Nigel Farage’s “fantasy” economics will lead to a Liz Truss-style economic meltdown, Sir Keir Starmer has warned, in a desperate bid to halt advance of Reform UK.
Speaking in north-west England on Thursday, the prime minister urged the public to reject Reform UK’s calls to use “family finances” as a gambling chip on “unfunded” tax cuts.
It came as new polling exclusive to The Independent revealed that Reform has stretched its poll lead even further since Mr Farage made a major intervention targeting Labour voters on Tuesday.
The Techne UK weekly tracker poll revealed that Reform has hit an all time high of 31 per cent (up 1 from last week), nine points above Labour on 22 per cent (unchanged) and almost double Kemi Badenoch’s Tories stuck in third equal on 16 per cent (down 1).
A stunning 12 per cent of Labour voters from 2024 have now defected to Reform along with 36 per cent of Tory voters from last year’s election.
In a bid to directly challenge Reform, Sir Keir warned that Mr Farage would not have protected jobs in industries subject to tariffs from the US.
“We protected those jobs. Would Nigel Farage have done the same? Absolutely not”, he said.
“And that’s the question to have to ask about Nigel Farage. Can you trust him? Can you trust him with your future? Can you trust him with your jobs? Can you trust him with your mortgages, your pensions, your bills? And he gave the answer on Tuesday. A resounding no.”
Sir Keir struck a deal with the United States earlier this month which cut tariffs on car exports from 27.5 per cent to 10 per cent, something the government said would save hundreds of millions a year for Jaguar Land Rover.
The prime minister’s remarks come after the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the party’s pledge to increase the income tax personal allowance to £20,000 a year could cost between £50 to £80 billion a year.
But his message was aimed at tackling the credibility of Reform who now lead in all age categories from 35 and above as well as among both men and women for the first time, according to Techne UK. Farage’s party also leads all it rivals among high, medium and low earners and are only one point behind Labour among graduates.
Techne UK chief executive Michela Morizzo said: “There can be no doubt this is an earthquake in UK politics and, for the Conservatives, dropping much lower than this vote share could be unsustainable.
“At the same time, the rising wave of Reform UK risks to be uncontrollable if no urgent measures are put in place. Truly dramatic political times indeed.”
The further rise in popularity follows a press conference in central London on Tuesday where Mr Farage said his measures were “aimed at British families” as he announced plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap and fully reverse the winter fuel payment cuts.
Responding to Mr Farage’s speech, IFS deputy director Helen Miller said the announcements on winter fuel payments and the two-child benefit cap were “dwarfed” by the change to income tax personal allowance.
On a visit to meet workers at a manufacturing business, Sir Keir branded Mr Farage’s policies a “mad experiment”, insisting he would “be exactly the same” as Ms Truss.
He said: “Apparently [Mr Farage] is in Las Vegas today at a casino, and it’s not a surprise, because he said that the Liz Truss budget in his view was the best since 1986.
“That shows his judgment. It shows what he’d do and the result would be exactly the same. I’m not prepared to let that happen.”
He added: “Unlike Nigel Farage, I know what it’s like growing up in a cost-of-living crisis. I know what it’s like when your family can’t pay the bills, when you fear the postman, the bills that may be brought, and I know how much work we have to do.
“But there is not and never will be a magic wand that can wave away the need to manage the public finances properly. That is the foundation upon which everything rests, always.
“Now we were elected to change the country, but we were also elected to never put working people through a crisis like Liz Truss ever again.”
Short-lived Conservative prime minister Ms Truss’ mini-budget spooked the financial markets in 2022 and led to a spike in mortgage rates.
Following the prime minister’s speech, the chairman of Reform said Sir Keir is "panicking".
Speaking to Sky News, Zia Yusuf said: "It's obviously panic stations at Labour. Look, Keir Starmer is panicking because his awful government is now trailing Reform by a staggering eight points in the latest YouGov poll.
"And we talk about economic credibility, this Government, in their manifesto last June, they promised £10 billion of increased spending.
"In their actual budget, their first budget three months later, they increased spending by up to £60 billion and on their magic money tree found another £30 billion to give away sovereign territory in the form of the Chagos Islands."
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