In embarrassment for Nigel Farage, YouGov released a poll on his popularity ratings as he took to the stage to claim voters were behind him in a major press conference
Nigel Farage is voters’ last choice to be Prime Minister – with Brits preferring Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch or Sir Ed Davey over the Reform UK leader.
In embarrassment for Mr Farage, YouGov released a poll on his popularity ratings as he took to the stage to claim voters were behind him in a major speech.
The Reform UK leader was branded a “political fraud” by the TUC after announcing a series of headline-grabbing tax and welfare policies – funded through controversial cuts to climate change strategies and diversity programmes. And Labour accused him of making “tens of billions of pounds of fantasy promises” like disgraced ex-Tory PM Liz Truss, who crashed the economy.
In his speech, Mr Farage claimed Mr Starmer’s leadership was “dismal” and “uninspiring” yet 44% of the public backed the Labour leader to lead the country compared to 29% choosing Mr Farage when asked who would be the best PM out of the two.
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The Reform UK leader also used his central London speech to fiercely attack the Tories, branding them “completely irrelevant”. He said Kemi Badenoch was not having a “particularly great time” – yet 29% of the public think she’d make the best PM versus 25% who backed Mr Farage.
Elsewhere, 41% of people said Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed would make the better PM compared to 27% who picked Mr Farage.
Asked about the poll results, Mr Farage said the UK did not have a “presidential election” and he needed a “team of people that look competent and capable of going into government”.
He said Reform UK’s weakness was that it has never been in government and that newly-elected council leaders now needed to show the party is capable of governing. “These boys and girls need to do a good job, and we’ll be judged very much on that,” he added.
During a more than an hour-long press conference, Mr Farage set out a series of eye-catching plans including for Brits to avoid paying tax on any earnings up to £20,000 if he was elected. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the tax plan would cost between £50billion and £80billion. Currently workers pay the 20% basic rate of income tax on everything between £12,570 and £50,270, with higher rates applying after that.
The Reform UK leader also said he would introduce tax breaks for married couples to “encourage people to have children” amid dwindling birth rates. It would reportedly exempt one spouse from paying tax on the first £25,000 of their income. The other would get the tax-free income of £20,000.
The former UKIP leader also attempted to outflank Labour by committing to scrapping the two-child benefit limit and fully reinstating the winter fuel payments. Mr Farage said he would fund the policies through “big savings”, including ditching the plan to reach net zero carbon emissions, end the use of asylum hotels and scrapping diversity, equality and inclusion schemes in the public sector.
He said Reform had set up its own “DOGE unit” – inspired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in Donald Trump’s administration.
Elsewhere Mr Farage declined to commit to keeping the triple lock pensions guarantee.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Nigel Farage is a political fraud who’ll jump on any bandwagon to chase headlines. He is full of empty promises, writing cheques he knows will never be cashed.
“Because when it really counts, Farage always sides with the rich and powerful against working people. And who bankrolls Farage? Hedge fund managers and speculators – the same people profiting from economic chaos. He pretends to be anti-establishment, but in reality he’s as establishment as they come.”
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea warned the deep-rooted change the country needs “won’t happen overnight”. “It’s easy to announce policies to appeal to voters, but far harder to work out how to fund them,” she said.
“The future for many families continues to look bleak. But voters should be wary of politicians promising the earth and trying to be all things to all people.”
She also pointed out that Mr Farage had voted against Labour’s workers’ rights reforms, adding: “Reform has shown by its words and actions that the party’s no friend of working people.”
Labour chair Ellie Reeves said: “There’s nothing new about what Nigel Farage said today: the tens of billions of pounds of fantasy promises he made this morning are exactly how Liz Truss crashed the economy, devastating the finances of families across the country.
“Those families don’t need to be told what the consequences would be of this nonsense. They live through it every month through the higher mortgages, higher rents, higher prices, and higher bills inflicted upon them by the last government.
“Labour is delivering security and renewal through our Plan for Change. NHS waiting lists are falling, the economy is growing, wages are rising faster than prices and we’ve had four interest rate cuts, along with three major trade deals that will put more money in working people’s pockets. All Reform offer is a return to the chaos of Liz Truss.”
::: YouGov surveyed 2,212 adults in Great Britain on May 18 and 19.
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