Support for Reform reached a new high today as a new poll put the party level with the Tories – as leader Nigel Farage unveiled an Election manifesto featuring eyewatering spending plans.
Reform rose a point with Redfield & Wilton Strategies tonight, along with the Tories at 18 per cent, a full 25 points behind Labour.
It is the latest poll to show Reform at or above the Conservatives and comes as Mr Farage sets out his election plans.
He claimed he would move to ‘stop the boat’ within 100 days of launching a Reform ‘contract’ with voters.
The former MEP complained that the country was ‘broken’ when it came to opening the election prospectus – admitting at the same time that they would not be able to implement it.
The document includes commitments to cut public spending by £50 billion, leave the European Court of Human Rights, and ban all ‘non-essential’ immigration. It suggests that moves to ‘stop the boat’ – including sending migrants back to France – will begin within 100 days.
Along with stripping the Bank of England of key powers, the policy is intended to fund an extraordinary £140billion splurge, mainly on tax cuts, NHS and defense spending.
However, the respected IFS think-tank said the plan was ‘not incremental’ – with tax cuts reducing revenue more than the party claims, and austerity not generating revenue.
Your browser does not support iframes.
Nigel Farage confirmed he wants to be PM in 2029 today as he launched his Reform manifesto
At the same time, Rishi Sunak was forced to step in and insist that the Tories could still win the election – after one senior minister had all but conceded in a live interview.
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps admit that the Tories are set to lose the election after a huge poll showed he could be one of the high-profile victims.
The Defense Secretary said he was a ‘realist’ about the party’s prospects as he renewed calls for voters not to gift Labor a ‘super majority’.
The latest research by Survation, released over the weekend and using the so-called MRP technique, shows that the Conservatives could be reduced to just 72 MPs on July 4.
Rishi Sunak was forced to step in and insist the Tories could still win the election – after one senior minister all but conceded in a live interview. Pictured: The Prime Minister arrived in Cambridge on Monday on the campaign trail
Recent polls show that Keir Starmer could win by an incredible margin of 262, with Reform taking seven MPs – and the Conservatives down to 72.
To win: Rishi Sunak announced today: ‘I am fighting hard for every vote because I believe I can win’
Rallying support: The Prime Minister believes all is not over for the Tories in the General Election
Down with the youngsters: Mr Sunak was all smiles as he waved to youngsters in the crowd during a visit to Cambridge Rugby Club
It was suggested that Keir Starmer could win by an incredible margin of 262, with Reform taking seven MPs.
Home Secretary James Cleverly is tipped to lose his seat of Braintree, while Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will fall victim to the Lib Dems in Godalming and Ash.
Election experts have warned that the previously ultra-safe seat is under threat as the party’s core vote collapses – compared to Churchill’s defeat in the 1945 election.
No joke: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak helps children feed goats during a visit to Great Wood Farm’s Early Years Center in Grantham, East Midlands, on Monday
Young minds: The Prime Minister is out campaigning in the East Midlands on Saturday afternoon
But the PM slapped Mr Shapps on a visit to gas rigs in the North Sea, underscoring the party ‘on the right path’.
“There are two and a half weeks left in this election, I am fighting hard for every election because I believe I can win,” he told reporters.
Your browser does not support iframes.
Home Secretary James Cleverly (left) is tipped to lose his seat of Braintree, while Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (right) will fall victim to the Lib Dems in Godalming and Ash
Reform’s big day got off to a shaky start with deputy leader David Bull falsely claiming that the Office of the Fiscal Responsibility Watchdog had signed off on a spending plan.
The document was unveiled in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, as Reform tried to show they were taking on Labor as well as the Tories.
Mr Farage said the location was chosen ‘because it shows everyone what happens in the country when Labor is in charge’. He said Wales had drifted ‘left, wake up’.
Underlining his tone to voters, Mr Farage said: ‘You may not want to vote for what we say. But we say what we mean.’
He added: ‘We are not pretending that we are going to win this General Election, we are a very new political party.’
He added: ‘This is not something that we are going to regulate as a country. That cannot be done in this election.
‘Although this election is for our party, and for me, the first important step on the road to 2029.
‘Our ambition is to build bridges in Parliament, and be real opposition to the Labor government.’
He said the Tories would never be able to provide an opposition because ‘they spend days arguing amongst themselves, and they are divided down the middle when it comes to policy’.
Mr Farage said there needed to be a ‘rethink’ on the NHS, saying: ‘We are not getting enough money and there is a growing level of frustration that the health service is simply not fit for purpose not just down the road. the former, as expected.
‘So let’s look at other funding models, let’s see how the French do it, let’s be radical in our thinking.’
Mr Farage said Britain was ‘skinny’ and ‘in real trouble’ as he proposed to ‘slim the public sector’ while maintaining services.
On whether the party’s spending pledges will lead to cuts to public services, Mr Farage said: ‘Well, public sector cuts mean, frankly, they’ve never been in office? This is working from home, going into Whitehall a few days a week.’
He added: ‘When you’re running a company and the situation is tight, you say to managers and middle managers, ‘Right, I’m sorry, this is the way it is, you have to cut £5 in £. 100′ – in fact in difficult times it could be £10 on £100 or £20 on £100, and you have to find a way to do that without affecting the product we sell to the public.’
Mr Farage added: “Some of the things we are proposing are difficult, but the accumulated national debt is now £2.7 trillion, it was just under £1 trillion when the Tories came to power, we cannot continue like this.
‘We are skinny. Who else has the guts to say that in this campaign? We are skint, we are in real trouble and the nonsense of the economic arguments we hear from Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt never acknowledges the fact that both sides are expecting a deficit next year of another £100 billion.
The Prime Minister tried to inject optimism into the Tory campaign today as he returned to the fray after the G7 meeting in Italy.
Grant Shapps says he is being ‘realistic’ about Tory prospects as he renews calls for voters not to gift Labor a ‘supermajority’.
‘So we say let’s face reality, we need to have a slimmed public sector, we need to do that while maintaining services.’
Mr Farage said the ‘population explosion’ fueled by immigration should be the ‘dominant issue’ in the election.
The Reform ‘contract’ outlines four steps to be taken in the first 100 days of government.
‘Leave the European Convention on Human Rights. Zero illegal immigrants will be allowed in the UK. The new Department of Immigration. Pick up illegal migrants out of the boat and return to France,’ the document said.
There is a six-month notice period to leave the ECHR, and Brexit’s Article 50 case suggests the government must legislate to withdraw from the treaty.
cabinet minister Michael Gowe said the idea of Mr Farage becoming PM was ‘ridiculous’, branding Reform a ‘giant ego trip’.