General election latest: Farage’s Reform manifesto called ‘unserious’ for spending three times more than Truss
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Grant Shapps says Tories 'fighting for every single vote' as he faces questions on campaign
Nigel Farage has launched his manifesto for Reform UK, vowing to stop all illegal immigrants from settling in the UK, scrapping net-zero targets and raising the minimum threshold of income tax to £20,000 a year.
At a community centre in south Wales, he conceeded that his party would not win the general election, but aims to be the next candidate for prime minister by 2029.
He said that he had returned to the political front-line as “nothing actually works anymore” and that the Tories had failed to implement Brexit.
At the weekend, a poll for the Sunday Times projected Farage would win Clacton narrowly by 31 per cent over Giles Watling, the defending Conservative. The survey of 22,000 people also forecast Reform UK to win seven seats.
And on Monday morning, Mr Farage vowed his party would offer a “proper voice of opposition” in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
At the weekend, Suella Braverman said she would invite Mr Farage back into the party. However, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron disagreed. He said Mr Farage was “incredibly divisive” and trying to “destroy” the Conservative Party.
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Reform UK says the UK is ‘skint’ and suggests slimming down public sector
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the UK is “skint” and “in real trouble” as he suggested having a “slimmed down public sector” while maintaining services.
On whether his party’s spending pledges would result in cuts to public services, Mr Farage said: “Well cuts to the public sector, I mean, frankly, they’re never in the office anyway are they? It’s work from home, pop into Whitehall a couple of days a week.”
He added: “If you’re running a company and things are tight, you say to your managers and middle managers, ‘Right, I’m sorry, this is the way it is, you’ve got to cut £5 in £100’ – in fact in tough times it might be £10 in £100 or £20 in £100, and you have to find a way of doing that without affecting the product that we’re selling to the public.”
Mr Farage added: “Some of these things we’re proposing are tough but, look, the accumulated national debt is now £2.7 trillion, it was just under £1 trillion when the Tories came to power, we simply cannot go on like this.
Holly Evans17 June 2024 14:50
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Suella Braverman’s new ‘cringey’ TikTok election video is actually real
Suella Braverman’s new TikTok video described as “cringey” has left many viewers confused about whether it is just a parody.
The former home secretary was filmed doing a swaggering dance to the soundtrack of Fedde Le Grand and Ida Corr’s 2006 hit ‘Let Me Think About It’.
She launched the new account on the social media platform last week with a handful of videos as part of her general election campaign, and it has already received tens of thousands of views.
Read the full article here:
Suella Braverman’s new ‘cringey’ TikTok election video is actually real
Former home secretary is seen performing a swaggering dance to Fedde Le Grand and Ida Corr’s 2006 hit ‘Let Me Think About It’ in TikTok clip
Holly Evans17 June 2024 14:40
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TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) endorses Reform UK’s contract
More bad news for Rishi Sunak after centre right think tank the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) endorsed Nigel Farage and Reform UK’s contract with the people.
The TPA played a major role in getting the Tories back to power in 2010 by questioning the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown government tax and spend policies and has been staffed by former Tory aides.
But as Mr Farage unveiled Reform’s manifesto - or contract - for voters, the TPA put out a statement giving it their support.
The TPA said: “Reform’s package of tax cuts, spending controls, and reducing regulation has the potential to offer real relief to Brits struggling under a record high tax burden and give a boost to businesses drowning in red tape.”
However, it noted that while the plans for tax are big on promise, the details for reining in spending need to be spelt out for sceptical taxpayers.
“Nigel Farage knows how to stand out from the crowd. But for this to be the radical rethink he wants, taxpayers will expect detailed and deliverable proposals on which quangos will be scrapped and which spending programmes will be cut.”
David Maddox 17 June 2024 14:35
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Reports Sunak is urged to ‘go for the jugular’ shows Tory desperation, Starmer says
Sir Keir Starmer said that reports Rishi Sunak is being urged “go for the jugular” and launch more direct personal attacks against him for his campaign show that the Tories are “desperate”.
The Times reported that Cabinet ministers and senior Tories are urging the Prime Minister to launch “personalised attacks” on Sir Keir over his support for Jeremy Corbyn, his decision to campaign for a second referendum on Brexit and his work as a human rights lawyer.
Sir Keir told reporters: “That’s all they’ve got left after 14 desperate years. You get to to the last weeks and their only thing they’ve got left is to attack me personally, I think that tells you everything.”
“If they had a record to stand on, they would go into the final two weeks saying these are the brilliant things we’ve done but they haven’t got a record to stand on and if they said they’d done brilliantly people would laugh at them.”
He added: “This is desperate.”
Holly Evans17 June 2024 14:27
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Nigel Farage says Reform UK 'not pretending we are going win this election'
Nigel Farage says Reform UK 'not pretending we are going win this election'
Holly Evans17 June 2024 14:16
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Labour peer Michael Cashman has whip removed after Rosie Duffield comments
Labour Peer Michael Cashman has had the whip removed after comments he made that Rosie Duffield was “frit or lazy” for calling off local hustings over safety concerns.
Sir Keir Starmer told reporters that what Lord Cashman said was “particularly inappropriate and that’s why the support of the whip was withdrawn as it was very swiftly”.
Ms Duffield, a Labour General Election candidate who has been a defender of women’s rights and female-only spaces, said her attendance at local hustings was “impossible” because of “constant trolling”.
The former EastEnders actor and Labour MEP commented on a social media post about Ms Duffield’s move: “Frit. Or lazy”.
After a backlash, Lord Cashman apologised in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Holly Evans17 June 2024 14:16
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Farage told manifesto is ‘unserious’ due to £141bn extra spending plan
In a question from Sky News, Nigel Farage was told that Reform’s manifesto would result in £141 billion in extra spending every year, which amounts to three times more than Liz Truss’s disastrous mini budget.
It was suggested to Mr Farage that the document was therefore “deeply unserious”.
Mr Farage replied: “It is radical, it is fresh thinking, it is outside the box. It is not what you are going to get from the current Labour and Conservative parties who are virtually indistinguishable, frankly, from each other.”
He stressed again that his fight is about “who the opposition is going to be”, as he believes Labour will be in Number 10 in July.
Holly Evans17 June 2024 14:08
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Sunak insists Tories are ‘on the right track’ despite Shapps admitting defeat is likely
Rishi Sunak insisted the Conservatives are “on the right track”, despite his Defence Secretary Grant Shapps admitting earlier today that a Tory victory at the General Election is unlikely.
Speaking from Centrica’s Rough 47-3B gas rig, the Prime Minister said: “There’s still two-and-a-half weeks to go in this election, I’m fighting hard for every vote because I believe we can win.
“And there’s a very clear choice at this election: it’s having your taxes cut by the Conservatives or facing significant tax rises with the Labour Party.”
Asked if he understands people’s frustrations with the Tory party with some deciding to turn to Reform UK, he replied: “Of course I understand people’s frustrations with that, I mean that’s undeniable, and I’ve been very clear that we have made progress but there is more to go.
Holly Evans17 June 2024 13:57
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Farage rubbishes Tories plan for national service
Speaking in south Wales, Nigel Farage rubbished the Conservatives’ plans for national service, saying: “What we ought to be doing is saying, look, there were 100,000 people in the army in 2010, there are 72,000 people in the army now, let’s not recruit 30,000 part-timers, let’s actually recruit 30,000 people full-time to be in the services – and a similar principle will of course apply across the navy and air force.”
He stated his belief that the government had neglected defence “very, very badly” and that the UK should be spending 3 per cent of GDP as quickly as possible.
Turning to public services, Mr Farage said a “radical cultural rethink” needs to take place before he highlighted concerns over knife crime.
He said: “We’ve no doubt that an approach to policing such as stop-and-search and don’t worry if you’re called prejudiced or you’re doing something wrong, actually you’ll save lives.
Holly Evans17 June 2024 13:48
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Net-zero targets and HS2 to be scrapped, Reform UK vows
Reform has vowed to scrap net-zero targets to save £30 billion a year for the next 25 years.
The party also promises to fast-track licences of North Sea oil and gas licences.
A pledge to scrap HS2 to save £25 billion is also included in the party’s document, along with a ban on Ulez and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).
Holly Evans17 June 2024 13:35
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