Nigel Farage has vowed to wage ‘war’ on Britain’s benefits culture.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the Reform UK leader said he was ready to face down protests, strikes and even riots to cut the bloated benefits bill, should his party seize power at the next election.
Mr Farage said a ‘massive change of thought’ was needed on the welfare system to make it affordable and to tackle the growing resentment among working people about the crippling size of handouts.
He said Britain would have to become a ‘much tougher society’, adding: ‘Attitudes are going to have to harden. There’s a massive, massive change of thought needed on benefits – that’s going to be the biggest war of them all,’ he said.
‘I’m sorry, but mild anxiety is not a reason to be on disability benefit – it just isn’t. We can’t afford it, it can’t continue.
‘And there’ll be riots, and there’ll be strikes and there’ll be protests, and we know all of that, but that’s what we’re going to have to do – it has to be done. We just can’t afford it now.’
The warning came in a wide–ranging interview with the Mail in which Mr Farage:
- Pledged to introduce a radical cheap energy policy, including giving the green light for fracking, and ditching Ed Miliband’s ‘idiotic’ Net Zero targets;
- Put the European Union on notice that he will scrap any Brexit reset deal agreed by Sir Keir;
- Distanced himself from Donald Trump’s Iran conflict, saying he was starting to ‘worry slightly about the judgment’ of his long–time friend;
- Played down the prospect of an election deal with the Conservatives, saying they ‘don’t deserve to survive’;
- Suggested his party would be boosted by an army of ‘shy Reformers’ who have not yet gone public on their intention to abandon Labour and the Conservatives.
- Reform has already set out proposals which it says will save more than £20 billion from the welfare bill, including ending the right of foreign nationals to claim benefits here.
Nigel Farage has claimed a ‘massive change of thought’ is needed on the welfare system to make it affordable
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the Reform UK leader said he was ready to face down protests, strikes and even riots to cut the bloated benefits bill, should his party seize power at the next election
The party is understood to be drawing up plans that will go much further.
The proposals, to be published after the local elections, would cut tens of billions of pounds of benefits and could require millions of currently inactive people to look for a job.
Mr Farage claimed that Reform UK was now gaining the mantle of the ‘party of working people’.
‘I’m sorry, but as I go around the country… I now believe there’s one big divide in British society… those that work and those that don’t,’ he said.
Mr Farage recounted a recent conversation with a constituent in Clacton, who said he was tired of working seven days a week only to find himself no better off than people claiming state handouts for sitting at home.
The Reform leader said the man told him: ‘The b******s next door, they get up at midday, Deliveroo brings their lunch. They smoke dope all afternoon. They’re as well–off as I am.’
Mr Farage added: ‘He actually summed up how huge numbers of people feel. And yes, on the economy, we can incentivise those in business, but we equally can’t go on paying an ever bigger (welfare) bill.
‘Socially, this will be the biggest battle that we face.’
Mr Farage also pledged to lead a debate designed to change attitudes towards success, accusing Rachel Reeves of overseeing ‘an assault on private enterprise, an assault on business and, even worse, an assault on savings’.
Mr Farage claimed that Reform UK was now gaining the mantle of the ‘party of working people’
The Reform leader said ‘there is one big divide in British society… those that work and those that don’t’ (Pictured: RMT workers striking on Tuesday)
‘The economic turnaround this country needs is so fundamental and so huge, but it’s also attitudinal, to a very large extent,’ he said. ‘It’s all about the concept of work, success, risk taking.
‘And we’ve got a country now where it’s almost like if you poll public opinion, they want to punish anybody that’s done well.
‘Well, actually, we have to fight back against that. And that’s where political leadership comes in, and not political followership. I’ve never, ever been afraid of that.’
Britain’s overall welfare bill is forecast to top £400billion a year by the end of the decade – a staggering £70billion increase on today’s figure.
The bill for sickness benefits alone is set to jump from £83billion last year to £109billion by the end of the decade – a real–terms rise of more than 30 per cent.
Earlier this month, Mr Farage committed to keeping the pensions triple lock, saying the pledge would be funded by ‘the biggest cuts to the benefits bill ever seen in the history of this country’.
In a sign of his hardening approach, he recently dropped plans to ditch the two–child benefit cap, saying a future Reform government would now reverse Labour’s £3billion decision to hand huge payouts to thousands of Britain’s jobless families.
Reform claims that a plan to block foreign nationals, including EU citizens, from claiming benefits could save £9billion a year, although the figure is disputed by experts.
The party has also announced plans to end Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for hundreds of thousands of people with mild mental health issues such as anxiety, potentially saving another £9billion in the long term.
