Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has vowed to revive the winter fuel subsidies for the elderly and to fund the programme by cutting the green agenda and the migrant hotel scheme.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer enraged his leftist base by announcing cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel payments amid the energy crisis plaguing Europe in his high-tax austerity budget last year. Starmer also drew criticism for refusing to lift the Tory-era two-child benefits cap, which prevents families from claiming state aid for their third or more children born after April 2017. While Starmer has hinted at reversing course, the party has yet to explain how and when it will do so.
In an apparent bid to carve out a new political coalition as it takes on the Westminster duopoly establishment by cleaving off supporters from both the right and the left ends of the spectrum, Reform UK has promised to restore the winter fuel aid and scrap the limit on child benefits if elected as the next government.
In comments leaked to The Telegraph about Reform’s impending announcement, party leader Nigel Farage reportedly plans to say this week: “Starmer is one of the most unpatriotic prime ministers in our history, and this past week has been evidence of that.
“The Prime Minister is out of touch with working people, he doesn’t understand what they want and how they feel about the big issues facing Britain. It’s going to be these very same working people that will vote Reform at the next election and kick Labour out of government.”
A Reform source told the paper: “We’re against the two-child cap and we’d go further on winter fuel by bringing the payment back for everyone. That’s already outflanking Labour.”
Estimates have claimed that reinstating the winter fuel payments and scrapping the child benefits cap would add £5 billion to the budget. However, Reform Chairman Zia Yusuf has said that this could be paid for by budget cuts to leftist schemes such as the subsidies for so-called green energy, slashing foreign aid, and shutting down migrant hotels.
While Mr Farage and top Reform figures such as deputy leader Richard Tice have Thatcherite backgrounds, the party has begun to reject free market absolutism in favour of more populist positions, such as calling for the nationalisation of British Steel after its Chinese owners attempted to shut down the UK’s last significant steelworks in Scunthorpe.
Speaking to Breitbart News last year, Mr Farage acknowledged that his view of economics has evolved, saying: “Thatcherite is irrelevant. It’s half a century old… What I do think has happened over the last few decades is the power of the big corporate companies has got bigger and bigger.
“Capitalism is dead, it doesn’t exist, we’re living in corporatism. An unholy alliance of big business, big banks, and big government… I genuinely think we won’t get economic growth if the country is dominated by six giant multinationals, none of whom pay tax on-shore.”
Key to Reform’s political strategy has been to court Conservative voters who have become disaffected over the party’s failures on migration and Labour supporters in Brexit-backing regions of the country. Many traditional Labour voters have felt ignored as the left-wing party has shifted its focus to urban elite concerns rather than advocating for the working class.
The attempt to forge a new political coalition based on social conservatism, strong borders, and populist economics appears to be bearing fruit for the upstart Reform party. It now consistently leads all national polls and swept to a stunning victory in this month’s local elections in England.
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