𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Reform will slash spending by £40billion in just one year to avoid a financial meltdown and give working people a tax cut, party leader Nigel Farage and Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick have pledged. Mr Jenrick branded this week’s Budget a non-event and claimed Prime Minister Andy Burnham “hasn’t got the mettle” to cut spending.

The pair highlighted plans to allow working families to take home an extra £486 every year, as they launched what Reform calls an Economic Rescue Plan for Britain. A Reform government would raise the income tax threshold to £15,000, effectively cutting income tax for most people. It means those earning between £14,000 and £120,000 would take home an extra £486 every year, with people on even higher incomes gaining less.

The document also set out plans to cut household energy bills by removing a series of government charges that are currently added to them. Changes would be funded by cuts including stopping non-British citizens claiming benefits, reducing foreign aid and scrapping subsidies for net-zero projects.

Mr Jenrick predicted there would be no significant cuts in the Budget to be delivered by Chancellor John Healey on Wednesday. He said: “The sums still won’t add up and it’s you who will pay. That is why I fear the worst. Every hard choice is put off until tomorrow.”

And the Reform MP warned of economic chaos if Labour continued on its present course. “This can’t last,” he said. “The market will realise that Andy Burnham hasn’t got the mettle to make a single hard choice, and when it does, it’s your mortgage, it’s your job, it’s your savings that will pay the price.”

Conservatives accused Reform of stealing their policies. A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Reform have already stolen numerous policies that the Conservatives have previously announced for their ‘rescue plan’.”

But Reform UK leader Nigel Farage insisted the Tories were actually copying Reform. “Reform was there way before the Conservatives,” he said.

Reform also attacked Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch for announcing a series of policies at her party conference, which appear to benefit higher earners, including allowing people earning more than £100,000 to receive tax-free childcare and ending a so-called “mansion tax” on homes valued at more than £2million.

Mr Jenrick called her “Kensington Kemi”, saying she had policies to help wealthy Londoners but not working people across the country.

Aid agencies urged Reform to rethink plans to cut foreign aid. A spokesperson for Bond, which represents non-governmental organisations, said: “Slashing the UK aid budget to just £1billion would leave the UK powerless against some of the biggest threats we face, like extreme poverty, inequality, and insecurity driven by conflict and climate crisis.

“It would also leave us unable to play our part in helping countries facing disasters, like the recent flooding in Nepal and the upcoming El Niño, or to protect us all from the spread of diseases like Ebola.”