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Robert Jenrick has vowed that Reform UK will “defuse the benefits bomb set to bankrupt Britain”, in his first speech since being named as Nigel Farage’s “shadow chancellor”. Dubbing the UK’s soaring welfare bill an “economic and moral disaster”, he pledged to stop foreigners receiving handouts and prevent claimants getting cash for “spurious” mental health reasons.

Mr Jenrick also confirmed the party had performed a U-turn over plans to end the two-child benefit cap, and would retain current rules that restrict the amount of Universal Credit paid to larger families. Labour is to scrap the cap, handing 570,000 households in Great Britain an average of £5,400 each in extra benefit payments. Mr Farage previously indicated Reform would either follow suit or remove the cap for working families.

But in a speech in London’s financial district, Mr Jenrick declared: “A Reform government will restore the cap in full. We are the party of alarm clock Britain – a party for workers and not welfare.”

Labour branded the announcement “cruel” and highlighted predictions that ending the cap would mean 450,000 fewer children in relative poverty.

It also appeared that Mr Farage had been reluctant to accept the U-turn, as he told journalists after the speech: “My attempt at being pro-family has failed.”

Mr Jenrick refused to commit a Reform government to maintaining the pensions triple lock, saying an announcement on the state pension would be made at a later date, but dropped a heavy hint that the policy or something very similar will remain.

Questioned by the Express, the former Conservative cabinet minister said: “We’re going to be saying more about this in the coming days, but I’ve always been a supporter of the triple lock.

“It’s incredibly important that we provide dignity and security to older people on fixed incomes in the last decades of their life – particularly at a time like this, where there are such challenging circumstances with the cost of living.

“So I don’t think your readers will be disappointed, but we’ll say more in the coming weeks.”

Mr Jenrick was named as Reform’s “shadow chancellor” this week, alongside home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf, education spokesman Suella Braverman and business spokesman Richard Tice, who would also serve as deputy prime minister in a Reform government.

The appointments are designed to end a perception that Reform is a “one-man band”, as Mr Farage put it, and demonstrate the party has the experience required to run the country.

In a lengthy speech, Mr Jenrick set out plans to stop “net zero” policies influencing economic decisions, force UK employers to train British staff rather than importing foreign workers, and “ruthlessly” crack down on scammers and shoplifters.

But the speech was also designed to reassure financial markets by pledging that a Reform government would follow “strict fiscal rules” and introduce tax cuts only when the nation can afford it.

Mr Jenrick dubbed Reform “reassuring revolutionaries” and promised no “wild spending splurges alongside big tax cuts”.

He said: “We will instil a fiscal discipline that has been sorely missing, spending only what we can afford and never saddling future generations with the bill for our profligacy.”

The MP added: “I give you my word that a Reform government will never play fast and loose with your savings.”

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Plans to slash the welfare bill include restricting benefits to UK nationals, and ensuring people can only claim sickness benefits for mental health conditions if they have a medical diagnosis.

Mr Jenrick said: “On current course, one in eight people are set to claim disability benefits in four years’ time – that’s almost nine million people.

“The number claiming disability benefits for an attention disorder has more than doubled since Covid. We all know a significant number of these claims are spurious.

“And that we’re just giving up on over half a million young people, discarded as ‘unfit to work’. So our benefits system is broken.”

He vowed: “We will stop those with mild anxiety, depression, and similar conditions from claiming disability benefits and instead encourage them into the dignity of work.

“We will reinstate in-person assessments and require clinical diagnoses to weed out those who are choosing a life on benefits.”

He added: “And we’ll make sure only British nationals can claim benefits in the first place.”

Conservatives pointed out that Mr Farage and Mr Jenrick, who defected from the Tories in January, had previously been staunch critics of each other.

Kevin Hollinrake, chairman of the Conservative Party, said: “One week Nigel Farage says Robert Jenrick is a fraud, next week he’s Reform’s economic guru. You cannot trust a word he says.

“Reform’s economic policy changes by the week. Just two weeks ago, Rob Jenrick voted to lift the two-child benefit cap. Today, he claims he would reinstate it. They make even Keir Starmer look consistent.”

He added: “Reform is a one-man band. The only view that counts is Nigel Farage’s, and he wants more welfare.”

Labour chairwoman Anna Turley said: “Robert Jenrick has united the Right behind a cruel child poverty pact that would see nearly half a million kids pushed into poverty.

“Farage’s party is stuffed full of former failed Tories who are now hell-bent on continuing their damaging legacy, with working people and their children set to pay the price.”