Nigel Farage’s plot to win over the lefties: Reform leader to ‘commit to restoring winter fuel payments and scrapping two-child benefit cap’
Nigel Farage is plotting to win over the Left with sweeping promises over winter fuel payments and the two-child benefit cap.
The Reform UK leader is expected to announce his new promises in a speech next week.
Mr Farage’s suggestions of scrapping the two-child benefit cap and fully reinstating the winter fuel payment is a direct challenge to Sir Keir Starmer.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Farage will describe Sir Keir as ‘one of the most unpatriotic prime ministers in our history and this past week has been evidence of that’, in his first speech since Reform made large gains in the local elections.
Reform UK is riding high in the opinion polls after its victories in local elections and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, according to YouGov.
Earlier this month Mr Farage hailed his Runcorn victory as a ‘big moment’ as the Cheshire seat was secured by just six votes following hours of delay for nailbiting recounts.
It is the most popular political party with voters, followed by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and then the Tories in a historic fourth place.
And the Reform leader will be hoping his new policies will secure more voters.
Nigel Farage (pictured) has revealed his plan to win over the left with sweeping promises over winter fuel payments and the two-child benefit cap
In his first speech since Reform made large gains in the local elections Mr Farage will describe Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) as ‘one of the most unpatriotic prime ministers in our history’
Mr Farage has said he will commit to ending the two-child cap, which was introduced by the Conservatives in 2017 to cut the benefits bill.
He has also said he would do away with the recent cuts to the winter fuel allowance – a controversial Labour decision that saw the benefit reduced to only those receiving pension credit in one of its early acts in Government.
MailOnline has contacted Reform for comment.
Ministers are planning to restore the payment to all but the wealthiest pensioners, the Sunday Times reported.
But Mr Farage’s announcement will pile the pressure on the PM to match his rival’s pledge to fully reinstate the payment at a cost of about £1.4 billion a year.
Civil servants have warned that any changes are very unlikely to be made before the winter due to ageing computer systems, the newspaper said.
Elsewhere, the Government’s action plan to tackle child poverty – a document likely to contain proposals to scrap the two-child benefit cap – has been delayed until the autumn.
The plan is likely to be aligned with the budget so it can be fully costed.
The Observer newspaper reported Sir Keir has privately backed plans to scrap the cap, and made it clear he wants to drive down child poverty.
Mr Farage has said he will commit to ending the two-child cap, which was introduced by the Conservatives in 2017, and re-instate the blanket winter fuel allowance (stock image)
The Government is facing pressure from its own backbenchers to eliminate the cap, all while the threat of a rebellion over a wide-ranging package of welfare reforms looms.
The Telegraph reported that Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour chairman of the Commons treasury committee, said lifting the cap was ‘the only way we’ll lift children out of poverty in this Parliament’.
Mr Farage, MP for Clacton, spent last week on holiday while the House of Commons was sitting.
And the Prime Minister joked that Nigel Farage was the first person to take advantage of his new EU Brexit deal as the Reform boss ducked Prime Minister’s Questions in favour of a foreign holiday.
While MPs have left Westminster for recess, he is expected to return to the political arena and say: ‘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 newspaper: ‘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.’
Fury as new Reform-run council orders Ukrainian flag to be TAKEN DOWN as it bans banners for ‘special interest groups’ from public buildings
A Reform-run council is facing fury today after its leader ordered the Ukrainian flag be removed from its headquarters.
Nigel Farage‘s party took over control of Kent County Council on May 1 and its leader this morning ordered a ban on banners from ‘special interest groups’.
Linden Kemkaran also banned the authority from flying the Pride flag later this year, telling the AGM in Maidstone: ‘The Union Jack, the flag of St George and the flag of Kent, they are the identity that we all share and it is that identity that we need to focus on.’
To applause form her supporters she told the chamber her new administration had little time for ‘special interest groups’ or the flags that represent them.
Her words were met with raucous applause and table thumping from the Reform benches, likened to a ‘political rally’ by the council’s opposition leader, Liberal Democrat Antony Hook.
Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf revealed plans after its election wins in 10 council areas that the party’s leadership would not allow the Ukrainian flag to be flown, despite it being a fixture across the UK since the 2022 invasion by Vladimir Putin‘s Russia.
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: ‘We know the only flag most Reform politicians want to fly is the Russian flag and these plastic patriots are proving to be everything that we thought they were.
‘A bunch of Putin apologists who would rather tear down the symbols of brave Ukrainians fighting for freedom than stand with them.’
Nigel Farage’s party took over control of Kent County Council on May 1 and its leader Linden Kemkaran this morning ordered a ban on banners from ‘special interest groups’.
Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf revealed plans after its election wins in 10 council areas that the party’s leadership would not allow the Ukrainian flag to be flown, despite it being a fixture across the UK since the 2022 invasion by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: ‘We know the only flag most Reform politicians want to fly is the Russian flag and these plastic patriots are proving to be everything that we thought they were.
At the beginning of May, Reform swept to a local elections victory in Kent taking 57 of 81 council seats, wiping out a Conservative majority which had stood for almost 30 years.
Ms Kemkaran also told the chamber she was looking to create a department of government efficiency (Doge) to root out problems in the council.
Opposition leader Mr Hook voiced fears that the Reform administration would be taking instructions from the national leaders of Reform UK.
Outside the chamber, he said: ‘It was really shocking to me that in a recent podcast the leader of Reform said that she had to sort of take instructions from Reform’s national chairman.
‘That’s the sort of thing we’ve never heard at Kent County Council before. Under different administrations it’s always been clear that policy is made in Kent by county councillors not taking instructions from national parties.’
