Nigel Farage suggests young people on minimum wage earn too much
Nigel Farage has suggested the minimum wage could be “too high” for young workers as he sets out Reform’s vision for the UK economy.
Speaking in London on Monday morning, the Reform leader announced he was also abandoning tax cut plans, which were a central part of the party’s previous manifesto, and refused to commit to a triple lock on pensions.
Asked whether the minimum wage was too high, Mr Farage said: “There is an argument that the minimum wage is too high for young workers, especially given that we have reduced the NIC minimum wage level. [national insurance contributions] is paid £5,000 a year.
“So do one or the other, do one or the other, either lift the cap on which NI must be paid or reduce the minimum wage for young workers.”
The minimum wage is currently £12.21 per hour for workers aged 21 and over, and £10 for those aged 18-20.
The minimum for people under 18 or on apprenticeship wages is £7.55.
Mr Farage was also asked what his drive to cut spending would mean for the triple lock on pensions and income tax thresholds.
He replied: “How can anyone between now and then make predictions about pensions, thresholds or things like that? What we will do and what we can do is use all the power we have to fight and encourage this government to change course, to ease the burden on small businesses, is just one example.”
Under the triple lock guarantee, the state pension increases each April by the consumer price index (CPI) inflation in September of the previous year or 2.5 percent, whichever is the highest of the total earnings increase from May to July of the previous year.
The speech comes ahead of Rachel Reeves’ budget later this month; In this budget, the country is expected to make tax increases to balance its budget. Mr Farage has predicted a general election by 2027, which would be caused by “economic collapse”.
He told the audience that he predicted that within two Budgets the chancellor would be “forced” by “the markets” into policies that meant “the left of the Labor Party will not buy it”.
“Therefore, I stand by my prediction that there will be a general election in 2027 caused by economic collapse.”
Mr Farage also said his party “wants to cut taxes” but that is “not realistic at the moment”.
The reform manifesto ahead of last year’s general election called for the party to make tax cuts worth around a third of the NHS budget, including increasing the personal allowance to £20,000, introducing a £100,000 tax-free allowance for companies and exempting some high street firms from business taxes.
At the time, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the plans, with spending commitments of £50 billion and cuts of £150 billion, were “problematic” and cost much more than Reform claimed.
Speaking at Monday’s event, Mr Farage said: “We want to cut taxes, of course we do. But we also understand that significant tax cuts are unrealistic at the moment, given the debt and our financial situation.”
But he said “we still have relatively modest things to do”, pointing to the removal of inheritance tax on family farms.
Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: Reform He could not be taken seriously about the economy “when their promises were broken five minutes later and they remained committed to extra welfare spending and massive expansion of the state.”
He said: “They are a one-man band and have recently begun to undo their promises to appear economically reliable.
“They haven’t found savings in local government and are instead planning tax increases on hard-working families.”
