Nigel Farage refused to rule out scrapping the state pensions triple lock yesterday as he struggled to defend plans for a spending splurge of up to £85billion.
The Reform UK leader unveiled a string of policies in a major speech, including scrapping the two-child benefit cap, fully reinstating winter fuel payments and raising the tax-free income allowance to £20,000.
He also pledged a transferable marriage tax allowance if his party wins the next election, aimed at incentivising marriage and encouraging people to have more children by making it more affordable.
It would exempt one spouse from paying any tax on the first £25,000 of their income, as revealed by the Mail.
But the Conservatives branded the package ‘fantasy’ economics and ‘Corbynism in a different colour’ because of the ‘billions in unfunded commitments’.
Experts said it could cost as much £85billion, a figure that dwarfs the £45billion of unfunded tax cuts announced by former Tory Prime Minister Liz Truss in her disastrous 2022 mini-Budget.
Even leading Reform activist Tim Montgomerie, who defected from the Tories after founding the ConservativeHome site, admitted: ‘The sums don’t add up.’
But Mr Farage insisted the pledges were ‘credible’ and could be paid for by scrapping the Net Zero agenda, which he claimed was costing £45billion a year.
He said an extra £4billion annually could be saved from ditching accommodation for asylum seekers by deporting them and £7billion by ending the public sector’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) drive.
A further £65billion could be saved over five years by cutting quango bureaucracy by 5 per cent, he added, giving an average saving of £69billion annually overall.
But experts said raising the basic rate of income tax threshold to £20,000 could alone cost up to £80billion.
At present, workers pay the 20 per cent rate of income tax on everything between £12,570 and £50,270. Lifting the two-child benefit cap would cost an extra £3.5billion and reinstating the winter fuel allowance £1.5billion.
The eagerly anticipated speech was the most policy-heavy since Reform won four million votes and five seats last July.
Asked if he had a ‘magic money tree’, Mr Farage admitted his sums were ‘slightly optimistic’ but added: ‘We can’t afford Net Zero, it’s destroying the country; we can’t afford DEI, it’s actually preventing many talented people from succeeding; and we certainly can’t afford young undocumented males crossing the English Channel and living in five-star hotels.
‘You can argue about numbers adding up. You can probably argue that at no point in the history of any form of government has anybody ever thought the numbers added up.
‘I think what I’m trying to do today is give you an idea of direction of policy, of priorities, of what we think is important and we think it’s going to cost and how we think we can pay for it. I believe what I’ve presented is credible.’
Dismissing a comparison to Ms Truss’s mini-budget, he added: ‘Liz Truss’s dramatic failure was not to propose any cuts.’
But he refused to guarantee keeping the pensions triple lock, raising the prospect that Reform could launch a raid on pensioners to help pay for the pledges if he comes to power, which polls suggest is possible.
He admitted: ‘The triple lock is not something we’ve addressed as yet.’
The measure guarantees state pensions rise each year by whichever is highest of the annual rate of inflation, average growth in earnings or 2.5 per cent.
Estimates suggest £10billion could be saved if it was scrapped and pensions were indexed to prices or wages alone.
Mr Farage also defended plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap. But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said it was right to keep the cap as it was unfair to expect taxpayers to subsidise people having large families they cannot afford.
Mr Farage yesterday responded: ‘This is part of a bigger package and policy we are putting together to try and make the family a more important element in British life.’
Sir Mel Stride said Mr Farage had ‘abandoned hardworking families who live within their means’.
The Tories’ shadow chancellor added: ‘Farage has announced billions in unfunded commitments with fantasy ways to pay for them. It’s Corbynism in a different colour.’
Stuart Adam, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, insisted raising the basic income tax rate threshold could cost up to £80billion.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey branded the Reform package as ‘Truss-onomics on steroids’.