BREAKING Reform UK’s Nigel Farage to handle the nation right this moment in ‘bear the brunt’ assault

Reform UK’s Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf are set to address the nation in a press conference today, saying foreign nationals must “bear the brunt” of filling the black hole in Britain’s finances as they propose £25billion worth of cuts.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will also draw up the battle lines for next week’s Budget by accusing chancellor Rachel Reeves of planning to increase taxes on working people to fund a bloated benefits bill.

Reeves abandoned plans last week to increase income tax rates amid fears in Downing Street that breaking a core Labour election manifesto taxation pledge would spark rebellion among the party’s MPs, but the move fuelled a sell-off in the market for UK government bonds on Friday.

The chancellor’s position is even more dangerous now because Labour MPs still want to get rid of the two-child benefit cap – a policy which could cost up to £3.5billion a year – when Reeves’ biggest revenue-raising proposal has just been axed.

One minister has said that scrapping the cap in its entirety in the current climate would be “mad” after Reeves’ allies said in July that the move was unaffordable after Labour MPs forced her to abandon plans to cut the welfare bill by £5billion. However, under pressure from senior Labour figures Reeves last week appeared to accept she would have to find the money to end the two-child cap, reports FT. The chancellor told the BBC it was not fair that children of bigger families were “penalised” through “no fault of their own”.

This morning, Farage and Yusuf will announce plans to strip EU nationals of any benefits they receive, which is more than double the cost of the NHS surcharge, and cut foreign aid spending by more than 70%. They will say this would avoid the need for tax rises in the Budget.

Yusuf will give Labour an ultimatum of either “raising taxes on British citizens” or “asking foreign nationals to bear the brunt”, reports the Times. In his pledge, Mr Farage will propose he will give EU citizens who are claiming universal credit in the UK three months’ notice before ending their benefit payments.

If the EU refuses to accept the terms, he proposes that Reform would take unilateral action regardless of the threat of “trade retaliation”.

Reform UK will also pledge to increase the NHS surcharge for foreigners in Britain from £1,035 to £2,718 a year, raising £5billion a year. Farage argues the increased charge would be fair because it would reflect the cost per person of the total NHS budget for England.

Yusuf said £2,718 was “great value”, particularly because foreign nationals are more likely to have children than British nationals increasing the pressure on the NHS. “It’s a matter of principle,” he said. “Why should a foreign national get a 65% discounts. It’s great value, somebody can pay more and get vastly more out of the NHS.”

Reform will also seek to cap the foreign aid Budget, which will be £13.6billion in 2025/26, to £1billion a year. Yusuf added: “There are plenty of examples of egregiously wasteful spending. Until the finances are on a sound footing it is unpalatable and immoral to keep foreign aid spending at these legals.”

More proposed savings would be made by reducing disability benefits and deporting foreign criminals.