Reform UK’s leader is expected to make announce the moves during an appeal to left-wing voters in a speech this coming week.
Nigel Farage is expected to say he would reinstate the winter fuel allowance (Image: Getty)
Nigel Farage will commit to restoring the winter fuel allowance and scrapping the two child benefit cap in a bid to woo left-wing voters. Reform UK is currently riding high in the opinion polls after local election victories and success at the Runcorn and Helsby by-election on May 1.
Opinion polls show it is the most popular political party with voters, followed by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Tories in an historic fourth place. The outfit’s leader is expected to make a bid to outflank Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on benefits in a speech this week, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
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Mr Farage, who spent last week on holiday despite the Commons sitting, will return to the political arena to claim Sir Keir is out of touch with working people.
The MP for Clacton is expected to say: “He doesn’t understand what they want and how they feel about the big issues facing Britain. It’s going to be these very same working people that will vote Reform at the next election and kick Labour out of Government.”
Reform UK’s leader will describe Sir Keir as one of the “most unpatriotic” prime ministers in British history in his speech.
A Reform source told the newspaper: “We’re against the two-child cap and we’d go further on winter fuel by bringing the payment back for everyone. That’s already outflanking Labour.”
This week at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir U-turned on the winter fuel payment, signalling he wanted to restore it for more pensioners. The reversal is likely to take place at the Budget in the autumn.
The payment was previously made to all pensioners, but Labour reduced it to only those receiving Pension Credit in one of its first acts in Government.
Ministers are planning to restore the payment to all but the wealthiest pensioners, the Sunday Times reported.
The same publication said civil servants have warned any changes are very unlikely to be made before the winter due to ageing computer systems.
Scrapping the two child benefit cap and reinstating the winter fuel allowance for some pensioners has been tipped to cost the Treasury as much as £5billion. Such moves are likely to lead to tax rises.
But Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has said the policy would be paid for by cutting the foreign aid budget, shutting asylum hotels and scrapping Net Zero subsidies, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
The Observer newspaper reported Sir Keir has privately backed plans to scrap the cap, and made it clear he wants to drive down child poverty.
The Government is facing pressure from its own backbenchers to eliminate the cap, all while the threat of a rebellion over a wide-ranging package of welfare reforms looms.
Meanwhile, the Government’s action plan to tackle child poverty – a document tipped to include proposals to scrap the two-child benefit cap – has been delayed until the autumn. The plan is likely to be aligned with the budget so it can be fully costed.
The two-child benefit cap restricts Universal Credit and tax credits to the first two children in a majority of families.
