NIGEL Farage has vowed to reduce spending before embarking in massive tax giveaways in a bid to boost his party’s economic credentials.
The Reform UK leader has decided to jettison a pledge to cut taxes by £90 billion as the party grapples with the UK debt crisis.
Nigel Farage will set out his plans for the UK economy in a major speech in the coming weeks[/caption]
Mr Farage says that he will present a “rigorous and fully-costed manifesto” following criticism from the Tories over the competence with the nation’s finances.
He said: “At the next election, we will present a rigorous and fully-costed manifesto. Reform will never borrow to spend, as Labour and the Tories have done for so long.”
Farage told The Times: “Instead, we will ensure savings are made before implementing cuts.”
Farage made the intervention ahead of a major speech on the economy which he will make in the coming weeks.
New policies are expected with pledges to cut fuel duty, income and corporation tax put to one side in a major change of policy.
It is likely to come ahead of the Budget on November 26 where Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out plans to fill a financial black hole of around £30 billion.
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice today insisted that the principles of the manifesto are “absolutely rock solid” despite the actual pledges being abandoned.
He told Times Radio: “A manifesto is based on a point in time. The principles behind it are absolutely rock solid.
“We said we’ve got to make very significant savings in order to fund a different way to run the economy.
“What’s happened since then is that the state of the economy, because of the mismanagement by this Labour government, the numbers have got far worse. And we will be focusing relentlessly, as I’ve been saying, on the savings.”
Tice also said that plans to drop the income tax threshold to £20,000 will become an “aspiration”. It will no longer be a priority in the first 100 days if Reform enter office.
He said lifting the income tax threshold to £20,000 will become an “aspiration” instead of a plan for the first 100 days:
The change of economic plan comes as the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank said the Chancellor could impose a one-off tax on wealth to appease those on the left of the Labour party.
The rich would have less time to move their assets if the tax only struck once.
But Mr Tice said: “It’s a terrible idea. All the evidence around the world shows that and people wrote back to me. It’s an appalling idea.
“What reform would do is we will attract back all of the successful people, the entrepreneurs who are leaving the country, fleeing the country in fright at the increased taxes from this government.”
