Farage ‘backs scrapping child benefit cap and restoring winter fuel payments’

Nigel Farage will commit to restoring the winter fuel payment to all pensioners and to scrapping the two-child benefit cap, reports have suggested.

The Reform UK leader is expected to appeal to left-wing voters with the moves in a speech next week, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The newspaper said Mr Farage will describe Sir Keir Starmer as “one of the most unpatriotic prime ministers in our history and this past week has been evidence of that”, in his first speech since Reform made large gains in the local elections.

Reform UK is riding high in the opinion polls after its victories in town halls and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, according to YouGov.

It is the most popular political party with voters, followed by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and then the Tories in a historic fourth place.

Mr Farage, MP for Clacton, spent last week on holiday while the House of Commons was sitting.

While MPs have left Westminster for recess, he is expected to return to the political arena and say: “The Prime Minister is out of touch with working people, he doesn’t understand what they want and how they feel about the big issues facing Britain.

“It’s going to be these very same working people that will vote Reform at the next election and kick Labour out of Government.”

A Reform source told the newspaper: “We’re against the two-child cap and we’d go further on winter fuel by bringing the payment back for everyone.

“That’s already outflanking Labour.”

This week at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir signalled he wanted to restore the winter fuel payment to more pensioners, which is likely to take place at the budget in the autumn.

The payment was previously made to all pensioners, but Labour reduced it to only those receiving pension credit in one of its early acts in Government.

Ministers are planning to restore the payment to all but the wealthiest pensioners, the Sunday Times reported.

Civil servants have warned that any changes are very unlikely to be made before the winter due to ageing computer systems, the newspaper said.

Elsewhere, the Government’s action plan to tackle child poverty – a document likely to contain proposals to scrap the two-child benefit cap – has been delayed until the autumn.

The plan is likely to be aligned with the budget so it can be fully costed.

The Observer newspaper reported Sir Keir has privately backed plans to scrap the cap, and made it clear he wants to drive down child poverty.

The Government is facing pressure from its own backbenchers to eliminate the cap, all while the threat of a rebellion over a wide-ranging package of welfare reforms looms.