Nigel Farage: Reform UK want to make it easier for people to have children
Farage's intervention comes as the prime minister faces pressure from his own MPs on government spending decisions, including cuts to disability benefits.Some Labour MPs also want to see the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017.Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said the government is considering lifting the cap but that it would "cost a lot of money". Last week, Sir Keir announced plans to ease cuts to winter fuel payments, but has not yet set out how many pensioners would see the payment reinstated or how it would be paid for.
During a wide-ranging speech, Farage also said his party's "biggest aspiration" was to lift the salary level at which people start paying income tax to £20,000."These proposals are expensive but we genuinely believe we can pay for it," he said. He said the measures would be paid for by scrapping net-zero climate measures, stopping hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, ending diversity and equality initiatives in the public sector and cutting the number of quangos - bodies which are funded by taxpayers but not directly controlled by central government. The Reform UK leader said removing the two-child benefit cap, which would cost an estimated £3.5bn, was "not a silver bullet" but would help families.On making tax breaks for married people more generous, he said he was "not moralising" but argued that "making marriage a little bit more important" was "the right thing to do," as it gave children "the best chance of success".
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