Tory minister Penny Mordaunt has branded Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a ‘Labour enabler’ in a fiery TV general election debate.
The Leader of the House of Commons pushed Conservative claims that voting for Reform on 4 July would make it easier for Sir Keir Starmer to become PM.
She claimed Mr Farage was ‘enabling no cap, no target and no plan’ as she warned about a lack of action on migration under a Labour government.
But the Reform leader shot back and said the Tories had ‘deceived’ voters on migration at the last four general elections.
Mr Farage also pointed to a bombshell poll released this evening that showed Reform had now overtaken the Tories.
‘A vote for you is actually now a vote for Labour,’ he told the Conservative minister.
The heated exchange between Ms Mordaunt and Mr Farage took place as party representatives in a seven-way ITV debate were allowed to ask direct questions of each other.
The Reform leader quizzed Ms Mordaunt about Tory pledges to reduce net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’ ahead of the 2010, 2015 and 2017 general elections.
He also challenged her over a Conservative promise to reduce immigration in 2019, since when ‘net 4.3million people have come into the country’, Mr Farage said.
‘Why on earth should anybody believe the fifth manifesto that promises cuts to net migration?,’ he added.
Ms Mordaunt was met by laughter from both the audience and Mr Farage as she replied: ‘Because of the record of this Prime Minister.’
The Cabinet minister added: ‘We’ve had figures out today that show visa applications have fallen by 30 per cent, and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s own forecasts say that we will halve immigration by next summer.
‘That’s the trajectory we are on. And we will give Parliament the chance to set an annual cap on family and work visas.
‘That will be enshrined, a legal cap, and that is what we are offering.’
Ms Mordaunt continued: ‘The only alternative you have in this election is that or what the Labour Party have on offer.
‘Nigel is a Labour enabler. He is enabling no cap, no target, and no plan.’
Mr Farage replied: ‘I don’t believe a single word that you say, you have deceived us in the last four manifestos. I don’t believe you in the fifth.
‘And as for being a Labour enabler, we are now ahead of you in the national polls. A vote for you is actually now a vote for Labour.’
Just prior to tonight’s ITV debate, a YouGov survey for The Times put Reform up two points to 19 per cent, with the Conservatives unchanged on 18 per cent.
The symbolic moment of Reform moving ahead of the Tories for the first time is a shattering blow to PM Rishi Sunak with just three weeks until the general election.
The poll showed Labour with an 18-point lead, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party backed by 37 per cent of voters.
The Liberal Democrats were four points behind the Tories on 14 per cent.
Elsewhere during the ITV debate, Mr Farage piled pressure on the Tories and Labour tonight as he surprisingly backed the lifting of the two-child benefit cap.
The Reform UK leader said ‘we should encourage people to have children’, while he also backed greater tax relief for married couples.
The two-child benefit cap prevents parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third or additional child born after April 2017.
Charities have called for the abolition of the cap and pointed to record levels of child poverty in the UK.
But both Mr Sunak and Sir Keir have said they will keep the cap in place after the general election.
Mr Farage was challenged by debate host Julie Etchingham about his own stance on the cap.
She noted how Tory former home secretary Suella Braverman last month broke ranks with the PM to call for it to be abolished.
Asked if he agreed with Mrs Braverman, Mr Farage said: ‘I think we should encourage people to have families.
‘I think we should encourage people to have children. I think we should also encourage people in marriage to have some tax benefits as well.
‘We’ve got to help people.’
This evening’s seven-way debate also saw renewed clashes between Conservative minister Ms Mordaunt and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner over tax.
Ms Mordaunt pointed to a £38.5billion ‘black hole’ in Labour’s general election manifesto.
The House of Commons Leader warned Labour have only declared a quarter of the taxes they will have to put up if they win power on 4 July.
But Ms Rayner shot back at Tory manifesto plans for a £17billion package of tax cuts.
‘We can’t afford five more years of the Tories,’ she told Ms Mordaunt.
‘You’re promising tax cuts when you’ve already tried it once and crashed the economy.’
Earlier, Mr Farage warned the NHS ‘isn’t working’ and suggested Britain copy France’s health system.
‘We need to look at countries like France, who spend exactly the same sum of money, but get far better services, by people paying into an insurance fund,’ he said.
‘Those that can’t pay don’t. They get better results. Let’s think more broadly.’
Mr Farage, in part, blamed the UK’s ‘exploding population’ for pressures on the NHS.
Ms Mordaunt, Ms Rayner and Mr Farage engaged in a second live on-air bout, six days after they engaged in heated exchanges in a previous seven-way BBC debate.
Also appearing tonight were the Liberal Democrat’s Daisy Cooper, SNP’s Stephen Flynn, Green Party’s Carla Denyer, and Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth.