The Conservatives have also set out plans to stop paying benefits to foreign nationals, although they have stopped short of blocking EU citizens from claiming.
Speaking at a rival pre-Budget press conference, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Reform’s idea of reopening the Brexit deal was a “bad idea”.
“We spent a lot of time negotiating those rights, not just for EU citizens in this country, but British citizens in other countries of the EU,” she said.
Adding that a “lot of pain and effort” had gone into negotiating the withdrawal deal, she said it was “completely ridiculous” for Farage to suggest Reform would renegotiate the settlement.
Labour chair Anna Turley also hit out at the plan, adding that it risked a “trade war with Europe” and “undoing” the government’s efforts to reduce trade frictions through a series of new deals with the EU.
In a BBC interview following his news conference, Farage said: “All I’m arguing for here is fairness. There is now a vastly disproportionate number of EU nationals in Britain being paid benefits to Brits abroad.”
He argued that the UK would be well-placed to renegotiate the Brexit deal because “we are still a crucial market for the European Union”, although he conceded “I’ve not pretended it would be easy”.
Asked about the prospect of retaliation from the EU if talks failed, he replied: “We can retaliate with tariffs. Two can play that game.”
“I don’t want to do that. But you need to have a renegotiation to get a fair reset with the European Union,” he added.