Wednesday, February 04, 2026
Farage pitches welfare of 450,000 against the future of pubs
The paper says that the Reform UK leader has announced a £3 billion support package for pubs, funded by restoring the two-child benefit cap:
The plans would see VAT reduced to 10% for the hospitality sector, the employer national insurance increase for hospitality businesses scrapped, beer duty cut by 10%, new staggered business rate abolition for pubs and fresh regulation to support landlords.
It is estimated that lifting the two-child limit, which was introduced by the Tories in 2017, will lift 450,000 children out of poverty by 2029. Responding to the announcement, Stephen Timms MP, Labour’s Social Security Minister, said: “Politics is about choices. Nigel Farage’s choice is to join with the Tories and plunge half a million children back into poverty.
There is no doubt that something needs to be done to help businesses and charities by reducing the employer national insurance rate, but to penalise children to achieve that is inhumane. It tells us everything we need to know about Reform.
