Yahoo News Farage turns spotlight on Wales as he launches Reform UK manifesto
Nigel Farage will warn the problems in Wales prove “exactly what happens to a country when Labour is in charge” as he launches Reform UK’s manifesto on Monday.
The Reform leader will seek to position his party as the opposition-in-waiting by claiming voters have been let down by the Labour-led Welsh Government, which the “feeble” Tories have failed to hold to account.
Setting out his pitch to the nation in Wales, Mr Farage will take aim at Labour’s record on the NHS, schools, 20mph speed limits and Covid restrictions, which he will present as a blueprint for a Starmer government.
He will propose a “better future for all of Britain” with Reform’s manifesto – or “contract” with voters – which is likely to include a freeze on “non-essential” immigration, widespread tax cuts and reforms to the healthcare system.
The Reform leader will argue that since devolution, the Welsh people have been ignored by the London “political establishment” and let down by their own Labour leaders.
Meanwhile, he will claim the Conservatives have achieved “zilch” as the country’s official opposition since 2016.
The challenge to Labour on its home territory will be seen as an attempt by Reform to take on the mantle of the opposition, having overtaken the Tories in the polls last week for the first time.
Ahead of the launch in South Wales, Mr Farage said: “One of the reasons we are launching our contract with the people of Britain in Wales is because it shows everyone exactly what happens to a country when Labour is in charge.
“Schools are worse than in England, NHS waiting lists are longer than in England, Covid restrictions were even tighter than in England and now Welsh motorists are being soaked by literally hundreds of speed cameras to enforce the deeply unpopular new 20mph blanket speed limit in towns and villages.
“Since devolution, the Welsh have been ignored by the London political establishment and let down by the Labour administration they elected.
“Meanwhile, the Tories have been the official opposition almost solidly since 2016 and have achieved zilch, which probably explains why we are neck-and-neck with them in the polls in Wales.
“So, if you want a picture of what the whole country will be like with a Starmer government and a feeble Conservative opposition, come to Wales and then hear us unveil a better future for all of Britain.”
Reform’s manifesto is expected to largely reflect what is in its draft “contract with the people”, released in full on June 17, with some new policies added in.
The party has already vowed to increase the income tax threshold from £12,570 to £20,000, scrap stamp duty on properties under £750,000, and abolish inheritance for estates under £2 million.
It has also pledged to cut NHS waiting lists to zero in two years and offer tax relief on private healthcare and insurance.
Reform wants to scrap net zero and related subsidies and accelerate North Sea oil and gas licences while speeding up clean nuclear energy.
To cut migration levels, a centrepiece of Mr Farage’s offer to the British public, the party has pledged to introduce a new migrant tax forcing employers to pay an increased National Insurance rate of 20 per cent for every foreign employee, compared with the current 13.8 per cent figure for domestic staff.
It would also leave the European Convention on Human Rights and introduce a “one in, one out” migration quota, according to Reform’s draft manifesto.
All “non-essential” migration would be frozen within weeks. Illegal migration would be deemed a national security threat, migrants would be picked up out of boats and taken back to France and the Home Office abolished and replaced by a new Department for Immigration.
Foreign criminals would be deported immediately after their prison sentence ended and citizenship withdrawn from immigrants who commit “significant” crimes.
In the final version of the manifesto, Mr Farage may choose to include a new pledge to move to a French-style healthcare system.
In France, all residents must have some form of health insurance, whether state or private.
The state system covers everyone regardless of income level or employment status, with healthcare partly funded through social security contributions.
The Reform leader hinted at the policy in the first seven-party television debate on June 7, saying that in France “those who can afford it through their taxes pay into an insurance scheme”, while “those that can’t afford it, don’t pay in, so it’s for the mutual benefit of everybody”.
Elsewhere, Reform has pledged to use its first 100 days in power to clamp down on “woke ideology” in schools and universities, banning the teaching of contested gender ideology and critical race theory in schools.
Private schools would benefit from tax relief of 20 per cent in an attempt to take pressure off state schools and “improve education for all”.
The party has also pledged to fight Labour’s planned tax raid on private education as Richard Tice, Reform’s honorary president, vowed to challenge the “discriminatory” policy in the courts.
Labour’s record in Wales is already a popular Tory line of attack and they regularly criticise the state of the Welsh NHS as well as the hugely controversial 20mph speed limit, introduced last year by Mark Drakeford, the former first minister.
On Sunday, Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, also pointed to Labour’s review of council tax bands in Wales as evidence of what Britons might expect under Sir Keir’s leadership.
It comes as senior Tories have opened fire on Reform after an apparent hesitance from ministers to directly attack the party for fear of alienating Right-wing voters.
After Mr Farage said he would be willing to lead a merged Reform-Conservative Party, David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, said many Tories would be “horrified at an amalgamation”, warning that “you don’t offer membership” when “somebody tries to burn down the golf club”.
He told Times Radio: “I think those who talk about it, they say, oh, unify the right. What? There are plenty of people in the Conservative Party today who would be horrified at an amalgamation with Reform, not so much because of Nigel Farage, but because of other members of his party.
“Today [Nigel Farage] is trying to destroy the Conservative Party, that’s his explicit aim. When somebody tries to burn down the golf club, you don’t offer them membership, do you?”
Meanwhile, Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, warned in an article for The Telegraph that a vote for Mr Farage’s party would lead to a Labour “elective dictatorship”.
He said he “shares the frustrations” of traditional Tory voters defecting to Reform UK, but argued its success threatens to kill off conservatism for good as a “meaningful force” in parliament.
On Sunday night it emerged that Reform UK’s candidate in Kemi Badenoch’s seat has resigned after historic comments emerged in which he urged people to vote for the BNP.
Grant StClair-Armstrong, a former Tory councillor, said there were “no excuses” for the remarks, made in 2010, and that he had offered to quit.
Reform UK said in a statement that the online comments, unearthed by The Times, were “unacceptable” and that it had accepted his resignation.
