Nigel Farage has rowed back from his party\u2019s election promise to cut \u00a390bn of taxes, accusing Labour and the Tories of \u201cwrecking the public finances\u201d and saying Reform UK would need to get public spending under control first.<\/p>\n
The Reform leader rejected suggestions he had been forced to break manifesto promises in order to gain economic credibility, suggesting the proposal had only ever been an \u201caspiration\u201d.<\/p>\n
As well as backtracking on the party\u2019s 2024 pledge to raise tax-free thresholds to \u00a320,000, he refused to guarantee that the pensions triple lock<\/a> \u2013 estimated to reach \u00a315.5bn by 2030 \u2013 would remain under a Reform government.<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s speech in the City of London laid bare the tensions at the heart of his project, as he attempts to improve his party\u2019s economic credibility, which political opponents regard as a weak point, while at the same time retain the electoral benefits of political insurgency.<\/p>\n Reform\u2019s manifesto<\/a> committed the party to tax cuts worth about a third of the NHS budget, but economists said the plans \u2013 along with \u00a350bn of spending commitments and \u00a3150bn of cuts \u2013 were \u201cproblematic\u201d and cost far more than claimed.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In his speech, Farage said: \u201cI cannot tell you what the state of the economy will be as the next general election approaches. If I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSo how can anybody project on pensions or thresholds or any of those things between now and then \u2026 They were only ever aspirations. I think what you\u2019re seeing today is us being realistic about the state of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u201cexorbitant\u201d management fees paid by pension funds.<\/p>\n He ruled out any immediate major tax cuts should Reform make it to power, saying that he would introduce \u201crelatively modest\u201d savings at first, including reversing the inheritance tax on farms and raising tax thresholds.<\/p>\n Farage said he wanted Reform to be the party of working people \u2013 lifting Nick Clegg\u2019s line on \u201calarm clock Britain\u201d<\/a> \u2013 but suggested the minimum wage for younger workers was too high, and criticised the government\u2019s workers\u2019 rights bill, arguing it damaged small businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an argument the minimum wage is too high for younger workers, particularly given that we\u2019ve lowered the level at which NIC [national insurance contribution] is paid to \u00a35,000 a year. So do one or the other: either lift the cap at which NI is due, or lower the minimum wage for lower [sic] workers.\u201d<\/p>\n Farage said the UK was suffering a wealth drain, just as it experienced a brain drain in the 1970s, underlining his opposition to the non-dom tax<\/a>, which he argued forced many high earners out of the country to avoid paying tax here. \u201cThe exodus is real,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people pay their UK taxes. These people employ a lot of people. These people invest in British businesses and British industries. These people are the biggest spenders in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cI want as many high-earning people as possible living in this country, and paying as much tax as they legally have to. Because if the rich leave and the rich don\u2019t pay tax, then the poorer in society will all have to pay more tax. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n Farage said there had been \u201cmisunderstandings\u201d about Reform\u2019s policy on benefits, saying that he would lift the two-child benefit cap \u2013 but only to help low-paid British couples who were both working.<\/p>\n