Nigel Farage has hit out at Rishi Sunak over his vow to end the UK’s “sick-note culture”.
The Reform UK honorary chair took to X to scold the PM and his party’s record in office.
Writing on the social media platform, the GB News presenter said: “The @RishiSunak proposals on making work pay are right.
“But in 14 years of Tory government, these problems have all got worse — so why would we trust them to fix it?”
Reform UK, under its old name the Brexit Party, did a deal with the Tories before the 2019 election. Under the terms of the deal, the Brexit Party did not field candidates in the 317 seats the Conservatives won in 2017.
However, as the country edges towards yet another general election, Reform UK is plotting to take the Tories down and Mr Farage’s latest snipe at the governing party is the latest in a long list of shots fired by the insurgent right-wing party.
In fact, in December last year, Reform Leader Richard Tice told Express.co.uk that he believes his party has the potential to overtake the Tories and become the official opposition to Labour.
He told this website: “Oh I think that’s absolutely possible given the chaos that we’re seeing at the moment, and that’s the opportunity. If Nigel [Farage] wants to put his shoulder behind the wheel then who knows, the world’s our oyster so let’s wait and see.
“But if that sort of thing starts to happen the likelihood of defections [from the Conservatives] will of course increase because they will see that they’re toast under this useless Tory Party.”
Speaking earlier today, the prime minister Rishi Sunak stressed that there was a “moral mission” to reform the country’s swollen welfare system to “give everyone who can the best possible chance of returning to work”.
The Prime Minister, making a speech in the capital, said there is a “longstanding and proudly British view that work is a source of dignity, purpose, of hope.”
He said: “For me, it is a fundamental duty of Government to make sure that hard work is always rewarded. I know, and you know, that you don’t get anything in life without hard work.”
The Prime Minister added: “We now spend £69 billion on benefits for people of working age with a disability or health condition. That’s more than our entire schools budget, more than our transport budget, more than our policing budget.
“And spending on personal independence payments alone is forecast to increase by more than 50% over the next four years… That’s not right, it’s not sustainable, and it’s not fair on the taxpayers who fund it.”
“So in the next parliament, a Conservative government will significantly reform and control welfare.”
He said it was about “eligibility, about who should be entitled to support and what kind of supports best matches their needs”.
“It’s the only way to build a better life for ourselves and our family, and the only way to build a more prosperous country.”
He said since the pandemic “something has gone wrong”, adding 850,000 more people are now economically inactive in Britain.
