Reform UK has unveiled a major new policy drive to tackle Britain’s litter and fly-tipping crisis, promising to increase maximum fines fivefold, seize the vehicles of repeat offenders and introduce a National Action Day on which politicians from all parties will lead community clean-ups — as the party positions itself as the champion of civic pride ahead of the next general election.
Deputy leader Richard Tice, who will set out the full details at a press conference on Wednesday, said the state of Britain’s streets, parks and countryside was “one of the clearest signs of Britain’s decline under successive Conservative and Labour governments.” He added: “Too many communities are being left to deal with litter and fly-tipping which has become socially acceptable, while those responsible face little consequence for their actions.”
The policy package includes raising the maximum Fixed Penalty Notice for fly-tipping from £1,000 to £5,000, making vehicle seizure the default punishment for second offences and creating a new aggravated offence of large-scale commercial fly-tipping carrying a minimum fine of £20,000 and automatic vehicle seizure on conviction. Fast food restaurants and takeaways would be required through the planning system to take greater responsibility for preventing customers discarding waste in the street. Councils failing to address the problem would be named and shamed through publicly accessible online dashboards.
Reform will begin implementing elements of the plan immediately in the 24 councils it currently controls in England, before pushing for national legislation if Nigel Farage becomes Prime Minister.
The announcement comes against a backdrop of high-profile fly-tipping incidents that have seized public attention. A toxic illegal dumping ground where a fire burned for a week last summer has become a central issue in the critical Makerfield by-election. A months-long clearance operation is under way at a giant illegal tip in Oxfordshire. Even a mountain in Wales has been described as being hit by a “river of rubbish.”
John Read, managing director of Clean Up Britain, backed the proposals. “Britain’s litter problem has been allowed to spiral out of control. Too many roads, towns and green spaces are being blighted by rubbish, while those responsible face little deterrent and too many organisations pass the blame. Reform UK is determined to take practical action at both local and national level to clean up Britain for good,” he said.
Tice framed the initiative as a matter of basic rights as much as enforcement. “Reform UK believes people have a basic right to live in clean, safe and decent areas. If we restore personal responsibility and respect for the places we all share, we can begin to reverse decades of decline and make Britain beautiful once again.”
