Reform Party leader Nigel Farage has declared that the forthcoming 2024 general election should be focused on immigration. Speaking in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, he called for a “freeze” on non-essential immigration, which he claimed was responsible for NHS waiting lists and the housing crisis that is affecting the UK. He insisted that other parties were afraid to address the issue. Farage also criticised the Tories and Labour for wanting to “tax their way out of trouble” and said the Reform Party was offering a contract, not a manifesto, to voters.
Farage acknowledged that the newly formed Reform Party did not expect to form a government in the immediate future, but instead aims to become a “real opposition” to Labour and to establish a bridgehead in Parliament. Its new manifesto contains five core pledges including a freeze on “non-essential” immigration and deportation for individuals arriving in the UK by small boats. The party also plans to eliminate income tax for earnings under £20,000.
Reform also plans to scrap the UK’s Net Zero emissions target, a policy aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by the country, while promising instead to “unlock” the UK’s remaining oil and gas reserves. The party also pledges to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, the cost of the party’s planned tax cuts, combined with its proposed spending increases would come to about £140bn annually, while it claims that it could make £150bn annual savings by other means. However, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Reform’s financial plans “do not add up.”
In addition, the party’s group of candidates for Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare were announced, including Farage himself. The list also includes a representative from Plaid Cymru, Labour, the Conservatives, the Workers Party of Britain, the Liberal Democrats, the Communist Party of Britain, and an independent candidate, Lorenzo de Gregori
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