Nigel Farage warns Britain is 'going bust' without tax cuts and growth

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The Reform UK leader insisted increasing the personal allowance to £20,000 remains an 'aspiration'

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has warned Britain is "going bust" without tax cuts and economic growth.

Mr Farage, who spoke to GB News ahead of his curtain-closing conference speech, claimed Robert Jenrick's pledge to increase the personal allowance from £12,570 to £15,000 in his first Budget will ensure work pays.

Reform UK hopes the tax cut will save taxpayers around £500 a year, with almost three million pensioners being taken out of paying income tax altogether.

Speaking to The People's Channel, Mr Farage said: "To get to £15,000, you would take nearly three million people out of tax altogether.

"And here's the thing, the next pension increase will take nearly 10 million pensioners into paying tax.

"Just think of the cost and bureaucracy of all of that. It actually helps simplify the tax system and takes three million out of tax.

"But also it widens the gap between whether it's worth going to work or not going to work."

Mr Jenrick made the announcement just weeks after Andy Burnham admitted the issue had come up on the doorsteps in Makerfield.

The Prime Minister, who romped to victory in the Greater Manchester seat in June, is no longer considering an increase to the personal allowance.

A typical basic-rate taxpayer with sufficient taxable income would be approximately £486 better off per year, with higher earners potentially pocketing an extra £972.

A petition demanding the personal allowance is increased to £18,000 now has 67,000 signatures, including 145 in Makerfield and 190 in Clacton.

However, the Treasury faces a black hole of £17.7billion if Reform UK raises the personal allowance threshold to £15,000.

During the 2024 General Election, Mr Farage had pledged to raise the personal allowance threshold to £20,000, costing the Treasury an estimated £60billion.

The Reform UK leader insisted his previous pledge remains an "aspiration", adding: "People say I get up at 5.30am, I go to work, the traffic's awful, the job is hard, and I'm almost no better off than the people next door who sit around and smoke dope all day."

Mr Farage also told GB News that the policy would ensure work pays for Britons up and down the country.

He said: "There is a real sort of growth of a split in society here now to get to £15,000.

"Robert Jenrick has got to make some big cuts in other areas. But I think it's absolutely vital.

"If we don't get Britain working again, if we don't increase our productivity, we are going bust. It's just as simple as that."

However, Reform UK's rivals have criticised Mr Jenrick's announcement amid a funding scandal engulfing the upper echelons of the party.

A Labour Party spokesman said: “Robert Jenrick only seems to be interested in making people better off when Reform UK are trying to distract from the latest scandal engulfing their party. The public will see right through it.

“Farage and Reform are funding policy after policy through mystery spending cuts, which could put local schools, hospitals and other vital public services at risk.”

Mr Jenrick also used his maiden Reform conference speech to pledge he will resign as Chancellor if he fails to deliver tax cuts in his first 100 days in No11.

Mr Jenrick described the proposed tax cuts as "the biggest rise in the personal allowance in its history" and promised to introduce the measures in his first Budget.

He added: “If I don’t deliver this exactly when I have said that I will, I will resign. No ifs, not buts, I will be gone.”

Reform UK's Treasury spokesman, who penned a resignation letter to Mr Farage, also pledged to set out a “step-by-step” approach to increase the threshold to £20,000 when it is affordable.