Overview
- Richard Tice set out proposals in Birmingham to merge local government pension schemes into a single British Sovereign Wealth Fund valued at roughly £500–£575bn with a strategic UK growth focus, including a target of 25% in UK shares.
- The plan would close defined benefit pensions to new council recruits and move them to defined contribution schemes, while existing staff would keep accruing under current terms.
- Reform proposes a new super department covering business, trade, energy and housing, plus protectionist measures such as heavy tariffs and quotas on Chinese cars and support for sectors including steel, oil, gas and defence.
- A promised Great Repeal Bill would seek to scrap net zero targets, the zero‑emission vehicle mandate, and recently enacted employment and renters’ rights laws.
- Pensions bodies and campaigners, including UKSIF, AJ Bell’s Tom Selby and ex‑minister Steve Webb, caution the approach could lower returns, distort markets and raise council tax, while Unison, Prospect and housing groups say renters and workers would lose key safeguards; these remain party proposals, not law.