A top Tory MP has slapped down Reform’s narrative of “talking down Britain” after Robert Jenrick took yet another swipe at his former Conservative colleagues.
Mr Jenrick, who joined Nigel Farage’s band of MPs last month, mocked the Tories for concluding Britain is not broken – although they admitted systems needed fixing.
However, joining GB News this morning, Shadow Minister Alicia Kearns declared: “Our country is not broken. The British people represent the most amazing country.
“Yes, there are things that need to be fixed. Yes, there are things that we need to look at welfare, immigration, the economy, which the Labour Government has most certainly broken.
“But something that is broken cannot be fixed.”
Mr Jenrick has previously attempted to expose the Conservatives’ refusal to say the UK is broken – despite leader Kemi Badenoch repeatedly declaring that Britain is not fundamentally broken.
Ms Kearns continued: “Reform’s narrative consistently is talking down our country when it comes to things like this. Talking down our Parliament, talking down the ability to do it.
“We are focused on solutions and solving the problem. I’m not interested, I’m afraid, in Robert trying to get a headline.
Alicia Kearns MP took aim at Nigel Farage’s narrative on the country
|
GB NEWS
“I’m interested in us doing the hard work, as we’ve done with Chagos this week, as we’re doing on child cruelty, as we’re doing consistently to fix the things that are not working, things that are broken, but our country.
“I will never accept saying that it’s broken because we, the British people, haven’t broken it. We’re not going to be proud of the country that we live in.”
Mr Jenrick joined Mr Farage’s party within six hours after being booted out of the Tories over a “secret” plot to defect to Reform.
However, he has now been crowned the party’s “Shadow Chancellor”, beating long-term loyalists Richard Tice and Zia Yusuf to the top job.
Mr Farage has indicated his party changed its stance on the cap with some reluctance
|
GB NEWS
Delivering a speech from the City of London on Wednesday, Mr Jenrick vowed to “fix Britain with a new economic model” and pledged to restore the two-child cap – backtracking on the party’s previous position.
He announced: “Today, Reform is changing our policy on the two-child cap for Universal Credit. We want to help working families have more children.
“But right now, we just cannot afford to do so with welfare, so it has to go. And, as Reform’s Shadow Chancellor, I’m ending it. A Reform Government will restore the cap in full.”
However, Mr Farage has indicated his party changed its stance with some reluctance, declaring he intended to scrap the cap at some point in the future.
In a huddle with reporters after the MP’s speech, the Reform UK leader said: “What I wanted is the two-child cap lifted for working British families and for my efforts, I got branded by the Tory press as being a ‘socialist’. It backfired. It didn’t work.
“Any attempt to do anything that is pro-family seems to be very, very difficult to do. And anyway, it was only going to cost a tiny amount of money compared to the upwards of £3bn that this Labour Party has changed [by scrapping the cap completely]. So look, I accept it, it’s fine.”
“The only U-turn is a minor one for working British families. My attempt at being pro-family has failed.”
The cap was announced by ex-Chancellor George Osborne under David Cameron’s Government in 2015, coming into effect two years later.
In his speech, Mr Jenrick claimed, with Reform in power, Whitehall would save £25billion a year through scrapping benefits for foreign nations and capping foreign aid at £1billion.
The Newark MP outlined plans for people with mild mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, from claiming disability benefits.