Farage backtracks on promise to cut £9obn of taxes as spotlight falls on Reform's credibility

Nigel Farage yesterday retreated from his party's election manifesto promise to cut £90bn of taxes, accusing Labour and the Tories of "wrecking the public finances" and saying Reform UK would need to get public spending under control first.

- Pippa Crerar Political editor

The Reform leader rejected suggestions he had been forced to break manifesto promises to gain economic credibility, suggesting the proposal had only ever been an "aspiration".

As well as backtracking on the party's 2024 pledge to raise the personal income tax threshold to £20,000, he refused to guarantee that the pensions triple lock - the annual cost of which is estimated to reach £15.5bn by 2030 - would remain under a Reform government.

Farage's speech in the City of London laid bare the tensions at the heart of his project as he attempts to improve his party's economic credibility, which political opponents regard as a weak point, and retain the electoral benefits of political insurgency.

Reform's manifesto committed the party to tax cuts worth about a third of the NHS budget, but economists said the plans - along with £50bn of spending commitments and £150bn of cuts - were problematic and would cost far more than claimed.

Reform has yet to set out any detailed plans on spending cuts, though it has signalled there would be big reductions in welfare benefits, net zero policies, support for asylum seekers, foreign aid and the civil service.