Nigel Farage will be buoyant today after gaining a new MP and a new mayor – but there are serious questions about what his party really believes in on key policy areas
Nigel Farage has a bounce in his step this morning after gaining a new MP, a first elected mayor and a wave of Reform councillors.
His right-wing party showed it is an electoral force that can inflict misery on both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch. But having put forward a manifesto that was dismissed as wishful thinking by experts last year, there are serious questions about what its policies actually are.
In recent days there have been concerns that Reform-led town halls could mount an assault on special education needs support in schools. It comes after Mr Farage was slammed for making “fake news” claims about the way children are diagnosed, while one of his underlings refused to guarantee SEND cash would be safeguarded.
There are also questions over Reform’s NHS plans – more on that below. Reform’s policy-making processes have long been muddy, Mr Farage’s critics have complained. Ousted MP Rupert Lowe pointedly dismissed the leader as a “messiah” who was unable to delegate.
So when new Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns floated the idea of forcing asylum seekers to live in tents rather than hotels, it’s unclear if it is party policy or rabble-pleasing guff. But here we try to piece together what the key Reform plans are.
READ MORE: Reform mayor Andrea Jenkyns storms out of Sky News interview after spiky speech
Questions over NHS funding
Mr Farage raised eyebrows when he said the NHS should not be funded through “general taxation”. This has long been a question mark hanging over him, with Labour warning the health service would not be safe in his hands.
He has long been a fan of the French model, where health services are funded through public cash and private insurance. Earlier this week he told Sky News: “Well if Labour are upset that the rich might have to pay for healthcare, I find that a very odd position for them to be in.”
And asked to clarify, he said: “I do not want it funded through general taxation. It’s doesn’t work. It’s not working. We’re getting worse bang for the buck from than any other country, particularly out of those European neighbours.
“I want it free at the point of delivery, but it’s how we get there.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting shot back: “Nigel Farage has said the quiet part out loud: he doesn’t want a publicly funded NHS. With Farage’s plans to leave people paying over a grand for an A&E trip only one thing is clear – patients would be worse off under Reform.”
Attack on SEND cash?
This is a very thorny issue. Headteachers have warned that providing special educational needs support is the number one challenge schools face, with more funding needed.
But Reform’s commitment was thrown in doubt by comments by Mr Farage that sparked a huge backlash. He claimed doctors are “overdiagnosing” mental illness and creating a “class of victims” – comments that experts branded “wildly inaccurate”.
He went on to suggest GPs should not be allowed to diagnose SEND children – even though they cannot carry out assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism. The MP for Clacton said: “I think we are massively – I’m not being heartless, I’m being frank – I think we are massively over-diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities.
Underling Alex Wilson, representing Reform in a Channel 4 election debate, refused to rule out cuts by councils run by his party. He said: “I can’t promise what any new council administration will do.” Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said “wow” after the remark.
Tearing up UK’s Net Zero targets
Mr Farage and his team are no fans of Net Zero.
He has pledged to do away with the target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Ominously he claimed earlier this week that the target is the “new Brexit”.
Following an intervention by former Prime Minister Tony Blair which questioned the Government’s approach, Mr Farage crowed: “Even Tony Blair now says the push for Net Zero has become ‘irrational’ and ‘hysterical’. We are winning the argument!”
Trump-like immigration policies
This has long been Mr Farage’s go-to issue, and one he knows can get votes.
The Reform leader has previously pledged to freeze “non-essential” immigration. However ahead of last year’s general election the party did not clarify what it classed as essential.
And in his most recent attempt to snare voters, he vowed that if he gets to Downing Street he will appoint a minister for deportations. He said he would adopt a “zero tolerance” issue with those with no legal clearance to be in the UK.
The policies appear to ape those adopted by Donald Trump in the US, where thousands of people have been removed in a controversial deportation programme. Mr Farage has also pledged to pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), bringing it in line with Russia and Estonia.
Economic plans that ‘do not add up’
Ahead of last year’s general election, Mr Farage’s party was accused of fantasy economics with a string of big plans. Its manifesto proposed raising the income tax threshold from £12,571 to £20,000, while raising the higher rate threshold from £50,000 to £70,000.
Stamp duty would be scrapped on properties worth less than £750,000 and inheritance tax would be axed on estates worth less than £2million. Reform claims these huge commitments can be funded by “slashing public sector back office bureaucracy” worth £50billion a year.
But in a brutal assessment of the party’s policies last year the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the “sums in this manifesto do not add up”.
Scrap planned renters’ reform laws
Reform’s manifesto made clear it would scrap planned reforms to renters’ rights – a law currently making its way through Parliament.
This would mean the section 21 notices – no fault evictions – would remain, allowing landlords to kick tenants out on a whim and without reason.
The party also proposed reforming the tax system to benefit smaller landlords but made no reference to the surging rental costs for renters. It said: “We will restore landlords’ rights to deduct finance costs and mortgage interest from tax on rental income”.
Elon Musk-style Doge unit
Another leaf Mr Farage may take from the MAGA playbook would be the creation of an Elon Musk-style Department of Government Spending (DOGE).
The project in the US has been hugely controversial, and the trigger-happy billionaire admitted mistakes including cutting spending on Ebola prevention. But Mr Farage vowed to declare war on big government – which would inevitably impact on services.
In an interview with GB News, he said: “Ditch stuff that I don’t think county council should be getting involved with at all. So, slimmer Government, leaner Government. Oh, and while I’m at it, a different culture. Work from home. No, not under us.”
Nationalising British Steel
The steel industry has been in crisis in recent weeks – not least thanks to the misery caused by his pal Trump’s damaging tariffs.
Mr Farage found himself in the unusual position of being agreement with the left-wing Green Party when he called for the Government to nationalise British Steel.
Ministers stepped in to take control of the company earlier this month to stop the steelworks plant in Scunthorpe shutting. Nationalisation is looking likely – a move Reform supports.
Speaking earlier this month, Mr Farage’s No2, Richard Tice, demanded: “The Government must adopt Reform’s policy to nationalise British Steel. This will secure thousands of jobs and provide a platform for growth.”
Keeping farm inheritance tax loophole in place
Mr Farage has been very vocal in opposition to Labour’s inheritance tax shake-up for farms. The measure removed a loophole which has made agricultural land particularly lucrative, as it is exempt from the post-death tax.
The loophole was cited by Jeremy Clarkson as a reason that prompted him to buy farm land. In her Budget last year Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced tax breaks for farmland worth over £1million will be closed. But she said a string of protections for spouses and children of farmers who die mean the threshold will be three times this sum in most cases.
Undoing Labour’s winter fuel shakeup
This is a real danger to Keir Starmer.
The decision to means test winter fuel payments – which means around 10 million pensioners will miss out – has sparked a massive backlash. Unhappy Labour MPs warned it would cost the party at the polls, and so it appears to have proved.
Mr Farage has been critical of the move, and all five – as they were then – Reform MPs voted against the controversial measure last year.
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