Farage outlines his real agenda

The Guardian reports that Nigel Farage has backtracked on his party’s election promise to cut £90bn of taxes, accusing Labour and the Tories of “wrecking the public finances” and saying Reform UK would need to get public spending under control first.

The paper says that Farage rejected suggestions he had been forced to break manifesto promises in order to gain economic credibility, suggesting the proposal had only ever been an “aspiration”. However, the substance of his speech suggests that Reform's real agenda is to cut benefits, cut the minimum wage, raise retirement age, and means test pensions:

Reform’s manifesto committed the party to tax cuts worth about a third of the NHS budget, but economists said the plans – along with £50bn of spending commitments and £150bn of cuts – were “problematic” and cost far more than claimed.

Reform has yet to set out any detailed plans on spending cuts, although it has signalled there will be big reductions on welfare benefits, net zero policies, support for asylum seekers, foreign aid and the Whitehall civil service.

In his speech, Farage said: “I cannot tell you what the state of the economy will be as the next general election approaches. If I’m right, and that election comes in 2027 then the economy will be in an even worse state than any of us in this room could even relate.

“So how can anybody project on pensions or thresholds or any of those things between now and then … They were only ever aspirations. I think what you’re seeing today is us being realistic about the state of the economy.”

Reform is also understood to be looking at changes to public sector pensions, leading to suggestions that it could cut the future incomes of millions of nurses, teachers and police. Farage said he was focusing on “exorbitant” management fees paid by pension funds.

This is the man who sold Brexit to the country, undermining our economy and enabling the hundreds of small boats in the English channel that he now wants to exploit for his own political gain.

This is the man who stands by Sarah Pochin and her venal race comments, while raking in fees from Nomad Capitalist, a consultancy that provides strategies for high-net-worth-individuals to avoid paying tax by moving their lives and businesses offshore.

None of this serves the interest of the UK or of ordinary voters.