Every approach Nigel Farage’s insurance policies would hammer households if Reform wins energy
Nigel Farage has unveiled a ‘shadow cabinet’ full of failed Tories with draconian views on immigration, climate policies and equalities. Here The Mirror looks at some of the right-wing party’s policies
Nigel Farage has his new top team of ex-Tories(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Nigel Farage has unveiled a “shadow cabinet” full of failed Tories with draconian views on immigration, climate policies and equalities.
Robert Jenrick was named shadow chancellor, despite serving in Government for Liz Truss’s mini-budget, and also costing the taxpayer £40 million by wrongfully approving a housing project. Suella Braverman was appointed as education and equalities spokesman – in spite of previously breaching the ministerial code – and vowed to scrap the equalities department on “day one” of a Reform Government.
Richard Tice was appointed spokesman for Business, Trade and Energy, just days after suggesting Reform could cut the minimum wage. In his speech, Mr Tice said Britain would abandon net-zero targets and create a new “super department” in Government.
READ MORE: Reform UK slammed by veteran over ‘disgusting’ D-Day claim
Last year Mr Farage ripped up his party’s manifesto tax cutting pledges but the Reform chief and his MPs have made their views clear on a range of topics from net zero climate targets to the two-child benefit limit. Here The Mirror looks at some of the right-wing party’s policies.
Abandoning workers’ rights boost
Reform’s Richard Tice has made clear the party’s opposition to the biggest upgrade to employees’ rights in a generation.
He said in November last year: “You’ve got to scrap the whole Employment Rights Bill, lock stock and barrel. Frankly, you’ve got to scrap most of what this government has done since day one.” The legislation will soon upgrade workers’ rights by banning exploitative zero hours contracts, scrapping fire-and-rehire practices, and boosting sick pay provisions.
Scrapping Equalities Act
Former Tory Cabinet minister Suella Braverman announcedon Tuesday a Reform government would repeal the 2010 Equalities Act.
Ushered in by the last Labour government the legislation protects citizens from discrimination based on a whole range of characteristics including age, race, and religion. It applies to the workplace, education and public services.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the move would “legalise discrimination against a worker if they are a woman, disabled, black, pregnant or gay.”
Return of two-child benefit limit (for most families)
The cruel two-child benefit limit – blamed for trapping hundreds of thousands of kids in poverty – will officially be scrapped by Labour in April.
Mr Farage told a press conference last year he would axe the policy if he won power.But he later U-turned and clarified this would only be for families where both parents were British and working full-time.
Labour said this would help less than 1% of the total number of kids hit by the policy.
Scrapping Online Safety Act
Reform has said it wants to rip-up the Online Safety Act that protects children and adults online – but have failed to say what they would replace it with.
It would mean removing Ofcom’s children’s safety codes, which came into force last year and which order tech companies to bring in age verification tools and tame toxic algorithms.
Cabinet minister Peter Kyle – the former Tech Secretary – has previously claimed repealing the law would put Reform on the side of “people out there who are extreme pornographers peddling hate, peddling violence”.
NHS muddle
Mr Farage has previously flirted with the idea of an insurance-based system – but his position appears muddled.
Appearing on LBC last year, he was asked if he was open to an “insurance based model?”. The former banker answered he was “open to anything”. And in a BBC interview in 2025, he said: “Everyone knows we are not getting bang for buck, everyone knows we are not getting value, let’s re-examine the whole funding model and find a way that’s more efficient.”
But he also insisted he is committed to the NHS being free at the point of delivery while Reform has said the party “will never charge you to use the NHS”.
Abandoning net zero targets
Mr Farage’s right-wing band have repeatedly said they will abandon net-zero climate targets. Keir Starmer last year warned failing to be “all in” on net zero would be a disaster for energy bill prices and also undermine national security.
Labour has previously said Mr Farage’s “war on clean energy” and net zero would threaten over 950,000 jobs in thriving industries across the country.
Public spending cuts
Reform MP Richard Tice has previously said he would want to take an axe to public spending. He told the Politics Inside Out podcast last year 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.
A stark analysis last year suggested this could mean a £274 billion cut from government budgets if the plan was enacted. Cabinet minister Darren Jones said at the time: “Reckless Richard Tice would play a game of roulette with Britain’s finances that would mean chaos, cuts and decline.”
Deportations
Mr Farage announced last year if he gets into No10, he would scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR) – meaning hundreds of thousands of legal migrants could face deportation.
Reform’s Zia Yusuf said last year:“Our solution to this problem is to abolish ILR completely. That means no new awards and those who currently hold it will have it rescinded. These changes will lead to hundreds of thousands of people having to apply and ultimately losing their settled status in the UK.”
The PM branded the policy “racist”, and claimed it would “rip this country apart”.
Tax cuts for billionaires
Reform has previously been accused of plotting a “golden ticket for foreign billionaires” to avoid paying a raft of UK taxes.
This would be through something called the Britannia Card – which would see the super-rich from overseas pay £250,000 to avoid tax on overseas earnings and inheritance tax. It would let wealthy tycoons from overseas get “non-dom” tax status if they pay a one-off fee of £250,000.
However, Labour number crunchers have said this would mean less money will be raised for the Treasury, meaning Farage and co would have to raise more money elsewhere.“
