Remember how when just a few months ago Reform announced in their manifesto that they would cut around £90 billion of taxes if they got into power?
No-one serious believed it at the time. And now not even Reform believe in it it.
Reform UK’s deputy leader has admitted the party cannot deliver the £90bn in tax cuts promised in its manifesto, saying it would concentrate on public spending cuts once in government.
Tice now says that what were once concrete manifesto pledges were in fact "aspirations", before going back to bang on about Reform’s favourite subjects, none of which would save £90 billion if we want to have a country left at the end of the exercise.
Richard Tice said key election pledges such as lifting the income tax threshold would be an “aspiration” and that once in government Reform would concentrate on cutting the civil service and scrapping net zero.
A Labour spokesperson says:
"Farage continues to flirt with Liz Truss’s economy-crashing unfunded pledges – which would leave family finances at risk. Working people simply cannot trust Reform. They offer anger but no answers."
The Conservatives are equally as scathing, claiming that the plans are:
"…all over the place … Reform stood on a platform last year of huge unfunded commitments which would have wrecked the public finances. They cannot be trusted to run our economy."
The Institute of Fiscal Studies never believed it was possible – implying Reform are either extremely incompetent or liars:
“Regardless of the pros and cons of shrinking the state, or of any of their specific measures, the package as a whole is problematic,” it said. “Spending reductions would save less than stated, and the tax cuts would cost more than stated, by a margin of tens of billions of pounds per year.”