Nigel Farage slammed for plotting 'golden ticket for foreign billionaires'

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is planning to let wealthy business tycoons pay £250,000 for a so-called Britannia Card, which would excuse them from taxes on overseas earnings and inheritance tax
Nigel Farage is accused of plotting a "golden ticket for foreign billionaires" to avoid paying a raft of UK taxes.
The Reform leader is set to announce his plan to let wealthy tycoons from overseas get "non-dom" tax status if they pay a one-off fee of £250,000. But Labour numbercrunchers say this means less money will be raised for the Treasury, meaning Farage and co would have to raise more money elsewhere.
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Those who hand over the cash for a 'Britannia Card' will be shielded from paying UK tax on overseas earnings and avoid paying inheritance tax entirely. Mr Farage claims the money would be distributed among Britain's lowest paid workers.
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But a Labour spokesman hit back: ' Nigel Farage can brand this whatever he wants - the reality is his first proper policy is a golden ticket for foreign billionaires to avoid the tax they owe in this country.
'As ever with Reform, the devil is in the detail. This giveaway would reduce revenues raised from the rich that would have to be made up elsewhere - through tax hikes on working families or through Farage's promise to charge them to use the NHS.'
Mr Farage will say in a speech on Monday that he plans to "'restore the social contract between rich and poor". A statement from his party says: 'We are serious about repairing the social contract. It's time workers feel the benefit of high-net-worth individuals entering the country.
'We are taking policy formulation very serious internally, as can be seen by today's announcement.'
It is not the first time Labour has accused Reform of dodgy sums. Last week a Labour backbencher drew laughs across the Commons when he asked how the Government was helping improve maths standards for adults before mocking Mr Farage.
The Reform leader looked sheepish as both AdamThompson and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner poked fun of him. Ms Rayner said it proved that Reform's sums "don't add up".
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Mr Farage came under fire after claiming to have unearthed £7billion of "wasteful" spending on diversity and equality programmes in Whitehall. But closer inspection showed the civil service actually spent £27million - 250 times less, the Commons heard.
Backbencher Mr Thompson asked: "As a trained physics teacher and a former engineering lecturer, can I ask the Deputy Prime Minister what this government is doing to help people improve their math skills after they've left school?
"I came across an awful case the other day, a 61-year-old man who believes he counted up £7billion in government spending, but it was really only £27 million.
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"What can we do to people like the leader of Reform UK, who evidently can't add up." Mr Farage, 61, watched on as the exchange unfolded.
Ms Rayner, who was stepping in for Keir Starmer as he was returning from the G7 summit in Canada, responded: "Mr Speaker, my friend highlights an important fact - Reform's sums simply don't add up. He'll be pleased to know that we're investing £136million for skills boot camps, and I will be sure to send the details to the honourable member for Clacton (Mr Farage)."
At the end of last month, Reform said cutting DEI programmes would make the massive saving. A spokesman for the party told The Times that the figure came from a review of spending carried out by the Conservative Way Forward group.

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