[Crimson Dynamo]

Nigel Farage said the UK is “skint” and steps must be taken to boost economic growth as Reform UK reiterated its pledge to increase the income tax threshold to £20,000.

Mr Farage said the national debt had ballooned under the Conservative Party’s watch, with tens of billions of pounds having to be spent on debt interest.

Speaking at a press conference in central London, the Reform leader said: “We need to face up to one or two realities. We are skint. And it is getting worse. And at some point in time we may even have trouble issuing gilts, issuing government bonds unless the market sees that we have got some solutions.

“And that is why the only way out is growth and I think what Richard [Tice] has just set out, in particular putting up the tax threshold to £20,000 would be a very, very big step in the right direction.”

The threshold at which people currently start to pay income tax is £12,570 but Reform want to lift it to £20,000.

Mr Tice said the move would leave the average person about £1,500 better off a year. It would also take seven million people out of paying income tax altogether, he said.