Farage Accused Of 'Cuddling Up To Kremlin' Over Ukraine

Nigel Farage has come under fire for “cuddling up to the Kremlin” as a leading think tank accused his Reform party of poisoning the election debate. On another torrid day for the exUkip leader, military experts queued up to criticise his claim that the West provoked Russia’s war on Ukraine.

- KATE DEVLIN

It follows days of condemnation both nationally and internationally over Mr Farage’s comments, which he made in a BBC interview on Friday night. In an apparent attempt to change the conversation, Mr Farage made another incendiary claim – that there had been an “invasion” of people arriving in the UK on small boats.

His words echoed comments by the former home secretary Suella Braverman, who was roundly condemned while in office for warning of an “invasion” on the south coast. But he was also attacked on a different front, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) accused Reform UK of making “unattainable” tax claims that the think tank said had helped to “poison the entire political debate”.

The IFS accused parties of a “conspiracy of silence” over the “painful” economic decisions that would have to be made after the election, and said it would be a surprise if there are no further tax rises in the next five years.