WATCH: Richɑrd Tice jokes Shɑbɑnɑ Mɑhmood ‘putting in ɑpplicɑtion to join Reform’ over ɑsylum system plɑns
| GB NEWS
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called for foreign nationals to “bear the brunt” of Rachel Reeves’s £25billion “black hole”.
Mr Farage is unveiling plains to prohibit EU citizens from claiming benefits in Britain, slashing foreign aid spending by 70 per cent and doubling NHS surcharge costs.
Europeans will be handed a three-month notice period before their payments end entirely – and if Brussels refuses, a trade war could follow.
Reform’s head of policy Zia Yusuf is announcing proposals to cut Government spending by £25billion – which the party says will eradicate the need to raise any taxes.
Mr Yusuf said: “Labour has a choice. They can either go ahead and raise taxes on British citizens or they can enact our proposals which put British people first and ask foreign nationals to bear the brunt of the black hole, not British citizens.
“Most British people would consider it outrageous to expect British people to pay higher taxes or see their services cut whilst their money is being spent this way.”
All foreigners would see their yearly NHS surcharge hiked from £1,035 to £2,718, raising £5billion each year.
Mr Farage has argued that figure is fair because it represents the NHS’s cost per person in England – while Mr Yusuf will brand it a “great value” deal.
“Why should a foreign national get a 65 per cent discounts? It’s great value, somebody can pay more and get vastly more out of the NHS,” the party’s policy chief will say.
And turning his crosshairs overseas, Mr Yusuf is expected to reveal plans to take a chainsaw to foreign aid – taking it down from this year’s £13.6billion to £1billion.
Reform UK joke about Kemi Badenoch’s press conference
Shadow Chancellor says Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer lack ‘backbone to act’
Mel Stride has told the press conference that the “Budget is about choices”.
“Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have shown when it comes to controlling the benefits bill, they lack either the inclination or the backbone to act,” the Shadow Chancellor said.
“In the summer, Labour made a panicked and unfunded U-turn on their welfare changes, which as Kemi has set out left a £5billion black hole in our public finances.
“Let’s be clear, even if those savings had been delivered, they would still have seen the benefits bill continuing to skyrocket. But incredibly, the Government have now effectively ruled out making any further attempts at savings.”
Kemi Badenoch pledges Tory Government will bring back two-child benefit cap
Kemi Badenoch said the Tories will be the only party that would maintain the two-child benefit cap.
She told the press conference that the “Conservatives believe in the fairness of the two-child benefit cap”.
“Every single other party in politics – the Lib Dems, the Greens, and even Reform want to scrap it,” Ms Badenoch said.
“Right now, Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf are holding a press conference on how they would save money.
“In reality they want to increase benefits by scrapping the cap, they just don’t get it, none of these parties do. The Conservative Party are the only party in this country committed to living within our means.”
Reform UK Head of Policy accused Labour of “treachery”
Zia Yusuf and Nigel Farage during Reform UK’s budget plan
| GB NEWS
Zia Yusuf has accused Labour of “treachery”, saying the party was “making the conscious and deliberate decision to continue funding extortionate amounts to foreign nationals”.
“To the detriment of British citizens,” he added.
“And I don’t know what to call that.
“Frankly, my view is treachery. I think it’s appalling.”
Reform UK’s Head of Policy said the British people “are sick and tired of it”.
Nigel Farage calls plans to take asylum seekers’ items like jewellery is a ‘gimmick’
When asked by GB News whether Shabana Mahmood’s asylum plans will stop the boats, Nigel Farage said it was “encouraging” in “rhetorical terms”.
However, he said he did not believe it will work.
The Reform UK leader said that the proposal, including taking jewellery off people was a “gimmick”.
Mr Farage said that in Denmark, where it has been tried, only 17 people had their items removed.
Rachel Reeves will give ‘nonsense’ Budget story, Kemi Badenoch says
Kemi Badenoch has said she expects the Chancellor to tell a “nonsense” story in next week’s Budget.
“Next week Rachel Reeves is going to tell you a story,” she said.
“In this story she will be painted as the heroic victim.
“The wicked Tories and the black hole they’re somehow creating in the public finances, long after they left office.”
Ms Badenoch also pointed out how she expects Ms Reeves to reference Donald Trump’s tariffs and Brexit.
“And inflation, which despite her best efforts, keeps rising because of things other people are doing,” she added.
“This story is nonsense.”
Kemi Badenoch says Labour is making a ‘rush of announcements to appease’ backbenchers
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is speaking at her party’s pre-budget news conference, taking a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer.
“Last week we had the farce of the Prime Minister accidentally firing the starting gun on the race to replace him, shooting himself in both feet in the process,” she said.
“So now, instead of trying to make savings in the Budget, we are seeing a rush of announcements to appease Labour backbenchers and try to sure-up his position.
“Just a few months ago, Rachel Reeves was saying she couldn’t afford to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Now it looks like it is becoming her latest U-turn. So far from bringing down her welfare bill, she is going to add another £3.5billion to it.”
She added: “We need to call this out for what it is – Labour are raising taxes to pay for Keir Starmer’s weakness on welfare. All this Government is delivering is higher taxes and out-of-control spending and nobody voted for this. The British public don’t want higher welfare spending, they want people in work providing for themselves.”
Nigel Farage says Rachel Reeves is ‘hopelessly out of her depth’
Nigel Farage giving Reform UK’s budget plan
| GB NEWS
Nigel Farage has taken aim at Rachel Reeves.
The Reform UK leader said: “We have a Chancellor hopelessly out of her depth”.
“Out of her depth to a level that frankly is embarrassing,” he added.
“It was Lee Anderson that called her Rachel from accounts during PMQs sometime ago.”
Nigel Farage: ‘Markets are increasingly nervous’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is delivering his party’s budget plan and declared that the “markets are increasingly nervous”.
He then took a swipe at Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, saying he “thinks that doesn’t matter”.
“But actually … the markets are increasingly powerful as Liz Truss’s Government found to their cost,” Mr Farage added.
Housing Secretary wants to get ‘building going’ in the UK
Steve Reed MP has told GB News that it was time to get “building going in this country”.
“We’ve got train stations with very little development around them within the vicinity of towns or cities where jobs are available,” he said.
“Why would we not want to build homes there?”
The Housing Secretary said communities can be built there and it is a way to fix the housing crisis.
Labour intends on reducing number of illegal immigrants crossing the border, Steve Reed says
Steve Reed MP speaking about the border on GB News on Tuesday
| GB NEWS
Steve Reed MP said Labour intends on reducing the number of small boat crossings next year.
“I think (everybody) got fed up with the previous Government putting out targets for how they’re going to reduce the number of illegal immigration, they put out those targets and they failed,” he said.
Mr Reed said Labour was not going to make the same mistake.
“We’re going to put in place the measures, we are going to make sure those measures have an impact,” he said.
By removing incentives, Mr Reed said that would help reduce the number of people crossing.
Steve Reed declares ‘I’m on the side of the British public’
The Housing Secretary has told GB News that all Labour MPs were elected “on a manifesto that committed to securing our borders” and he was “on the side of the British public”.
“It’s a very important issue for the British public, and it’s something this Government is determined to deliver change on,” Steve Reed said.
He added that it was time to end this “vile trade in human trafficking”.
Mr Reed said it was to also “stop the risk of a loss to life”.
Conservatives will support Labour’s bid to strengthen borders, Helen Whately says
Helen Whately declared the Conservatives will “support thing that are in the national interest”.
“We think it is in the national interest to have stronger borders,” she added.
“We will support them to make progress on controlling immigration and making progress in stopping the boats.”
Ms Whately said it will be important given “lots of Labour backbenchers won’t support this”.
“Yes we will support them … but I don’t think they will go far enough,” she said.
Helen Whately welcomes Labour’s asylum plans, but declares Labour is not going far enough
Helen Whately speaking on GB News on Tuesday morning
| GB NEWS
The Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions told GB News that it has taken Labour “over a year to recognise” there was a problem with illegal migration.
“They’ve done nothing about it,” Helen Whately said.
“In fact it’s got worse under them in Government.”
Ms Whately acknowledged that the Government was “listening” and she welcomed “any steps they are taking to tighten up and stop the boats and control immigration”.
She added that she believes Labour is “still not going far enough” and that Shabana Mahmood will find it difficult to fulfil the plans.
Labour’s ‘trojan horse’ could bring ‘even more people into the country’, Zia Yusuf says
Zia Yusuf told GB News that amongst all the “fireworks and distraction” with Labour’s asylum reforms, there was a “trojan horse”.
“What was also there was a new safe and legal routes program with an unspecified cap,” Reform UK’s Head of Policy said.
“So Labour also trojan horsing a new asylum program to bring even more people into the country and there even unwilling to put a cap on it.”
When asked if Reform UK was concerned that if Labour’s plans actually worked the party would lose popularity in Britain, Mr Yusuf said “we’d be delighted”.
“We actually want to see improvement in this situation,” he said.
However, Mr Yusuf said that the only reason Shabana Mahmood has “come out guns blazing in terms of rhetoric is because Reform has made this such a big issue”.
Zia Yusuf jokes Shabana Mahmood should defect to Reform UK if she ‘really wants to stop the boats’
Reform UK’s Head of Policy referenced a “tongue in cheek” comment made by Nigel Farage, saying if Shabana Mahmood “really wants to stop the boats” she should put in an application to defect to the party.
It comes after Zia Yusuf spoke on Labour’s plans for asylum reforms.
Mr Yusuf said backbench MPs within the Labour party had already come out in opposition to the reforms as well as a portion who had called “their own Home Secretary racist”.
Zia Yusuf slams Labour’s asylum plans, saying ‘rhetoric does not change the laws’
Zia Yusuf criticised Labour’s asylum reforms
| GB NEWS
Reform UK’s Head of Policy Zia Yusuf has told GB News that all Shabana Mahmood has “at the moment is rhetoric” as he answered a question about Labour’s planned asylum reforms.
“Rhetoric does not change the laws,” he said.
“Rhetoric will not prevent judges from frustrating deportations of even foreign nationals who have committed the most heinous crimes such as murder.”
Mr Yusuf said that the reforms are “not going to see the light of day” and the legislation will not get passed.
“We haven’t yet seen a bill,” he said.
“We’ve already had I think 17 … backbench Labour MPs publicly come out and condemn the proposals.”
Poll: Do you approve of the Home Secretary’s tougher asylum reforms?
On Monday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood outlined some of Labour’s strongest-ever proposals to solve Britain’s crisis-ridden asylum system.
Her plans include:
- Cutting the time refugees are initially granted to stay in the UK from five years to 30 months – which can only be extended if it is not safe for them to return;
- Refugees will have to spend 20 years in Britain before being allowed to apply for settled status, up from five years;
- There will be no automatic right to family reunion for refugees under core protection;
- “Asylum seekers” will no longer have their housing and weekly allowances guaranteed – and those who can work or have valuable assets will have to contribute to their costs in the UK;
- Families with children may also be subject to enforced returns under measures to remove those with no right to be in the UK.
Kemi Badenoch: Rachel Reeves will drop a ‘stealth tax bombshell’ on millions in Budget
The Chancellor is fending off attacks from the Conservatives and Reform this morning
| PAAs well as Reform UK, the Chancellor is fending off attacks from the Conservatives this morning.
Kemi Badenoch will today warn that Rachel Reeves is set to drop a “stealth tax bombshell” on millions of Britons at her “nightmare before Christmas” Budget in eight days’ time.
The Tory boss will use a press conference today to launch a fierce attack on the Chancellor’s anticipated Budget measures – with some analysts predicting an extension to the existing freeze on tax thresholds.
As Reform UK plots raid on Britain’s ballooning aid budget… Yvette Cooper demands Gaza SPLURGE
Shortly after Reform UK’s plans to slash foreign aid and make foreigners “bear the brunt” of the “black hole” were made public, Yvette Cooper demanded that Gaza be “flooded” with tax-funded donations, food and more.
Ms Cooper has called for a major increase in aid for the strip of land after the UK backed a UN Security Council resolution to implement Donald Trump’s peace plan there.
She said the resolution “emphasises the importance of increased humanitarian aid that is still desperately needed in Gaza”.
“We must now have urgent action to open all the crossings, lift restrictions and flood Gaza with aid. And we must keep up progress for a two-state solution with peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians side by side,” she said.
Keir Starmer: ‘I WILL lead Labour into next General Election’
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed he will lead Labour into the next General Election – despite last week’s alleged leadership challenges and his plummeting personal approval ratings.
The embattled Prime Minister told The Mirror on Monday that “every minute that’s not spent talking about and dealing with the cost of living is a minute wasted of the political work of this Government”.
He added: “That’s my response to last week. I remain utterly focused on what matters to me most, which is bearing down on the cost of living and making people feel better off.
“I’m very conscious of the fact that people want to get on in life, they want to progress, they want more money in their pocket to do the things that matter to them.”
RECAP: Shabana Mahmood refuses to say whether her asylum overhaul will slash number of illegal migrants making way into Britain
Shabana Mahmood refused to say that the number of illegal migrants will drop
| POOL
Shabana Mahmood refused to say that her new asylum crackdown would cause a drop in numbers of illegal migrants entering Britain as she faced a grilling from GB News’ Political Editor Christopher Hope.
Pressed repeatedly on whether her sweeping asylum reforms would cut small boat crossings, the Home Secretary declined to make any firm commitment, but insisted she “wants to see them fall”.
Ms Mahmood said: “I want to implement these reforms as quickly as possible… judge me on delivery. I want to get those boat crossings down, but I’m not going to set arbitrary targets.”
Chopper told her GB News viewers will be “frustrated” by her refusal to say the numbers will drop, saying she could only “hope they will”.
