Should non-citizens pay the same tax if excluded from benefits?

[InWithPeaceOutWithStress]

Reform’s latest policy proposals include cutting all benefits for foreign nationals including EU nationals with leave to remain.

My partner is an EU citizen with indefinite leave to remain. He’s never claimed any benefits but you never know what’s round the corner.

It seems unfair to expect him to continue paying the same rate of national insurance and income tax if he isn’t entitled to the same benefits I’d be entitled to. Have Reform thought that through?

If our household isn’t entitled to the same safety net, we shouldn’t have to pay the same rates of national insurance and income tax.

I am not at all sure that Reform will survive the focus on its financial affairs - and that isn't going to go away. Then there's the ongoing poor performance Reform councils, and the level of tactical voting displayed in Gorton and Denton and in Makerfield. There's a finite number of racist xenophobic thugs in the UK, and Reform are doing nothing to appeal to more moderate right wing voters. And they still have almost 3 years to go until the next GE. Ongoing vigilance and activism are needed, but Reform's guns absolutely can be spiked.

Totally agree re ILR. Hopefully pps are correct that there's no 'IF they take rights away'.... they simply wouldn't be allowed to remove their rights.

https://fullfact.org/immigration/what-proportion-of-universal-credit-goes-to-non-british-citizens/

Reform UK has corrected part of a claim in its welfare plan that “the share of Universal Credit paid to foreign nationals rose to 15.5% in January 2026.”

The proportion of non-British/Irish claimants slightly fell to, not rose to, that figure. We explain 👇

Your comment was rude to them. You implied that they are so stupid when they mentioned noncitizen, legal UK residents needing to claim benefits after losing a job that they’d do so without even bothering to look for any other job first?

Yes, there are thousands of jobs out there as you say. I took a quick look and based on simple maths there are 3 unemployed job seekers per job advertised. You do also know that not all the job adverts are for active vacancies? A good % of them are for recruiters to refresh their CV banks. And 30% of jobs tend are in London, whereas most of the unemployed are up north or in the rural coastal areas but can’t afford to move to London.

Citizenship isn’t accessible to everyone. Many countries don’t allow dual citizenship so if the immigrant applies for British citizenship, they have to renounce their birth citizenship(s). For obvious reasons such as:
-wanting the ability to pass birth citizenship on to any future children,
-wanting the ability to go to their home country to look after ailing parents in their old age without having to apply for a visa, many immigrants with ILR stay with ILR.
-wanting the ability to return to the home country if the UK becomes a toxic, racist, xenophobic mess (which it is honestly sliding towards)
-keep the right to claim home country state pension if they had enough contributions from working there before coming to the UK
-inability to afford the cost to renounce citizenship and apply for British citizenship.

It makes logical sense not to provide benefits and housing to non-nationals.

Hows that work for mixed couples & families? You have British mum with non British husband and they have British children. He loses his job, and is disabled, So how’s that going to work? He can’t claim PIP which is required for his British wife to claim carers allowance. She would get no exemption for looking for work as a FT carer for a disabled partner. Any UC would be calculated based on her and the kids only..

So this logic will mean lots of British parents and kids unable to live hand to mouth.

Looking closer at the report, 8.4m are on Universal Credit. Around 37-39% are in work, they are getting top ups.

7.1m (84.5%)are British citizens or CTA (Irish) with right of abode.
748k (8.9%) are settled EU citizens (preBrexit)
235k (2.8%) are settled EU postBrexit and 3rd country with ILR
134k (1.6%) are authenticated and checked Refugees
76k (0.9%) limited leave to remain, including family reunion
59k (0.7%) are either other (0.4%) or no status recorded (0.3%)

I really don’t think excluding noncitizens is going to save much money and is it really worth it? When it is mostly likely to affect households with British citizens in them?

I don't think they have thought it through, all they need is soundbites.

A bit of scrutiny and they run a mile.