Richard Tice has backtracked on Reform’s promise of £90billion tax cuts within the first few months of the party winning a general election. Reform’s deputy leader insisted the promise in the July manifesto was meant only to indicate “the direction of travel”.
He said: “These are the tax cuts I want to get to. But we can’t implement them until I’ve proven that I can produce the savings.”
In its general election pledge, Nigel Farage’s party listed several “critical reforms” it said would be needed in the first 100 days.
These included: lifting the income tax starting rate to £20,000 a year and the higher threshold to £70,000; abolishing inheritance tax on estates of less than £2million; scrapping VAT on energy bills; and cutting corporation tax from 25% to 20%.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies suggested that Reform is significantly underestimating the costs of its tax cuts, and overestimating the amounts that can be saved through cuts in spending.
But Mr Tice, who is expected to become chancellor should Reform’s claim election victory, insisted that his “numbers do add up”.
He added that Reform would not implement tax cuts without first demonstrating that they could be paid for through reduced spending.
In his interview with the Telegraph, Mr Tice said that “clearly you’ve got to also do what is achievable, and you’ve got to be cognisant of the bond markets, the financial market”.
Reform has surged in opinion polls in recent months and claimed several victories at recent local elections.
It also beat Labour by six votes in a Parliamentary by-election earlier this month – resulting in them gaining Sarah Pochin as an MP.
