Nigel Farage erupts at calls for Rachel Reeves to slap pensioners with more tax

Nigel Farage has erupted at calls for the Chancellor to hit pensioners with a tax raid. A Labour-linked think tank has urged Rachel Reeves to cut national insurance and increase income tax in her upcoming Budget.

The move proposed by the Resolution Foundation would target groups including OAPs, landlords and the self-employed. But speaking on his GB News show, Reform UK leader Mr Farage said: "Well it strikes me that we do have a darkening economic situation.

"Inflation is a lot more persistent than anybody thought it was going to be. The Government's ability to borrow, issuing gilts, becoming more and more expensive with almost every week that goes by.

"But here's my problem with it, two Friday's ago I got my pension statement through, I looked through it and it said in 2027 that this pension pot of mine would be subject to inheritance tax.

"And I thought, why the hell did I bother? Why did I bother all through the 90s and the early noughties to put money aside every year.

"I didn't buy new cars, didn't go to Barbados, I put the money aside thinking not only is it a pension for me, but if I drop down dead it's money for the family.

"I think if they were to do these things in this budget it is a direct attack on thrift, a direct attack on saving.

"People will think to hell with it, we'll spend it all down the pub or elsewhere and when we get old the state will simply look after us."

It comes as Ms Reeves prepares to deliver a Budget in November that is widely expected to see major tax rises as she battles to meet her fiscal rules.

Among the tax changes suggested by the Resolution Foundation was a 2p cut in national insurance, matched by a 2p rise in income tax.

The think tank argued that the switch would raise £6 billion and help tackle "unfairness" in the tax system.