Nigel Farage says Reform-led councils’ woes show bringing change is ‘hard’

Nigel Farage admitted that bringing change in local government is “hard” and that he had not held talks with the European Union over plans to remove benefits from EU citizens in the UK.

Labour defended Rachel Reeves’ November 26 statement as the only plan to spare voters from austerity, as both Reform UK and the Tories held rival press conferences unveiling alternative budgets focusing on spending cuts on Tuesday.

The Chancellor’s plan to hike taxes while spending “extortionate amounts” on foreign nationals was “treachery”, Reform UK’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, said.

Reform’s plans include negotiating with Brussels to withdraw the welfare payments EU citizens with settled status are entitled to under the withdrawal agreement.

But asked whether he had held exploratory talks with EU officials, Mr Farage said: “No, I’m not terribly popular in Brussels.”

He said “you can never predict how negotiations will go” but anticipated his team would have a “far better chance of doing something in the national interest” than the Labour or previous Tory governments.

Reform would give EU citizens who are claiming universal credit three months notice as part of a transitional period before ending their payments.

If the EU refused to accept the terms, a Reform UK government would take unilateral action, regardless of the threat of trade retaliation.

Mr Farage evaded questions on the cost to the economy of a potential trade war with the bloc, saying only the relationship was “hopelessly out of kilter”.

Other proposals include cutting foreign aid to £1 billion, which Reform claimed would save about £10 billion.

Ending universal credit payments to foreign nationals would save £6 billion this year, the party said.

Further proposals include raising the immigration health surcharge from £1,035 a year to £2,718, which it claimed would raise £5 billion.

But Mr Farage admitted that the experiences of Reform-run local authorities had shown that bringing change was “difficult”, amid expectations they will raise council tax despite cost-saving pledges.

Pressed on whether Reform-led councils should increase council tax by the maximum 5% they are allowed to without a referendum, the Reform leader said: “We can’t tell them what to do. They are their own living, breathing organisms.

“I would very, very much hope that any council tax rises should be limited to inflation.”

Mr Farage insisted that in the run-up to the local elections, he had never promised to freeze or cut council tax “because I realised the massive debts that we were inheriting from those county councils”.

He said: “Will we cut debt? Yes. But can we give people a free ticket at this moment in time on council tax? No. And I never, ever thought we will be able to at this stage.”

Asked what lessons he has learned from local government, he said: “Getting things to change is hard.

“I think that’s perhaps the biggest thing that I take from these first few months.”

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Mr Farage of deceiving voters with his suggestion of stripping welfare payments from EU citizens.

She said: “It would be a bad idea because we spent a lot of time negotiating those rights, not just for EU citizens in this country, but British citizens in other countries of the EU.

“You start unpicking that and you start unpicking all of the work that was done, year after year after year, with a lot of pain and effort during those years when we were negotiating Brexit.”

She said it was “completely ridiculous” for Mr Farage to say he would just renegotiate that settlement.

“This man does not know what he’s talking about,” she said. “I’m a former trade secretary. Even with friendly countries, trade negotiations are very, very difficult.”

She added: “It is wrong of him to deceive people, lie to them and make them think this is going to be easy.”

Mr Yusuf said Reform’s package of measures would save £25 billion this year.

“These are savings that Rachel Reeves could choose to make in her Budget that is coming up,” he said.

“The likelihood she will choose not to do those things and instead choose to raise taxes on British people is because Labour is making the conscious and deliberate decision to continue funding extortionate amounts to foreign nationals, to the detriment of British citizens.

“And I don’t know what to call that. Frankly, I think it’s treachery.”

The Chancellor is thought to be considering extending the freeze on taxation thresholds to help plug the gap in her spending plans and bolster the “headroom” she has to avoid breaking her Budget rules.

Freezing the personal tax thresholds means that, as wages rise, more people get dragged into paying tax or shifted into higher bands.

Keeping national insurance and income tax thresholds frozen for two further years until April 2030 would raise around £8.3 billion a year by 2029–30, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said: “Reform and the Tories can argue all they like about who will return us to austerity faster – the fact is their plans don’t add up and would be a disaster for Britain.

“Nigel Farage is happy to trigger a trade war with Europe, hammering shoppers at the checkouts with higher prices and undoing the work the Labour Government has done to drive prices down through three landmark international trade deals.

“Kemi Badenoch’s plan to bring forward £47 billion of cuts would mean money drained out of your local hospital, your child’s school and your local police.

“Families who are still bearing the brunt of Liz Truss’ mortgage-smashing mini-Budget can’t afford to pay the price for more of the same old Tory mistakes.

“Labour’s Budget will take the fair choices to deliver strong foundations for our economy and secure our country’s future, with no return to austerity and no borrowing beyond our means.”