Nigel Farage declared Reform “really are the party of working people” as he parked his tanks squarely on Labour’s lawn at a high-profile press conference. To prove it, Mr Farage confirmed a heavily-leaked series of policies including restoring winter fuel payments for all pensioners, and ending the two-child benefit cap which currently prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children.

In addition, he announced plans for a marriage tax allowance, allowing many married couples to pay less tax, especially when one of them is a stay-at-home parent. The Reform leader even challenged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to a public debate to be held in “a working-men’s club somewhere in the red wall.”

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Angela Rayner revealed as Nigel Farage’s biggest threat as her new tactic emerges

Comments

Keir Starmer under pressure to end winter fuel uncertainty

Comments

Angela Rayner declares war on Rachel Reeves in Sky interview demanding benefit U-turns

Comments

Inside Reform UK’s takeover of former Labour stronghold – ‘They’ve let us down badly’

Comments

Nigel Farage to issue huge challenge to Keir Starmer in major speech

Comments

Keir Starmer blasts Nigel Farage as PM goes to war on Reform UK

Comments

Nigel Farage is creating a nightmare for Rachel Reeves

Comments

Labour is the enemy of the working class – and Farage has just exposed that

Comments

Keir Starmer won’t fool anyone with his claim to be the champion of working people

Comments

BBC Question Time guest says she can ‘think of other ways to make money’ in ‘saucy’ swipe

Comments

GB News airs furious clash in major blow to Keir Starmer as guest rages ‘let’s have facts’

Comments

Keir Starmer left squirming as GB News reporter asks awkward Nigel Farage question

Comments

I was in the room for Keir Starmer’s Farage-bashing speech – PM is taking one massive risk

Comments

New Reform MP blasts ‘rattled’ Keir Starmer after Nigel Farage rant

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Nigel Farage says Reform is now party of ‘working people’ with huge benefits announcement

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Question Time audience member left speechless as Fiona Bruce forced to step in

Comments

‘Race to the bottom!’ Kemi Badenoch in fiery attack on Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage

Comments

Keir Starmer battling Rachel Reeves over ending two-child benefit cap in new u-turn

Comments

Nigel Farge vows to reinstate winter fuel allowance and scrap two child benefit cap

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Bridget Phillipson skewered in Sky News grilling as winter fuel U-turn detail confirmed

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Angela Rayner revealed as Nigel Farage’s biggest threat as her new tactic emerges

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Keir Starmer under pressure to end winter fuel uncertainty

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Angela Rayner declares war on Rachel Reeves in Sky interview demanding benefit U-turns

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Inside Reform UK’s takeover of former Labour stronghold – ‘They’ve let us down badly’

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Nigel Farage to issue huge challenge to Keir Starmer in major speech

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Keir Starmer blasts Nigel Farage as PM goes to war on Reform UK

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Nigel Farage is creating a nightmare for Rachel Reeves

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But there was a second message here. Mr Farage wants to make it easier for Brits to have babies. He warned there are couples who want to start a family but are “terrified” about the cost, and his proposed benefit changes are designed to make Britain breed again.

It’s his response to a demographic timebomb which means the number of older people – claiming state pensions and making heavy use of the NHS – is rising while the number of working-age people who have to pay for it all is falling.

One answer to this conundrum is immigration. Some people think we should import young people from overseas.

But Mr Farage wants us to make our own. Get in the bedroom!

The Reform leader insists he really can be the next Prime Minister. “Something extraordinary is happening,” he said.

One of Labour’s responses is to claim Mr Farage can’t be the voice of working people because he’s a bit posh.

How can this privately-educated and plummy-voiced former stockbroker possibly represent the working class, they ask?

It’s a tactic doomed to failure. British voters have enough common sense to judge politicians on what they say, not what sort of accent they say it in.

Where Labour may have more luck is in criticising Reform’s policy proposals.

Mr Farage seems to be planning a lot of spending. High profile Reform activist Tim Montgomerie, a former Tory who advised party leaders, admitted in a radio interview on Tuesday that the sums don’t add up.

Labour’s decision to means-test winter fuel payments was both cruel and foolish. But while there is a strong argument for ending means-testing entirely – rather than just raising the threshold as Labour appears to be planning – it does leave you open to claims that you want to hand free money to millionaire boomers. Are the young people expressing their admiration for Nigel on TikTok, where he has a huge following, going to welcome that?

And ending the two-child benefit cap won’t please everyone. Plenty of voters think the cap is a good idea, including many “working people” who struggle to take care of their own family on modest wages.

With Labour also on course to announce it opposes the cap there is now an opening for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to position herself as the real champion of hard-working parents.

But it’s a policy that makes sense in the context of Mr Farage’s plan to make more British babies.