Nigel Farage has promised a sweeping tax-cutting drive worth tens of billions of pounds, aimed at putting more money back into the pockets of “working people”.
The Reform UK leader said the party is preparing to set out a “radical” tax plan on Saturday, arguing that the measures would help ease the cost of living crisis while giving Britain’s sluggish economy a much-needed boost.
Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick is expected to outline proposals to cut public spending by £80billion, with more than half of the savings reportedly coming from what Reform describes as an overstretched benefits bill.
Part of that money would be directed toward reducing the UK’s sizeable deficit and bringing down government borrowing costs, which have climbed to more than £100billion a year.
But Mr Farage suggested that a significant share of the savings would be channelled into lowering Britain’s historically high tax burden, with low and middle-income workers and small businesses set to be key targets for relief.
Addressing Reform UK’s annual conference in Birmingham, Mr Farage said the party would use an emergency Budget to “slash benefits in a big way”.
At the same time, he insisted Reform would move to “cut taxes on working people and pensioners in a radical way”.
Party insiders were refusing to give away the full details on Friday, but Reform has been examining whether to raise the £12,570 income tax personal allowance, which is currently set to remain frozen for nearly a decade in what critics have branded the largest stealth tax in history.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party would unveil a ‘radical’ package of tax cuts designed to ease the cost of living and kickstart the economy
A protester who infiltrated the conference hall was seen being taken away by security guards
Mr Farage’s speech was delayed by a security alert after Greenpeace activated a remote-controlled banner on stage during a previous speech by deputy leader Richard Tice, forcing police to search the area for more devices.
Protesters who had infiltrated the conference hall also repeatedly interrupted the speech.
Mr Farage brushed aside fresh controversy about his party’s funding as ‘a little local difficulty’.
He said it was part of a ‘highly coordinated’ campaign by the ‘Establishment’ to damage the party.
He insisted he would not be ‘distracted’ and predicted that his party could still win the next election, which he said was likely to be next year.
Reflecting on Reform’s extraordinary rise, he said: ‘We campaigned on a slogan: Get Starmer out.
A promise made, a promise kept.’ Mr Farage pledged Reform’s first 100 days would result in a policy blitz, including stopping the boats and slashing energy bills by scrapping Net Zero levies.
The party will announce plans on Saturday to increase medical training to reduce dependence on foreign doctors and nurses.
He warned Establishment figures in the civil service, courts and House of Lords not to stand in the party’s way.
‘Parliament will sit, if necessary, for 24 hours a day, for six days a week until we pass the necessary legislation, and our policies will be explicit in our offering document to the British people,’ he said.
‘I expect the House of Lords to honour that… But if they don’t, well we will present them with an idea. We’ll appoint hundreds of new peers so that we have a majority in the House of Lords.
‘And if that proves difficult, we will hold a referendum on the current composition of the House of Lords, and they would be swept away by a British public appalled by them.’
The Reform leader savaged the Conservatives, saying they should ‘never be forgiven’ for overseeing a huge wave of immigration after Brexit. And he said Labour would bankrupt the country and would ‘never stop the boats’.
Meanwhile, friends of Mr Farage said he has been weighing up his future in politics following a string of security scares and funding scandals.
The embattled Reform UK leader suspended two key aides yesterday in a bid to close down the latest funding controversy.
Mr Farage denied his party had broken any laws or ‘taken any dodgy money’.
But allies acknowledged that he has been ground down by a series of recent controversies and setbacks.
One said he had spent the second half of the summer contemplating his political future.
Mr Farage pictured with close aide Dan Jukes, one of two key aides who have been suspended amid claims of accepting foreign donations
A source said: ‘Like anyone, he does sometimes take stock of his life. You cannot overstate how upsetting the murder of Ann Widdecombe has been and there are other security incidents that are not in the public domain which are very serious. But he is not walking away.’
Reform’s head of policy James Orr and long-serving aide Dan Jukes stepped down yesterday over claims by Channel 4 News that Reform took funding from a US firm for three polls it commissioned earlier this year, costing £32,500.
Both men were secretly filmed discussing the arrangement, which could breach electoral law.
Rival parties have also asked the police to investigate separate allegations that the two men discussed funding a £500,000 donation from a fake American businessman via an undercover reporter posing as his UK-based son.
The plan, which was also discussed on camera with Mr Farage, appeared to be designed to get round a ban on foreign donations.
Reform insisted it had done nothing wrong. But the controversy threatens to mire Reform in further questions.
Mr Farage dismissed questions about his own involvement, saying he had no idea anything was untoward when he met the fake donors over oysters and champagne.
‘I was in the middle of a by-election,’ he said. ‘I was told I had to go and meet these people.
‘If you look at this video I asked the question ‘is this all above board, has this been legally checked?’
He said Mr Jukes was not authorised to deal with donations and accused him of ‘problematic loose pub talk’.
Foreign companies are not a permissible source of funding for parties, and accepting donations from them could constitute an offence.
Mr Jukes branded the Channel 4 film ‘entrapment’, adding: ‘I totally deny any wrongdoing but have stepped back from politics in order to clear my name.’
Reform yesterday announced it had launched its own investigation following the broadcast.
A party spokesman said: ‘Both individuals involved have stepped down from their respective positions pending the outcome of the investigation.’
