Farage pledges to end boat crossings and cut welfare within 100 days
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Nigel Farage will pledge to stop Channel small boat crossings and cut the cost of living within the first 100 days of a Reform UK government, warning that Parliament may need to sit seven days a week to push through emergency legislation to tackle what he calls a "national emergency". The announcement comes at Reform's annual conference in Birmingham as the party tries to regain momentum after a series of funding controversies and a slide in the polls amid Labour's Andy Burnham's popularity and a Conservative revival under Kemi Badenoch.
Reform's Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick has vowed to use an emergency Budget to cut £80billion from public spending, half of it from welfare, saving £28billion a year in debt interest and freeing up funds for tax cuts. Other pledges include scrapping green energy levies to save households £250, ditching international human rights laws, banning illegal migrants from claiming asylum, and towing boats back to France. Farage will also hold talks with France's National Rally leader Jordan Bardella on Channel cooperation, while deputy leader Richard Tice criticised Labour's £660million deal with France as ineffective.
- Farage vows to stop small boats within 100 days of taking power
- Reform plans £80billion spending cuts, half from welfare
- Party seeks to rebound from funding rows and falling poll ratings
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Nigel Farage leads Reform UK, a party that has been climbing in the polls and made significant gains in recent local elections. Small boat crossings refer to migrants and asylum seekers travelling to the UK across the English Channel from France in inflatable dinghies, a route that has become a major flashpoint in British politics over immigration, border security and cost. The "100 days" pledge is a common political device, setting out what a new government would prioritise immediately after taking power.
This announcement is being made at Reform's party conference, a set-piece event where parties set out their policy platform to members and the media. It comes as Reform tries to shore up support after facing questions over its funding and after Labour and the Conservatives have shown signs of recovering ground in the polls. Key figures involved include Robert Jenrick, Reform's Treasury spokesman, and Richard Tice, the party's deputy leader.
Welfare spending, the cost of living and Channel crossings are among the most contested issues in UK politics, touching on the size of the state, taxation and relations with France and the EU. Any pledge to withdraw from international human rights laws or change asylum rules would have significant legal and diplomatic implications. This story matters because it signals how Reform, currently in opposition, would seek to govern if it won power, and gives an early indication of its policy priorities ahead of the next general election.
Full account
Nigel Farage is set to lay out a 100-day action plan for a prospective Reform UK government, promising to halt Channel crossings and ease living costs almost immediately after taking power. Speaking as his party gathers for its annual conference at the NEC in Birmingham, the Reform leader is expected to tell activists that Parliament may need to sit throughout the week, including weekends, to force through the volume of legislation he says is required to address what he is calling a national emergency.
Among the measures earmarked for the opening months are an end to small boat crossings and the removal of green levies from household energy bills, which the party claims would save the typical family around £250 a year. The plans build on comments from Reform's Treasury spokesman, Robert Jenrick, who said a day earlier that an emergency Budget would strip roughly £80 billion from public spending, with welfare accounting for about half of that total. Jenrick argued the savings would lower the government's annual debt interest bill by some £28 billion, freeing up money for tax reductions intended to bring down living costs and stimulate growth.
The announcement comes as Reform tries to regain momentum after a difficult few weeks. Farage has admitted feeling frustrated by a series of funding rows engulfing the party, including scrutiny over an unreported £5 million donation reportedly linked to a Thailand-based cryptocurrency entrepreneur. Reform's standing in the polls has also come under pressure amid a period of goodwill towards Labour's Andy Burnham and a resurgence for the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch. Farage is expected to use the Birmingham conference to go on the offensive, reiterating his prediction of a general election next year and insisting his party remains capable of winning it, framing the contest as the end of a century of two-party dominance. Reform frontbenchers have reportedly been told to draw up ambitious targets for their first 100 days in office, with Farage warning that colleagues who fail to deliver quickly could lose their jobs.
On immigration, Reform has already floated a hardline package that would involve withdrawing from international human rights obligations, barring people who arrive illegally from claiming asylum, and returning boats to French waters. As part of efforts to build cross-Channel cooperation, Farage is due to hold talks with Jordan Bardella, president of France's National Rally, whose party colleague Marine Le Pen is regarded as a leading contender for the French presidency next year. Bardella has previously indicated his party would be open to working with Reform on curbing crossings, including allowing UK Border Force vessels to push migrant boats back towards France. Reform has separately poured cold water on the government's £660 million agreement with France, which ministers credit with helping to reduce crossings this summer, with deputy leader Richard Tice arguing that funding French authorities without stronger enforcement is not the right approach.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 (a Daily Mail news preview) provides most of the substantive detail — the 100-day agenda, Jenrick's spending figures, the funding controversies, the Bardella meeting and the criticism of the France deal.
Source 2 consists largely of unrelated navigation and headline clutter from the Daily Mail site, but its one relevant element — a reader poll asking whether Reform can actually stop small-boat crossings in 100 days — suggests the outlet is also framing the story around public scepticism about deliverability, a angle not present in Source 1's more straightforward account of the pledges themselves.
Because Source 2 offers no independent reporting beyond the poll question, it is not possible to say whether other outlets covered the story with a different emphasis; both extracts here appear to originate from the same publication.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “We’d stop the boats in 100 days: Farage reveals Reform’s plan to block migrants, slash benefits and cut taxes”.