Nigel Farage’s Reform manifesto ‘crusade’ panned by economists

Nigel Farage tries to defend Reform UK manifesto cost 'three times higher than Liz Truss'

Nigel Farage has parked his tank firmly on Rishi Sunak’s lawn with a manifesto designed to win over disgruntled Tory supporters.

Launching Reform UK’s so-called “contract with the people”, the arch-Brexiteer appealed directly to right-wing voters with policies including a freeze on non-essential immigration, scrapping net zero targets and pulling Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Mr Farage lashed out at the soaring tax burden, touting £90bn per year worth of tax cuts for voters and a shakeup that would take 7 million people out of paying tax on their earnings altogether.

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And, while he acknowledged that Reform will not be in power to implement the plans after the general election, Mr Farage said the document was “step one” on the party’s path to changing Britain.

The manifesto launch in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, comes just days after Reform overtook the Tories for the first time in a national poll. It is still expected to win just one seat, with Mr Farage standing in Clacton, but threatens to deprive the Tories of majorities in tens of seats across the country.

A Conservative Party spokesman responded to the manifesto launch by saying a vote for Reform “risks delivering an unaccountable Labour majority”.

The spokesman added: “That would hand Keir Starmer a blank cheque to raise your taxes, take no action on illegal immigration, and even rejoin the EU, with no way to stop him.”

And the Tories warned that if Labour got in they would remain in power for a generation.

Reform said its manifesto pledges would cost £141bn to implement, setting out proposals to save £146bn to fund them.

But the document was immediately panned by economists, with the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) saying the sums “do not add up”.

IFS deputy director Carl Emmerson said the party’s planned spending cuts, such as its £50bn crackdown on “wasteful Government spending”, would save less than stated, while the proposed tax cuts would cost tens of billions of pounds more.

He added: “Even with the extremely optimistic assumptions about how much economic growth would increase, the sums in this manifesto do not add up. Whilst Reform’s manifesto gives a clear sense of priority, a government could only implement parts of this package, or would need to find other ways to help pay for it, which would mean losers not specified.”

Tax expert Dan Neidle noted that at least £38bn of Reform’s tax cuts are unfunded, about twice the unfunded cost of Liz Truss’s disastrous 2022 mini budget.

But Reform leader Mr Farage said the document showed “radical, fresh, outside-the-box thinking”.

He said: “It’s not what you’re going to get from the current Labour and Conservative parties who are virtually indistinguishable, frankly, from each other.

"Is this radical fresh thinking on economics? Yes. Is it radical fresh thinking on constitutional change? Yes. Is it a very radical change in the way our education system is currently bringing up our young children? Yes.”

And, in a sign of Mr Farage’s package appealing to traditional Tory backers, the usually Conservative-supporting Taxpayers’ Alliance said the manifesto offered Brits “real relief”.

Mr Farage addressed criticism of the cost of the package by saying the party would merely be campaigning for the measures over five years as the voice of opposition to an expected Labour government.

The manifesto also delved into the so-called culture wars, promising a ban on "transgender ideology" in schools with "gender questioning, social transitioning and pronoun swapping" prohibited.

The party also proposes a "patriotic curriculum", which would include pairing the teaching of Britain’s history of slavery or European imperialism, with a non-European occurrence to "ensure balance".

Reform meanwhile promised to make St George’s Day and St David’s Day a public holiday, pledged a Free Speech Bill to "stop left-wing bias and politically correct ideology" and said it would scrap the TV licence, which funds the BBC.

Reform also vowed to scrap net-zero targets to save £30 billion a year for the next 25 years.

The party says it will fast-track North Sea oil and gas licences.

Mr Farage added that Reform wants to "simplify" the UK’s tax system, which it says totals more than 21,000 pages, while Hong Kong’s is 500 pages.

The party is also proposing to lift the minimum profit threshold to £100,000 and reduce the main corporation tax rate from 25 per cent to 15 per cent in three years, which it says would "free" 1.2 million businesses.

Elsewhere it promises to abolish business rates for small and medium businesses by introducing an "online delivery tax" at 4 per cent for large companies.

Mr Farage’s party also pledges to cut fuel duty by 20p per litre, scrap VAT on energy bills, and scrap stamp duty on sales below £750,000.

The document also states that inheritance tax would be scrapped for 98 per cent of all estates.