Nigel Farage said he wanted Reform UK to establish a “bridgehead” in Parliament with a view to a full-assault in five years’ time as he launched his party’s set of election promises.
The Reform leader suggested he could be in No 10 following the next general election, but the July 4 contest was too early for his party.
“The real ambition is the 2029 general election,” he said, “but this is our first big push.”
The Reform document is titled “our contract with you” because Mr Farage said the word manifesto had become associated with “lies” told by the main Westminster parties.
The plan, launched in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, includes:
– A commitment to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and a policy of sending migrants who arrive in small boats back to France.
– A “freeze” on non-essential immigration “to protect our culture and identity”.
– Increasing the income tax personal allowance to £20,000, raising the threshold for paying the higher rate to £70,000 and scrapping inheritance tax on estates under £2 million.
– Cutting the main corporation tax rate from 25% to 15% in three years.
– Slashing fuel duty by 20p per litre, scrapping VAT on energy bills, and cut stamp duty to 0% on sales below £750,000.
– Eliminate NHS waiting lists in two years with an extra £17 billion a year for health.
Reform’s plans imply spending an extra £141 billion a year on tax cuts and various policy pledges, paid for by £156 billion of savings in public spending and an assumption of increased tax revenue from 1-1.5% extra economic growth.
Our response to @reformparty_uk’s manifesto is out.
— Institute for Fiscal Studies (@TheIFS) June 17, 2024
Read it in full here: https://t.co/kTJITWnS63 pic.twitter.com/Zx1tLoTanf
But the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said Reform’s plans were based on “extremely optimist assumptions” about growth and the sums “do not add up”.
Mr Farage launched his party’s plan in a deprived area of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, in an attempt to show what a Labour government would be like.
But while Reform is targeting Labour votes, its main objective is replacing the Tories as the main party on the right of British politics.
Mr Farage said: “We are not pretending that we are going to win this General Election, we are a very, very new political party.”
But he added: “This election is for our party, and for me, the first important step on the road to 2029.
“Our ambition is to establish a bridgehead in Parliament, and to become a real opposition to a Labour government.”
He said the Tories would not be able to provide opposition because “they spend most of their days arguing among themselves, and they’re split down the middle when it comes to policy”.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ deputy director Carl Emmerson said: “Reform UK proposes tax cuts that it estimates would cost nearly £90 billion per year, and spending increases of £50 billion per year.
“It claims that it would pay for these through £150 billion per year of reductions in other spending, covering public services, debt interest and working-age benefits.
“This would represent a big cut to the size of the state. Regardless of the pros and cons of shrinking the state, or of any of their specific measures, the package as a whole is problematic.
“Spending reductions would save less than stated, and the tax cuts would cost more than stated, by a margin of tens of billions of pounds per year.
“Meanwhile the spending increases would cost more than stated if they are to achieve their objectives.”
He added: “Even with the extremely optimistic assumptions about how much economic growth would increase, the sums in this manifesto do not add up.”
