we’ve brought in cheap, unskilled foreign labour? It has made a huge amount of money for low-paying employers – and aren’t those just the people Farage and his party want to support?
Farage’s new line about an “illusion” of prosperity is an attempt to sound like a truth-teller, but the blame he places on migration is a deflection.
The real driver of wage stagnation and poor working conditions in the United Kingdom has not been the presence of migrant workers; it has been the business model of the low-wage employers who rely on them — the same kind of employers Reform UK’s deregulation agenda is designed to empower.
If you look at the pattern, it’s perfectly circular:
- Farage blames migrants for low pay.
- But low pay exists because employers are allowed to underpay — and Reform’s “bonfire of regulation” would make that even easier.
- Then he claims deregulation will “create jobs and growth” — but what it actually creates is the freedom for exploitative firms to cut costs further.
This is the illusion we are really living under: that loosening the rules on business will somehow raise everyone’s living standards.
In truth, it widens inequality and concentrates wealth in the same hands.
It’s also dishonest economically. Migrant workers contribute billions in taxes and fill essential roles in sectors starved of investment. The problem is not migration, but the deliberate suppression of wages, weak enforcement of labour law, and the government’s refusal to invest in skills and productivity.
Yes, the United Kingdom is in a deep economic mess. Real wages are stagnant, productivity has flatlined, public services are crumbling, and living costs remain far higher than they were before 2020. But none of that has been caused by the things Farage is blaming — migration, regulation, or supposed “anti-business attitudes”.
The real causes are structural and political:
- Austerity gutted public investment and hollowed out local economies.
- Privatisation and deregulation handed public wealth to private monopolies that prioritise dividends over service quality.
- Financialisation encouraged short-term profit extraction instead of long-term productive growth.
- Brexit, Farage’s own signature project, imposed trade barriers, worsened labour shortages, and deterred investment.
So when Farage says we are “in denial” about the economic situation, what he means is: we’re not accepting his version of what went wrong. It’s a rhetorical trap — acknowledge the crisis, and he tries to claim it validates his anti-migrant, pro-deregulation narrative. But in truth, that narrative helped create the mess.
If the UK is in denial about anything, it’s the fact that deregulation and nationalist economics have already been tested — and have failed catastrophically.
Then there’s his criticism of putting ministers in charge of big government departments, who don’t understand the industries they’re now helming. Is he right in thinking that business leaders could do it better than someone who will be obliged to consider the effect of changes on workers, the public, and the environment, and who are aided by expert civil servants?
No.
It’s just another superficially appealing idea that collapses under scrutiny.
Farage is right about one thing: too many ministers are parachuted into departments with little relevant experience, and that can lead to poor decisions.
But his solution — to “bring in people with real expertise” from business — is not reform, it’s capture.
It replaces one kind of incompetence with another: a deliberate bias towards private profit over public interest.
The civil service exists precisely to counter that. Ministers are not supposed to be industry insiders; they are supposed to represent the public, weigh competing priorities, and make decisions based on expert advice from career civil servants who understand both the policy area and the ethical boundaries of governance.
Business leaders, by contrast, are trained to maximise shareholder value — not to safeguard workers’ rights, protect the environment, or maintain public accountability.
We have already seen what happens when governments hand control to corporate insiders:
- Water companies run by financiers rather than engineers have polluted rivers while paying out billions in dividends.
- Rail and energy privatisation allowed profit extraction to trump public service.
- Covid procurement showed how “bringing in people who know business” can turn into cronyism and corruption.
Farage’s proposal is a textbook example of what economists call regulatory capture — when industries end up writing the rules that govern them. It’s not a fix for bureaucratic inefficiency; it’s an invitation to self-dealing on a national scale.
In short, he’s exploiting a real frustration with government incompetence to sell a false solution: turning the state into a business club.
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Farage to offer increased corruption in business if Reform UK is elected
Share this post:
A Reform UK government will strip away the safeguards that prevent exploitation, environmental abuse, unsafe products, and financial misconduct in business.
That’s what his plan for a bonfire of business regulation actually means in practice – as bitter experience has shown.
According to The Guardian, in a speech today (Monday, November 3, 2025), Farage was expected to say: “When it comes to Brexit … we have not taken advantage of the opportunities to deregulate and become more competitive. The harsh truth is that regulations and regulators, in many areas, are worse than they were back in 2016.”
What does he mean by “worse”? Does he mean they are more effective at preventing crime and corruption? That’s how it seems to This Writer!
He will add: “Reform UK will do things very differently. We will be the most pro-business, pro-entrepreneurship government this country has seen in modern times. This will mean more well-paid jobs for workers.”
How is that going to work? Deregulation means fewer rules binding business bosses into fair treatment of workers.
“We will free businesses to get on and make more money. We will bring into government people with real expertise in their areas. And we will signal a change of attitude towards work, making money and success.”
It seems to me he is promising that bosses will be able to make more money for themselves, with fewer incentives to be fair.
Support Vox Political!
With social media algorithms acting as gatekeepers – allowing users to read only what their owners want them to, sites like Vox Political need the support of our readers like never before.
You can help by making a donation:
https://Ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
Deregulation always sounds attractive to business lobbyists and to politicians who want to posture as “pro-enterprise”.
But regulations exist because, time after time, companies have shown they will cut corners or cheat unless there are clear, enforceable limits.
When oversight is weakened, it becomes easier for firms to bribe officials, evade tax, or manipulate markets.
The very same “freedom to make more money” can quickly become freedom to pollute rivers, underpay workers, or defraud consumers.
There’s also a deeper irony. Farage frames deregulation as “taking advantage of Brexit opportunities”, but the European Union’s regulatory framework was precisely what protected UK citizens and ensured fair competition.
If Reform UK actually implemented this agenda, we would likely see a repeat of the post-1980s deregulation disasters: privatised monopolies, financial instability, and scandals like PPE procurement fraud — only worse, because there would be even fewer rules left.
Economically, it is incoherent as well. You can’t claim fiscal credibility by cutting the very regulatory capacity that keeps markets functioning honestly.
Deregulation doesn’t automatically lead to growth — it often leads to short-term profit-taking followed by long-term damage.
As I write this, Farage has started his speech, saying he thinks we subscribe to an illusion, denying the economic mess we’re in.
He’s also blaming mass migration for making us poorer – because we’ve brought in cheap, unskilled foreign labour? It has made a huge amount of money for low-paying employers – and aren’t those just the people Farage and his party want to support?
Farage’s new line about an “illusion” of prosperity is an attempt to sound like a truth-teller, but the blame he places on migration is a deflection.
The real driver of wage stagnation and poor working conditions in the United Kingdom has not been the presence of migrant workers; it has been the business model of the low-wage employers who rely on them — the same kind of employers Reform UK’s deregulation agenda is designed to empower.
If you look at the pattern, it’s perfectly circular:
This is the illusion we are really living under: that loosening the rules on business will somehow raise everyone’s living standards.
In truth, it widens inequality and concentrates wealth in the same hands.
It’s also dishonest economically. Migrant workers contribute billions in taxes and fill essential roles in sectors starved of investment. The problem is not migration, but the deliberate suppression of wages, weak enforcement of labour law, and the government’s refusal to invest in skills and productivity.
Yes, the United Kingdom is in a deep economic mess. Real wages are stagnant, productivity has flatlined, public services are crumbling, and living costs remain far higher than they were before 2020. But none of that has been caused by the things Farage is blaming — migration, regulation, or supposed “anti-business attitudes”.
The real causes are structural and political:
So when Farage says we are “in denial” about the economic situation, what he means is: we’re not accepting his version of what went wrong. It’s a rhetorical trap — acknowledge the crisis, and he tries to claim it validates his anti-migrant, pro-deregulation narrative. But in truth, that narrative helped create the mess.
If the UK is in denial about anything, it’s the fact that deregulation and nationalist economics have already been tested — and have failed catastrophically.
Then there’s his criticism of putting ministers in charge of big government departments, who don’t understand the industries they’re now helming. Is he right in thinking that business leaders could do it better than someone who will be obliged to consider the effect of changes on workers, the public, and the environment, and who are aided by expert civil servants?
No.
It’s just another superficially appealing idea that collapses under scrutiny.
Farage is right about one thing: too many ministers are parachuted into departments with little relevant experience, and that can lead to poor decisions.
But his solution — to “bring in people with real expertise” from business — is not reform, it’s capture.
It replaces one kind of incompetence with another: a deliberate bias towards private profit over public interest.
The civil service exists precisely to counter that. Ministers are not supposed to be industry insiders; they are supposed to represent the public, weigh competing priorities, and make decisions based on expert advice from career civil servants who understand both the policy area and the ethical boundaries of governance.
Business leaders, by contrast, are trained to maximise shareholder value — not to safeguard workers’ rights, protect the environment, or maintain public accountability.
We have already seen what happens when governments hand control to corporate insiders:
Farage’s proposal is a textbook example of what economists call regulatory capture — when industries end up writing the rules that govern them. It’s not a fix for bureaucratic inefficiency; it’s an invitation to self-dealing on a national scale.
In short, he’s exploiting a real frustration with government incompetence to sell a false solution: turning the state into a business club.
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