Farage claims Brexit opportunity has been ‘squandered’, and regulations now worse than before 2016
Farage claims the opportunity of Brexit has been squandered.
Brexit has been squandered. The opportunity to sensibly deregulate the opportunity to become competitive globally – all of that has been squandered.
And the worst thing is that regulations and the way regulators behave with British business is now worse than it was at the time of the Brexit referendum vote.
And I apply that with knowledge from everything through the financial services industry to the fishing industry.
Key events
Q: Do you still support nationalising utilities, and the steel industry?
Starmer says nationalisation should only be used in an emergency. But in the case of British Steel, that was justified, he says.
He also says he thinks Thames Water could be nationalised without any cost to the taxpayer.
Farage says there is an argument that the minimum wage is too high for younger workers. He suggests it should be lowered for that age group.
Farage refuses to commit to keeping pensions triple lock
Q: [From Christopher Hope from GB News] Are you still committed to raising tax thresholds? And what will you do about the pension triple lock?
Farage says he wants to raise thresholds.
He says he thinks the election will come in 2027. And he does not know that state of the economy then, he says.
And he does not commit to keeping the pensions triple lock.
If I’m right, and that election comes in 2027, then the economy will be in an even worse state than any of us in this room could even predict. So how can anybody project on pensions or thresholds or any of those things between now and then?
Farage is now taking questions.
Q; [From Sam Coates from Sky] You are the master of reinvention. So why should people trust this fiscal responsibility Nigel?
Farage says he has believed in the same things for the last 30 years. But he says he has a deeper understanding now of “the role of the state in strategic industries”.
Farage ends by confrming that Reform would not introduce big tax cuts immediately.
We understand substantial tax cuts, given the dire state of debt and our finances, are not realistic at this current moment in time.
But a Reform government would introduce “relatively modest” immediate tax cuts he says, including reversing the inheritance tax on farms and raising tax thresholds.
Farage says Reform would ‘substantially cut benefits bill’
Farage claims Reform UK are “on the side of working people”.
We are the party of alarm clock Britain, and we want people who are out there working to be genuinely better off working than they are on a whole range of benefits.
Farage moves on to benefits, and he says this is one reason he wanted to give the speech today.
Referring to the Conservatives (see 9.34am), he says there have been “misunderstandings” about Reform’s policy.
He says he would get rid of the two-child benefit cap – but only to help low-paid couples who are both working.
He also says Reform would cut spending on disability benefits, as set out by Lee Anderson last week.
He says:
We will substantially cut the benefits bill. We will reduce the size of the public sector. We will look as we’ve already started, at public sector pensions, which are a massive liability. [See 10.12am.]
Farage restates his opposition to net zero policies, describing them as “lunatic”.
And he claims Reform has given notice to renewable energy companies signing contracts with the government that “if we’re in government, we will scrap those contracts”.
Farage says he wants as many rich people as possible living in UK
Farage says wealthy people have been leaving the UK because of Labour’s policy.
Britain is suffering a wealth drain, just as it suffered a brain drain in the 1970s, he says.
He says George Osborne started this when he started imposing extra charges on non-doms.
He goes on:
So let me make it clear. I want as many high-earning people as possible living in this country, paying as much tax as they legally have to.
Because if the rich leave and the rich don’t pay tax, then the poorer in society we’ll all have to pay more tax. It’s as simple as that.
What we’re doing is crazy and we need those people back.
Farage returns to his claim about City regulation going too far. That has held back the cryptocurrency sector, he says. He claims the UK has “literally turned our backs on” this sector. It has been “a disaster”, he claims.
Farage claims one of the problems facing Britain is the fact that government ministers do not have relevant experience.
We’re run by group of human rights lawyers, not entrepreneurs.
Virtually nobody on the frontbench has ever taken a risk, ever borrowed money, ever set up a business, ever had to meet that monthly or weekly, depending what you do, payroll.
As an example, he says rail ministers have no experience running railways.
They can oversee HS2 because they’ve never worked in railways. They’ve no knowledge of railways. They haven’t got a clue what they’re doing. And yet we managed to have 18 rail ministers in the space of 40 years. And this applies in department after department.
Farage says Reform would be “the most pro-business, pro entrepreneur government that has been seen in this country in modern times”.
He says the country needs a new attitude towards making money, with more respect for success and hard work.
He says he is speaking in a banking hall in the City of London. He used to work in the City, he says (he was a metals trader) and he claims that when he was working there the approach was different.
There was less regulation, he says. There is “massively overzealous regulation”, he claims, blaming the influence of the EU.
And he claims in those days the City was a genuine meritocracy. All that mattered was whether you were good enough, he says.
Farage claims Brexit opportunity has been ‘squandered’, and regulations now worse than before 2016
Farage claims the opportunity of Brexit has been squandered.
Brexit has been squandered. The opportunity to sensibly deregulate the opportunity to become competitive globally – all of that has been squandered.
And the worst thing is that regulations and the way regulators behave with British business is now worse than it was at the time of the Brexit referendum vote.
And I apply that with knowledge from everything through the financial services industry to the fishing industry.
Farage claims government borrowing rising so quickly that Labour will be forced into ‘genuine austerity budget’ before next election
Farage says the national debt increased by two-and-a-half times while the Tories were in office.
Our debt GDP ratio is up by nearly 60%. We are doing worse on debt than any of our competitors, and that includes eurozone countries who are in deep, deep trouble.
Our debt repayments are over £100bn a year. They’re over the level of our defence budget and the markets are getting nervy.
We’ve seen this with ten and 30 year gilt yields.
In fact, my own view is that in two budgets time the markets will actually force the chancellor into what will be a genuine austerity budget, at which point the left in the Labour party won’t buy it.
Farage says the economy has only appeared to be growing because of immigration.
I think we can argue very strongly that, on an individual basis, mass migration has made the average Britain poorer.
