Nigel Farage's £234bn migrant benefit savings plan branded 'unfunded, unworkable, and falling apart'

The right-wing party leader claimed Britain would save £234 billion by banning foreigners from claiming benefits, as he outlined plans to scrap “indefinite leave to remain” and double the work visa salary threshold.

Farage said these rules would stop “endless cheap foreign labour”, with all those ineligible for the new visa deported if they refuse to leave the UK.

But questions have been raised about these savings, after Reform clarified there would be initial exemption for 4.2 million EU citizens who have "settled status".

This means the policy would initially be limited to 431,000 non-EU migrants who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

EU settled status - a post-Brexit status which allows EU nationals to live, work and claim benefits in Britain - accounts nearly 10 per cent of all universal credit claimants.

In comparison, non-EU citizens with indefinite leave to remain make up just 2.7 per cent.

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Reform says it will look to prevent EU citizens with settles status from claiming benefits if it wins the next election.

However, this would require agreement from the EU, and Brussels is unlikely to downgrade the status of nationals who are already living in Britain and protected by the legally binding treaty.

UK nationals resident in EU countries are also protected under the current post-Brexit agreement.

"It takes two to tango in a treaty negotiation, why would we agree to reopen this very sensitive Brexit legacy to make EU nationals worse off than they are now,” one European diplomat told The Times.

"It would not happen and if a UK government stripped people of their rights under the withdrawal treaty there would be huge consequences. It would breach all the undertakings made by Britain since the referendum and would crash relations."

Labour have also criticised Reform's bold £234 billion saving claims, which Farage based on a report by Centre for Policy Studies.

The think tank derived their figure from estimates by the Office for Budget Responsibility, which have since been disputed and "should no longer be used”.

Anna Turley, Labour’s chairwoman, said the multi-billion pound hole in the maths showed Farage's plan was “unfunded, unworkable, and falling apart in real time”.

When announcing the proposals on Monday, Farage said taxpayers are being “absolutely hammered” by paying benefits to non-British citizens.

"Under a Reform government, welfare will be for UK citizens only. It will not be for foreign-born nationals," he said.

"We are not the world's foodbank. It is not for us to provide welfare for people coming in from all over the world."

Mr Farage also promised "mass deportations" of migrants by abolishing indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and forcing those who already have settled status to reapply for a new stricter visa.

Migrants can currently apply for indefinitely ILR after five years. The proposed new rules would force them to renew their visa every five years.

Applicants would have to meet certain criteria, including a higher salary threshold, rising from £41,700 to around £60,000, and better standard of English.

They would have to have lived in the UK for seven years, up from five, and there would be tighter restrictions on bringing spouses and children to the UK.

The scale of the number of people who could be deported remains unclear until a visa salary threshold is set, with further uncertainty over the number that would leave voluntarily instead of being deported.

Business leaders dear the move could lead to significant labour shortages.

A Government spokesperson said: "People here illegally rightly do not get anything from our benefits system.

"Foreign nationals usually have to wait five years to claim universal credit and we're looking at increasing this to 10 years.

"We inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling benefits bill. That's why we're taking action and reforming the system and have seen the proportion of universal credit payments to foreign nationals fall since last July."

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said on X: "Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain.

"They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.

"Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable."

Asked by LBC political correspondent Aggie Chambre whether Reform had considered how many businesses might close as a result of the policy, Mr Farage responded: "If you actually have a look at what has happened to UK productivity since (Sir Tony) Blair launched the mass migration experiment, you will find it has actually been, in productive terms, a disaster for this country.

"So how many firms that could have prospered, haven't. How many have gone bust that shouldn't have done? It's led to a change of culture that has been ruinous".