Reform and Labour come out on top in The Telegraph’s manifesto knockout game

Reform is the favourite party in three of the four key policy areas, with Labour just leading on NHS

Over 112,000 readers in one week have taken part in The Telegraph’s manifesto knockout game to find out where they really lean on four of the biggest election issues.

Of the four policy areas — tax and spending, the NHS, immigration and defence — Reform’s policies appealed most to players, with the exception of Labour’s NHS policies which players preferred.

Many, including reader Anthony Carter, consider Reform’s manifesto a “breath of fresh air”, compared to the other party manifestos.

Mr Carter lauds the manifesto for “encouraging people to go back to work”, “securing our borders” and “encouraging private healthcare to ease the pressure” on the NHS.

Likewise, John Vaccaro, believes “there’s more substance to Reform’s policy ideas than from the Tories and Labour combined. As a set of principles, these would deliver real change to the lives of people across the country”.

‘Leaves more people with more money in their own pockets’

On tax and spending, 46 per cent of players favoured Reform’s pledges. Readers were particularly keen on Reform’s promise to lower taxes.

Reader John Vaccaro thought “whoever outlined these policies may have been for a small state and lower taxes, pro-business and entrepreneurship, and, dare I say, a conservative at heart”.

Reader Christopher Toone was also impressed: “Farage is right on setting a £20,000 tax allowance.” He argued, “in Britain today £400 a week does not go far at all.”

Likewise, Reform has secured Stephen Loss’s vote: “Well done Nigel and Reform you get my vote. This is the manifesto the Conservatives should have come up with. Raising the tax free allowance will certainly help pensioners and it would not surprise me if a lot of pensioners vote Reform.”

Michael Constantine also weighed in: “Fewer taxes and higher thresholds means less work for HMRC.

“P45s on their way and could the remaining staff return to the office please. I am weary of having phone calls with public sector employees accompanied by the sound of children and dogs as background noise.”

Meanwhile, Chris Gilmour praised Reform’s tax and spending pledges for sounding “like a lot of common sense and practical ways to reduce the size and scope of government, cut costs and leave more people with more of their own money in their pocket”.

Paddy Thompson picked up on the “key point” of “the savings they are planning to make”.

“Liz Truss wanted to spend first with the promise of future cuts and the markets didn’t believe her. Announce the cuts first, show some progress, then use the savings on tax cuts, etc. Save first, spend later. Then you’re bulletproof.”

‘Finally, the use of the word reform in reference to the NHS’

However, Labour has taken a narrow lead on the NHS. Seventeen per cent of players have favoured Labour’s approach to tackling problems with the NHS.

Reader Stewart Honour was impressed by Labour’s pledge to reform the health service rather than “pouring ever-increasing amounts of money” into it.

He said: “Finally, the use of the word reform in reference to the NHS. This thankfully signals that the approach of pouring more money is not working.

“Why the Tories have not been overt about this is a mystery,” he adds.

Similarly, reader Julie McCaughey agreed that “the NHS needs reforming, not more funding”.

For Ian B, he suggested “only Labour has the political capital to transform the NHS”.

“This is an open goal for Starmer,” he continued. “If he embraced it he would become a two or three-term prime minister.”

Labour has said that it would tackle the “massive” waiting list backlog as an immediate priority by adding an extra two million operations, scans and appointments in the first year, achieved by paying NHS staff more to work overtime and boosting weekend availability.

Reader Anne Finlay-Bird acknowledged the importance of this: “Having spent weeks in the hospital, I was amazed how everything closed down on Friday and nothing happened over the weekend. What a waste of resources.”

Others back Labour’s plan for NHS reform, but are sceptical about how well it will be received by staff.

Richard Starks questioned: “We are constantly told that NHS staff are stressed and at breaking point, unable to deal with the waiting list backlog. Yet, Labour is now proposing to clear the waiting list by staff working weekends and evenings. The two are incompatible.

“Or could it be that overtime rates will suddenly boost staff energy somehow to deal with all this extra workload?”

And reader David Jones commented: “Wes Streeting is talking a great fight but will be taken down by doctors and nurses who have vested interests in things staying the same unless they receive a big pay hike.”

In a similar vein, reader Mrs Bell shared how she “used to work in the NHS when it was under a Labour government. They suggested weekend work then, and all the Unions said no.

“It’s worrying if this is the best Wes Streeting and Labour can come up with!”

However, Martin Lovegrove, a self-professed “conservative”, thought that “on health, Wes Streeting has promise. More than can be said for the shadow chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary.”

‘Should Reform act only on immigration, that is enough for me’

Reform’s plans for tackling immigration were also the most popular among readers. These include the introduction of an immigration tax and freezing “non-essential” migration.

“Should Reform act only on immigration and do what they say they will do, that is enough for me,” said reader Martin Kiernan. “The reduction in immigrants and the deportation of illegal overstayers will satisfy me.”

However, Mr Kiernan suggested Reform needs to take it a step further and “suspend all immigration for a period of five years to allow the country a grace period”.

John Nixon praised Nigel Farage’s party for “acknowledging the most important issues of concern to a majority of the population,” and argued “immigration controls are a no-brainer”.

Similarly, reader Geoff Winn argued Reform is “right on the button. Immigration has to be a first priority, swiftly followed by getting rid of net zero.”

He added: “The increasing rise in Islamism within the UK must be addressed.”

Carl Martin remarked: “Reform’s manifesto is a vote winner in a way other parties simply aren’t. It’s a real conservative plan. Nothing much on our dysfunctional housing market, but I guess cutting immigration would make a huge improvement to it.”

An anonymous reader weighed in: “I actually cannot understand why any previous Conservative would do anything other than vote Reform. We need a clean sweep.

“People talk about five or 10 years of Labour, but that five or 10 years will be too late with the demographics of foreign immigration and the population growth of immigrants.”

‘We don’t need defence until we need defence’

Finally, readers thought Reform’s defence policies were the most promising. One reader summarised: “We don’t need defence until we need defence! In today’s world, we need to ensure the defence of our nation has a higher priority.”

Likewise, Geoff Winn commended Reform’s manifesto for being “right on the button”.

“Immigration has to be a first priority… Addressing the degenerating world situation, with particular emphasis on our own defence, is a must.”

Readers were particularly impressed by Reform’s pledge to increase defence spending.

For instance, Brian Corbett thought the policy was “hardly the act of an appeaser” towards Russia.

Similarly, Laura Bailhache dubbed it “the strongest foreign policy move we can make at this time”.

Meanwhile, B Victor offered a comparison: “Voters will look at the security offering of the Conservatives, who have overseen the hollowing out of our army to numbers not seen since the 1800s; or Reform, opting to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP. I know which I prefer.”

However, despite finding Reform’s contract “impressive”, Guy Privilege felt “support for the democratic rights of Ukraine” was lacking.

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