\u2018Tory defectors failed Britain and will do again\u2019<\/p>\n
The Labour Party chairwoman said Nigel Farage\u2019s frontbench appointments had \u201cfailed Britain before\u201d and would do so again.<\/p>\n
Anna Turley said: \u201cFarage\u2019s top team of failed Tories spent over 3,000 days inflicting untold damage on our country in government, trashing our economy, hammering families\u2019 mortgages and leaving our borders open.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey failed Britain before \u2014 they\u2019d do the same again under Reform.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s appointments clearly reveal that neither keeping our nation safe nor tackling NHS waiting lists are priorities for Farage or Reform UK. Only Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour government is delivering on the people\u2019s priorities by tackling the cost of living and cutting NHS waiting lists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tax breaks for having children possible under Reform![\"Reform\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\/cab61d02-d283-49b1-9e2d-41150209fab9.jpg\")
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Reform\u2019s new \u2018shadow\u2019 cabinet<\/p>\n
STEFAN ROUSSEAU\/PA<\/p>\n
Reform \u201cmight give people tax breaks for having quite a few children\u201d, Nigel Farage said.<\/p>\n
The Reform UK leader was responding to comments made by Matt Goodwin<\/a>, the party\u2019s candidate in the Gorton & Denton by-election, who said people who did not have children should be taxed more to tackle Britain\u2019s fertility crisis.<\/p>\n Farage said: \u201cI don\u2019t think we want to tax people more. We might give people tax breaks for having quite a few children, given that the cost of living is appallingly high as it is.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are millions of people working who might be better off on benefits. So if part of our strategy going forwards is to find some way that we can help young working people have kids if Reform are in power, then I think that\u2019s going to be a very decent solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Farage dismisses threat from Lowe\u2019s new party<\/p>\n Farage dismissed a poll suggesting 10 per cent of people would vote for an ex-Reform member\u2019s new party that was announced this week.<\/p>\n Asked whether he felt threatened by Rupert Lowe\u2019s Restore Britain<\/a> movement, the Reform leader said: \u201cThere is only one proper brand of centre-right politics in this country. It\u2019s called Reform.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he stood up and said that we\u2019ve got to consider the mass deportations of entire communities, including those born in the United Kingdom, that just moves beyond a point of reasonableness, of decency, of morality.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the moment at which I realised we just had to get rid of him and get rid of him as quickly as we could.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s veiled jab at Reform <\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer attempted to paint Reform UK as vaccine-sceptic amid a rise in measles cases among children.<\/p>\n He wrote on X: \u201cOur country expects its leaders to stand firmly behind science to protect our children, not to give oxygen to conspiracy theories. Public health isn\u2019t a culture war. It\u2019s about keeping our communities safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.<\/a><\/p>\n Enable cookiesAllow cookies once<\/p>\n The prime minister did not name Reform, but ministers have previously accused the party of entertaining \u201canti-vax lies\u201d after Dr Aseem Malhotra<\/a>, who linked the Covid vaccine with cancer in the royal family, spoke at Reform\u2019s conference.<\/p>\n Wes Streeting, the health secretary, previously said: \u201cThese anti-vax lies have consequences: they\u2019ve led to the return of diseases we thought we defeated \u2014 measles, whooping cough, children dying from preventable illness in this, the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n Braverman: Trade will rebuild Britain\u2019s self-belief<\/p>\n Suella Braverman called for 50 per cent of young people to work in trades, saying that they would \u201crebuild our country\u2019s self-belief\u201d.<\/p>\n Reform\u2019s education spokeswoman blamed universities for \u201cconning\u201d students into getting Mickey Mouse degrees and criticised New Labour\u2019s target of getting more young people to university.<\/p>\n Reform inundated with candidate applications Farage, Richard Tice and Suella Braverman<\/p>\n STEFAN ROUSSEAU\/PA<\/p>\n Farage has claimed that 600 people applied to be a parliamentary Reform candidate in the first two days of applications being opened.<\/p>\n The party leader said it was a \u201cgargantuan\u201d task to pick hundreds of candidates for seats in the May 7 council elections.<\/p>\n Farage said he would not do a deal with the Tories because they were \u201cutterly dishonourable\u201d.<\/p>\n He said he had made a deal with Boris Johnson in 2019 and felt \u201cbetrayed\u201d by the party. He distanced himself from comments made by Zia Yusuf that the party might be open to an agreement with the Conservatives to prevent a \u201cprogressive alliance\u201d of the Labour, Lib Dems and Greens.<\/p>\n Farage: Reform won\u2019t repeat Tory \u2018psychodrama\u2019<\/p>\n Farage warned against disloyalty in his party, threatening that any perpetrators \u201cwon\u2019t be around very long\u201d.<\/p>\n He said his party did not have time for the \u201cpsychodrama\u201d that the Tories engaged in.<\/p>\n \u201cIf people mess about, behave badly and are disloyal, they won\u2019t be here very long,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to put up with it. We\u2019ll have our disagreements, of course we will, but we\u2019ll have those disagreements in private, behind closed doors, resolve our issues, resolve our disputes that naturally happen when any group of human beings come together, but I won\u2019t tolerate it publicly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t got time, we\u2019re not going to aim for government to put it through the same psychodrama that the Conservatives did for over four years where they spent more time fighting each other than they did fighting for the country, so I think we\u2019re pretty clear on that.\u201d<\/p>\n Tory defectors provide strategic safety<\/p>\n Appointing Tory defectors to top party positions aims to address criticism Farage has faced over his party lacking experience in government. <\/p>\n Robert Jenrick was an immigration minister under Rishi Sunak and also exchequer secretary to the Treasury in 2018 to 19 under Theresa May. Suella Braverman served as home secretary from 2022 to 2023.<\/p>\n One party source said its internal polling showed that one of the biggest obstacles for people voting Reform was its perceived lack of experience in government.<\/p>\n They said that after elections in May, the focus would shift towards working up a detailed manifesto and appointing more people to the equivalent of shadow roles.<\/p>\n \u2018Britain ripped apart by DEI\u2019 CHRIS J. RATCLIFFE\/REUTERS<\/p>\n Britain has been \u201cripped apart\u201d by diversity, equality and inclusion, Braverman said, accusing the initiative of being \u201cprejudice against white people\u201d.<\/p>\n She said Reform UK would get rid of the equalities department on \u201cday one\u201d, scrap the equalities minister \u2014 the role she is responsible for \u2014 and repeal the Equalities Act.<\/p>\n Braverman becomes fourth appointment<\/p>\n Suella Braverman will be Reform UK\u2019s shadow secretary of state for education and skills, Nigel Farage has confirmed in the final appointment to his \u201cshadow cabinet\u201d.<\/p>\n She will also be responsible for equalities, meaning she will \u201ctake on the world of DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion]\u201d for the party.<\/p>\n Braverman said \u201ctoo many teachers now face the fear of intimidation and assault in the classroom\u201d, adding that the curriculum under her control would be reformed to be \u201cpatriotic\u201d.<\/p>\n She added that gender ideology and transitioning would be banned for students.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some classrooms, children are taught to view Britain with shame rather than pride,\u201d she said. \u201cTo focus on grievance, rather than gratitude. To focus on gender ideology, rather than ideological fact.<\/p>\n \u201cA Reform government will restore freedom to our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n Reform claims victory over Labour U-turn Nigel Farage at the conference in Church House, Westminster, with Jenrick in the background<\/p>\n STEFAN ROUSSEAU\/PA<\/p>\n Nigel Farage has said his party were feeling \u201chappy with themselves\u201d after the government dropped plans to delay some council elections. Farage called the U-turn a victory for democracy and said Reform was now the real opposition in the country.<\/p>\n Yusuf responsible for immigration CHRIS J RATCLIFFE\/REUTERS<\/p>\n Zia Yusuf will be Reform UK\u2019s shadow home secretary, responsible for tackling \u201cboth legal and illegal immigration\u201d, Nigel Farage has confirmed.<\/p>\n Rising immigration was the \u201cmost profound betrayal in British electoral history\u201d, Yusuf said, adding that Britons had \u201cvoted expressly in the opposite way\u201d to the immigration policies implemented by the Conservative and Labour governments of recent years.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIf you are in this country illegally right now and you are watching this, then I want to be clear that [as] Reform\u2019s home secretary you will be deported from these lands.\u201d<\/p>\n Jenrick becomes \u2018shadow\u2019 chancellor CHRIS J. RATCLIFFE\/REUTERS<\/p>\n Robert Jenrick will be Reform UK\u2019s shadow chancellor of the exchequer, Nigel Farage has confirmed.<\/p>\n Jenrick said Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s economic policies were \u201ctantamount to vandalism\u201d as he said Reform would build an economy \u201cthat serves alarm clock Britain\u201d.<\/p>\n He added that \u201cdecades of mismanagement\u201d had \u201cbroken\u201d Britain\u2019s economy. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople are suffering,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone in the country feels hard up right now. People are working all hours, and then they get to the weekend and they have nothing left. \u2026 We are going to put together the most comprehensive plan of any political party in this country to fix Britain\u2019s broken economy.\u201d<\/p>\n He called Rachel Reeves a \u201cwrecking ball\u201d for the economy, and said he would work to reduce waste in the benefits bills, reduce bills and brings back good jobs to the country.<\/p>\n Tice confirmed as \u2018shadow\u2019 business secretary<\/p>\n Richard Tice will be deputy prime minister and secretary for business, trade and energy if Reform UK win the next general election, Nigel Farage has confirmed.<\/p>\n His new brief will be to run a \u201csuper department\u201d, which will also have responsibility for housing. <\/p>\n The deputy leader said he would be announcing plans to set up a sovereign wealth fun, which would invest in steel, hi-tech and defence tech industries.<\/p>\n Yusuf: Number of illegal immigrants larger than British Army<\/p>\n Zia Yusuf, who is tipped to be Reform\u2019s home affairs spokesman, supported Sir Jim Ratcliffe\u2019s view in an interview last week that Britain had been \u201ccolonised\u201d<\/a> by illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n Yusuf previously told GB News the number of illegal immigrants that had entered the UK since 2018 was \u201clarger than the British Army\u201d, and that successive governments had failed to listen to voters\u2019 concerns on mass migration to the UK.<\/p>\n Fourth appointment remains a mystery<\/p>\n Four podiums with the positions embossed on the front have been set out on the stage at Reform\u2019s press conference. <\/p>\n While the positions of Jenrick, Yusuf and Tice have been well documented, the person who will get the role of the education and skills spokesman remains a mystery.<\/p>\n Real shades of Fifteen to One with William G Stewart here at Reform UK\u2019s \u201cshadow cabinet\u201d launch (Tom Peck writes).<\/p>\n The podiums before Reform\u2019s announcements<\/p>\n CHRIS J RATCLIFFE\/ REUTERS<\/p>\n At Farage\u2019s right-hand side will be his shadow chancellor, widely understood to be Robert Jenrick.<\/p>\n The podium to his left-hand side says \u201cshadow business, trade and energy secretary\u201d. This is not, technically, one of the big jobs, so its central position is surely confirmation that it\u2019ll be Richard Tice.<\/p>\n \u2018We will roll out red carpet for disillusioned voters\u2019<\/p>\n Zia Yusuf has suggested that a Reform cabinet would not be wholly composed of MPs or peers.<\/p>\n He told Times Radio: \u201cWe have said that we would expect a decent portion of the cabinet to be smaller under Nigel Farage, make it a higher performance, higher-functioning decision-making body.<\/p>\n \u201cA decent portion, not the majority, but a decent portion probably would not necessarily be parliamentarians. We\u2019ve got to bring and we\u2019ve got to entice and do everything we can to roll out the red carpet for exceptional people in this country, of which there are many very disillusioned.\u201d<\/p>\n Why Treasury role for Jenrick could cause conflict Robert Jenrick announced his defection to Reform last month<\/p>\n HENRY NICHOLLS\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n Robert Jenrick has faced opposition from Farage<\/a>\u2019s long-term lieutenants Richard Tice and Zia Yusuf to get the role as Treasury spokesman.<\/p>\n Jenrick defected to Reform UK<\/a> last month after being ousted from the Conservative Party by its leader, Kemi Badenoch. At the time, Jenrick denied that he had been promised a senior role in Reform to secure his defection.<\/p>\n![\"Farage,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\/7845bcb6-6adc-488d-adb4-d0c0daa1e74a.jpg\")
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