REFORM UK is the party of “slash and burn” economics, the TUC warned yesterday after Nigel Farage said he would “substantially” cut benefits and public services if elected.

Speaking at Banking Hall in London, the Reform leader promised sweeping deregulation, claiming Britain had “squandered” Brexit and that his party would lead the “most pro-business” government in modern history.

He said Reform would remove inheritance tax from family farms and family-run businesses and “raise the thresholds at which people start to pay tax.”

The millionaire politician said that other significant tax cuts were “not realistic at this current moment in time,” but pledged to “substantially cut the benefits bill” and “reduce the size of the public sector.”

All disability claims would be reassessed and “dealt with in person,” he said.

Reform’s manifesto had committed the party to tax cuts worth around a third of the NHS budget, including raising the personal allowance to £20,000, introducing a £100,000 tax-free allowance for companies, and exempting some high street businesses from rates.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said at the time that the plans, along with £50 billion of spending commitments and £150bn of cuts, were “problematic” and would cost far more than Reform claimed.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Nigel Farage wants to finish what the Tories started.

“After 14 years of cuts that gutted our schools, hospitals and councils, he’d slash even deeper — starving our public services of vital funds.”

Mr Nowak warned that Mr Farage would “drag Britain into a race to the bottom on workers’ rights, consumer and environmental standards — unleashing further chaos that would be paid for by working people.”

He said: “Make no mistake, Farage’s slash-and-burn economics would destroy jobs by further wrecking our EU trading relationship and mark a return to deregulated financial markets which led directly to the financial crash.

“It’s all straight out of the Trump playbook. Loud promises upfront to disguise pay-offs for his rich backers.”

Mr Nowak warned that Mr Farage “doesn’t care about working people” and is instead “fighting for hedge funds and speculators who profit from insecurity and decline.”

A Labour spokesperson pointed to Reform-run council failures in delivering commitments, saying: “They’ve said themselves that those councils are a shop window for what a Reform government would do nationally — we know that this is more empty promises and no real plan.”