Nigel Farage has vowed to declare a “national emergency” on his first day in office, framing the move as a way to highlight the country’s problems after successive Conservative and Labour governments. The declaration is a rhetorical device rather than a formal legal mechanism, and its practical effect on government powers would depend on how any resulting legislation was framed.

Under plans proposed for a Reform government, Farage would require MPs to sit in Parliament seven days a week—including through the summer—to pass bills written by the government.

In a speech on Friday at the Reform UK party conference, Farage will say the Tories “failed” for 14 years in government, and that Andy Burnham “wants 10 more” years of woes. Burnham, Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, is among the figures tipped as a potential future Labour leadership contender, which frames Farage’s attack on a possible successor to Keir Starmer.

A Reform UK spokesman said: “Britain is in serious trouble. We don’t have time to wait around to fix it.”

The King’s Speech, which presents the bills a government intends to pass, normally takes place within days of a General Election result. Reform UK officials were approached for comment on whether it would take place on the first day of Farage entering Number 10 if he won an election.

Farage is expected to announce that ministers who fail to meet party pledges within specific time frames would be sacked.

He will also tell an audience of lobbyists, businessmen and party members: “If the Lords, judiciary or civil service get in our way they will discover just how determined we are.” The remark echoes long-running tensions between governments of both major parties and the unelected institutions Farage names, though critics have previously raised concerns about rhetoric questioning the independence of the courts and civil service.

The Reform leader will additionally say he would do “anything and everything to make the first 100 days work”.

Farage and Jenrick to hold Budget in first 100 days

Reform’s economic spokesman Robert Jenrick told the conference he would hold a Budget within the first 100 days of entering office and cut £80bn in government expenditure each year, allowing for tax hikes and a calculated £30bn gain to public finances from lower debt interest payments. Jenrick is a former Conservative cabinet minister who defected to Reform, and the scale of the proposed cuts exceeds anything implemented by recent governments; independent analysts have previously questioned whether savings of this size are deliverable without deep reductions to departmental budgets.

Deputy leader Richard Tice said the government would cut £250 from household energy bills by scrapping carbon taxes on generators through the emissions trading scheme. The UK Emissions Trading Scheme charges power generators and heavy industry for their carbon emissions, and its costs feed into wholesale electricity prices. Other net zero levies would also be removed, as they have “little regard to the struggles of the British billpayer that bears them”, according to Tice.

Tice, who will deliver a speech on Friday before Farage, described high energy costs as a “national crisis” that would be a priority for the party.

Bridget Phillipson, chair of the Labour Party, said Farage’s announcements were a distraction from scrutiny relating to a £5m donation made by crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne to Farage before the 2024 election.

“If Farage can’t get his own house in order, he simply can’t be trusted to address the issues the country faces,” Phillipson said.

On the first day of the three-day conference, party officials held discussions with industry chiefs and hosted panels with representatives from companies including Panmure Liberum, Vodafonethree and AI firm Multiverse. The corporate engagement reflects Reform’s effort to present itself as a government-in-waiting to business audiences as well as to voters.

Jenrick refused to rule out bank taxes at one event with City executives, although he predicted that John Healey would raise levies on lenders at the Budget.

Reform remains ahead of Labour in City AM/Freshwater Strategy polling, although the party faces political pressure from a swing in fortunes for the governing party and Kemi Badenoch’s popularity boost. Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has seen her party’s polling improve in recent surveys, tightening the race on the right of British politics where Reform has drawn much of its support.