Nigel Farage has unveiled a blockbuster Reform UK manifesto pledging to reinstate winter fuel payments for every pensioner, scrap the two-child benefit cap and raise the tax-free personal allowance to £20,000. But economists and opponents were swift to label the package “Trussonomics on steroids,” warning it echoes Liz Truss’s infamous mini-budget crash.
💸 Huge promises, fuzzy funding
Farage defended his proposals in a press conference:
“I accept that it’s expensive, but I genuinely believe that we can pay for it because we’re not ideologically tied to the same ideas upon which we believe the Conservative and Labour governments have gone so wrong.”
He claimed the cost would be covered by “scrapping all Net Zero commitments and cutting waste,” yet offered no detailed costing. IFS senior economist Stuart Adam estimates just the £20,000 tax threshold pledge could cost up to £80 billion annually.
😱 Echoes of the Truss fiasco
Reactions poured in:
- Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “Nigel Farage praised the disastrous Truss mini-budget, and now he wants to repeat it with huge unfunded spending pledges and only vague promises of fantasy savings. It’s Trussonomics on steroids… crashing the economy and sending interest rates soaring.”
- Labour chair Ellie Reeves warned: “Those tens of billions of pounds of fantasy promises… are exactly how Liz Truss crashed the economy, devastating the finances of families. They live through it every month through higher mortgages, rents, prices and bills.”
Reeves pointed out that under Starmer, NHS waiting lists are falling, the economy is growing, wages outpace inflation and there have been four interest-rate cuts.
✅ Conservative rebuttal
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch took aim on X (formerly Twitter):
“I only announce policies that are costed, clear, or save money—anything else is a lie… Farage’s conference is a reminder that only Conservatives offer economic competence.”
She stressed that credible plans require transparent financials, not populist pledges.
🔮 What’s at stake?
Farage is targeting disillusioned voters with eye-catching giveaways. But without robust funding, these headline-grabbing measures risk terrifying markets and saddling future budgets with unsustainable debts—exactly the fate of Truss’s government in 2022.
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