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Daily Mirror
15 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Warning as Nigel Farage's No2 plots brutal cuts 'worth more than NHS budget'
Nigel Farage's No2, Richard Tice, has said he is plotting to slash public funding to 35% of GDP - which would wipe out a massive £275billion amid questions about Reform's NHS plans Nigel Farage's "reckless" economic plans would see the entire NHS, armed forces, police and criminal justice budgets wiped out, startling new analysis shows. Comments by the Reform leader's No2 indicate the party wants to slash £274billion from government spending - more than five times Liz Truss's unfunded tax measures. Richard Tice, who is tipped as Mr Farage's choice for Chancellor, is accused of planning a dangerous "game of roulette". The brutal analysis comes after Mr Tice hinted during a podcast recording he would take an axe to public spending, without saying what services he would cut. He told the Politics Inside Out podcast last week he would like to see the size of the state reduced to just over one-third of GDP with public spending down to 35% of GDP. This would see a savage £274 billion cut from government budgets, based on current GDP figures. Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, said: 'Reckless Richard Tice would play a game of roulette with Britain's finances that would mean chaos, cuts and decline. ' Nigel Farage has spoken openly about how Reform would finish NHS funding through general taxation in favour of expensive healthcare insurance. 'Now whilst Farage announces more spending commitments, Tice shoots the breeze about choking off the funds for vital frontline services. 'They can't tell us how any of this would work. We only know that it would lead to devastating cuts to our public services and provoke another financial crisis just like Liz Truss 's mini Budget." Budget settlements from official Treasury figures in 2024 showed the public cash awarded to the NHS amounted to £188.5 billion. The Ministry of Defence receives nearly £54billion, the Home Office gets over £20billion while Ministry of Justice funding comes in at almost £12billion. Public spending is currently around 45% of GDP. Mr Tice told the podcast, hosted by former Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth: "At 35% of GDP, things were working more. No one was saying back in the mid-nineties, to my recollection, the NHS is bust and broken and needs fundamental reform.' It comes amid serious questions about how Reform plans to fund the NHS. In April Mr Farage declared: "I do not want it [the NHS] funded through general taxation. It doesn't work. It's not working." Labour analysis has shown that Reform's previously announced £80billion of unfunded spending commitments could lead to an increase in mortgage payments for the average family by an eyewatering £5,500 a year - with increased borrowing pushing up interest rates and bills. It comes after Tory frontbencher Chris Philp, who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury when Ms Truss announced her disastrous mini-Budget in 2022, also voiced alarm about Reform. He told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that Nigel Farage's team wants to go even bigger on unfunded tax cuts.
New Statesman
28-05-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
Nigel Farage's booze offensive
Photo byChampagne breakfast with Nigel Farage, four bottles of fizz delivered to the stand, chauffeur service so the permanently inebriated don't drive and a porter on tap are merely a few reasons why a corporate £250,000 'accelerator package' at Reform UK's weekend national conference in Birmingham this September is one of the most, ahem, unusual to be offered by a political party aspiring to power. Which, if any, companies and organisations buy access to the leader and book exhibition space will be a pointer to where the wind is blowing. Whether any executives recall who they met after unlimited complimentary drinks in a platinum bar is another matter. Not exactly short of advice, Keir Starmer's right ear is to hear more. Labour's fledgling red wall group of MPs is to launch as a formal Brexity, migration-hostile faction at the party's conference. Head insurgent Jo White revealed details on Politics Inside Out, a new podcast by Gloria De Piero and Jonathan Ashworth. The Bassetlaw MP's most startling disclosure was that her mother was a communist which means so too was the mother-in-law of White's hubby, hammer of the left Lord John Mann. Harry Pollitt would be wondering where it all went wrong. Herculean seed sower Boris Johnson's one-man campaign to reverse Britain's declining birth rate may exacerbate big daddy's strained family relations. Baby number four with third wife Carrie, his ninth in all (that we know about), arrived shortly before a daughter with second wife Marina marries this weekend. Invitations and the seating plan would be a challenge for the diplomatic corps. After guest editing last week's New Statesman, Gordon Brown made his successor as Labour Prime Minister appear a little smaller by delivering a 60-minute mesmerising John Smith memorial lecture without notes. The son of a preacher man reeled off stats, cracked jokes and recited poetry. Hair-shirt Broon expressed contempt for fees charged by Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon. His quip that Liz Truss should pay to be heard, prompted a Tory to scoff so should one-gear Keir. The current PM is monotone even talking of subjects he loves like Arsenal. Twice-divorced Nigel Farage returning early after the bank holiday to float tax breaks for married couples triggered ridicule after he'd been caught playing hooky, missing Starmer's European deal to sneak away on holiday before the parliamentary recess started. One Labourite wondered aloud whether a self-styled man of the people, registering nudging £1m from outside interests on top of his £93,904 MP salary, booked ahead to beat school holiday surge prices. With 10 'second' jobs Farage could afford any £80 fine for unauthorised absence. Kevin Maguire is associate editor(politics) of the Daily Mirror [See also: The economic fantasies of Reform UK] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
