Nigel Farage: Reform UK want to make it easier for people to have children
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he wants to make it easier for people to have children, as he confirmed his party would back more generous tax breaks for married people and scrap the two-child benefit limit. In a speech in central London, Farage said he wanted to lift the cap "not because we support a benefits culture" but because it would make things easier for lower-paid workers. He also said he would reverse the government's cuts which saw the winter fuel payment withdrawn from 10 million pensioners. Liberal Democrat Sir Ed Davey accused Reform UK of making "huge unfunded spending pledges and only vague promises of fantasy savings".
Farage's intervention comes as the prime minister faces pressure from his own MPs on government spending decisions, including cuts to disability benefits.Some Labour MPs also want to see the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017.Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said the government is considering lifting the cap but that it would "cost a lot of money". Last week, Sir Keir announced plans to ease cuts to winter fuel payments, but has not yet set out how many pensioners would see the payment reinstated or how it would be paid for.
During a wide-ranging speech, Farage also said his party's "biggest aspiration" was to lift the salary level at which people start paying income tax to £20,000."These proposals are expensive but we genuinely believe we can pay for it," he said. He said the measures would be paid for by scrapping net-zero climate measures, stopping hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, ending diversity and equality initiatives in the public sector and cutting the number of quangos - bodies which are funded by taxpayers but not directly controlled by central government. The Reform UK leader said removing the two-child benefit cap, which would cost an estimated £3.5bn, was "not a silver bullet" but would help families.On making tax breaks for married people more generous, he said he was "not moralising" but argued that "making marriage a little bit more important" was "the right thing to do," as it gave children "the best chance of success".
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