First, the good news. Nigel Farage has vowed to shrink Britain’s gargantuan £300billion – and rising – welfare bill if he becomes prime minister.
Reintroducing in-person appointments and reforming personal independence payments will save tens of billions of pounds, he says. Slashing public sector pensions could save even more much-needed cash. The Reform UK leader also clarified his stance on removing the two-child benefit cap, which would only apply for British working couples.
But there was some not-so-good news too, with Mr Farage dodging a question about whether he would scrap the pensions triple lock.
He has previously said the party won’t make a final decision on that political landmine for some time yet, but his relative silence on the issue does not bode well for keeping it.
Those yearning for immediate tax cuts will be disappointed to hear Mr Farage warn that substantial ones are not realistic – not under the current economic circumstances, at least.
Some of Reform’s manifesto pledges from last year appear to have been put on ice at the very least.
But their bolder, more Trumpian, reforms to welfare and public sector pensions, plus a complete reversal of Labour’s green policies on North Sea oil and wind farms, remain.
