Nigel Farage Makes Light Of Concerns Over A Reform Mayor’s Huge Pay Rise. No One Else Is Laughing.

Posted on 20/07/2025 by Boris Clair

Nigel Farage just laughed and insisted he had “no idea” when asked about how a Reform UK mayor just received a huge pay rise – and was instantly torn apart on social media.

Reform UK has made no secret of its ambitions to win the next general election, and is currently leading in the polls.

So far, it has an outright majority over 10 local authorities after a major victory in May’s local elections.

But, judging by the Reform leader’s response to a development in Scarborough council, handling any more than that may prove difficult.

On the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the presenter asked for his response to reports that Scarborough town council have given its Reform mayor, Thomas Murray, a 600% pay rise.

But Farage immediately hit back: “I’ve no idea! Whether what you say is true or not, I’ve no idea.”

“Is that the right thing to do in principle?” Kuenssberg asked.

“I’ve no idea, it’s a town council – 600%, what is it from what?” Farage said.

She replied: “A payment of £500 up to £3,500 –”

“I don’t know, is he or she doing it as a full-time job? I’ve no idea,” he said dismissively.

But Kuenssberg kept pushing: “In principle is that the right thing to do?”

He replied: “What we could do is get multi-millionaires to stand as candidates everywhere, and indeed our [government waste] DOGE team are doing the work, unpaid, right?

“If people have got resources and they want to do it for free, that’s great. I don’t know the Scarborough circumstances.”

The Reform-run council defended the hike, which was approved in a meeting last Wednesday, saying the mayor should not be left “out of pocket” for an unpaid position considering it involved an increase in responsibilities.

They also noted that savings had already been made elsewhere – ignoring the irony that Reform has reportedly promised to give council taxpayers “better value for money and reduce excessive expenditure”.

<div class="js-react-hydrator" data-component-name="Twitter" data-component-id="5401" data-component-props="{"itemType":"rich","index":19,"contentIndexByType":1,"contentListType":"embed","code":"

#bbclaurak: What about Scarborough town council

Nigel Farage: I’ve no idea

LK: Scarborough TC have given its Reform mayor a 600% pay-rise… is that the right thing to do?

NF: I’ve no idea… I’ve no idea… pic.twitter.com/2YU3Ys5M5m

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) July 20, 2025

","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺","author_url":"https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK","cache_age":86400,"description":"#bbclaurak: What about Scarborough town council Nigel Farage: I’ve no ideaLK: Scarborough TC have given its Reform mayor a 600% pay-rise… is that the right thing to do?NF: I’ve no idea… I’ve no idea… pic.twitter.com/2YU3Ys5M5m— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) July 20, 2025\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1946854164996263936/pu/img/cQ_1FHNvhGyvj2Vw.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1152,"title":"Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK/status/1946854227143233840","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isAdsFree":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farage-downplays-outcry-over-mayors-salary-boost_uk_687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","entryTagsList":"bbc,nigel-farage,reform-uk,@ai_seo_headline","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"isShopping":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"16b0ecc6-802c-4120-845f-e90629812c4d","clickToPlayPlayer":"823ac03a-0f7e-4bcb-8521-a5b091ae948d","videoPagePlayer":"05041ada-93f7-4e86-9208-e03a5b19311b","defaultPlaylist":"2e062669-71b4-41df-b17a-df6b1616bc8f"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":6},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"bbc","slug":"bbc","links":{"relativeLink":"news/bbc","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc"},"relegenceId":4179017,"section":{"title":"News","slug":"news"},"topic":{"title":"BBC","slug":"bbc","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc/"},{"name":"nigel farage","slug":"nigel-farage","links":{"relativeLink":"news/nigel-farage","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage"},"relegenceId":3592238,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage/"},{"name":"reform uk","slug":"reform-uk","links":{"relativeLink":"news/reform-uk","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","enableIncontentPlayer":false,"bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-1\", \"entry_paragraph_1\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline\", \"entry_paragraph_2\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-2\", \"entry_paragraph_3\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-infinite\", \"repeating_dynamic_display\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}”>

#bbclaurak: What about Scarborough town council

Nigel Farage: I’ve no idea

LK: Scarborough TC have given its Reform mayor a 600% pay-rise… is that the right thing to do?

NF: I’ve no idea… I’ve no idea… pic.twitter.com/2YU3Ys5M5m

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) July 20, 2025

His responses impressed very few people on social media as the public raged over his “unserious” reaction – and even accused him of “running” from problems…

<div class="js-react-hydrator" data-component-name="Twitter" data-component-id="5864" data-component-props="{"itemType":"rich","index":22,"contentIndexByType":2,"contentListType":"embed","code":"

Yeah if you can’t keep a handle on 10 councils, you probably shouldn’t attempt four nations, 350 constituencies and 26 government departments. https://t.co/NQuVbcMUNr

— A-Aron (@aaronlspence) July 20, 2025

","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"A-Aron","author_url":"https://twitter.com/aaronlspence","cache_age":86400,"description":"Yeah if you can’t keep a handle on 10 councils, you probably shouldn’t attempt four nations, 350 constituencies and 26 government departments. https://t.co/NQuVbcMUNr— A-Aron (@aaronlspence) July 20, 2025\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"A-Aron on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/aaronlspence/status/1946858466963779892","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isAdsFree":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farage-downplays-outcry-over-mayors-salary-boost_uk_687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","entryTagsList":"bbc,nigel-farage,reform-uk,@ai_seo_headline","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"isShopping":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"16b0ecc6-802c-4120-845f-e90629812c4d","clickToPlayPlayer":"823ac03a-0f7e-4bcb-8521-a5b091ae948d","videoPagePlayer":"05041ada-93f7-4e86-9208-e03a5b19311b","defaultPlaylist":"2e062669-71b4-41df-b17a-df6b1616bc8f"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":6},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"bbc","slug":"bbc","links":{"relativeLink":"news/bbc","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc"},"relegenceId":4179017,"section":{"title":"News","slug":"news"},"topic":{"title":"BBC","slug":"bbc","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc/"},{"name":"nigel farage","slug":"nigel-farage","links":{"relativeLink":"news/nigel-farage","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage"},"relegenceId":3592238,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage/"},{"name":"reform uk","slug":"reform-uk","links":{"relativeLink":"news/reform-uk","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","enableIncontentPlayer":false,"bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-1\", \"entry_paragraph_1\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline\", \"entry_paragraph_2\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-2\", \"entry_paragraph_3\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-infinite\", \"repeating_dynamic_display\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}”>

Yeah if you can’t keep a handle on 10 councils, you probably shouldn’t attempt four nations, 350 constituencies and 26 government departments. https://t.co/NQuVbcMUNr

— A-Aron (@aaronlspence) July 20, 2025

<div class="js-react-hydrator" data-component-name="Twitter" data-component-id="7050" data-component-props="{"itemType":"rich","index":26,"contentIndexByType":5,"contentListType":"embed","code":"

Doesn’t know. Doesn’t care. Never has done. Complete fucking charlatan. Will this country ever move on from this reductive gobshite? https://t.co/8tRQ7E8Oce

— Adam Abbott (@adrock73) July 20, 2025

","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Adam Abbott","author_url":"https://twitter.com/adrock73","cache_age":86400,"description":"Doesn’t know. Doesn’t care. Never has done. Complete fucking charlatan. Will this country ever move on from this reductive gobshite? https://t.co/8tRQ7E8Oce— Adam Abbott (@adrock73) July 20, 2025\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Adam Abbott on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/adrock73/status/1946858948507627722","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isAdsFree":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farage-downplays-outcry-over-mayors-salary-boost_uk_687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","entryTagsList":"bbc,nigel-farage,reform-uk,@ai_seo_headline","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"isShopping":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"16b0ecc6-802c-4120-845f-e90629812c4d","clickToPlayPlayer":"823ac03a-0f7e-4bcb-8521-a5b091ae948d","videoPagePlayer":"05041ada-93f7-4e86-9208-e03a5b19311b","defaultPlaylist":"2e062669-71b4-41df-b17a-df6b1616bc8f"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":6},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"687cbbc2e4b06691ec24955a","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"bbc","slug":"bbc","links":{"relativeLink":"news/bbc","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc"},"relegenceId":4179017,"section":{"title":"News","slug":"news"},"topic":{"title":"BBC","slug":"bbc","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/bbc/"},{"name":"nigel farage","slug":"nigel-farage","links":{"relativeLink":"news/nigel-farage","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage"},"relegenceId":3592238,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage/"},{"name":"reform uk","slug":"reform-uk","links":{"relativeLink":"news/reform-uk","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","enableIncontentPlayer":false,"bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-1\", \"entry_paragraph_1\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline\", \"entry_paragraph_2\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-2\", \"entry_paragraph_3\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-infinite\", \"repeating_dynamic_display\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}”>

Doesn’t know. Doesn’t care. Never has done. Complete fucking charlatan. Will this country ever move on from this reductive gobshite? https://t.co/8tRQ7E8Oce

— Adam Abbott (@adrock73) July 20, 2025

Two decades after then-Vice President Dick Cheney declared that deficits don’t matter, members of his own party appear intent on proving his theory, adding another massive, multi-trillion-dollar slab onto the national debt.

Despite frequently expressing outrage about how much the country is borrowing to pay for basic operating costs, President Donald Trump and Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress voted to erode the tax base even further, increasing annual deficits and sending the federal debt to historic highs.

Trump inherited a robust economy with low unemployment in 2017 and yet, with a big tax cut, began generating $1 trillion-a-year budget deficits. When the COVID pandemic hit in the final year of his term, shrinking tax revenues while simultaneously requiring massive federal spending to avert a recession, the combination left Trump adding $8 trillion to the debt in just four years.

As he began his second term in January, the anticipated new debt already projected by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office totaled some $7 trillion, and that was before the $3.4 trillion his new legislation will add over the coming decade. If the temporary components of the just-passed tax bill — such as new deductions for the elderly and those earning overtime and tip income — are made permanent, that total would surpass $5 trillion.

Bobby Kogan, an economist with liberal Centre for American Progress, said if there were ever a time to let expiring tax cuts lapse, as the 2017 Trump tax cuts would have this year, to put the country’s finances closer to a stable path, it was now, with low unemployment and a relatively strong economy.

“This would have been the time to do it, but instead they cut taxes even more,” he said.

Which means that by the time Trump is constitutionally required to leave office in 2029, the national debt will likely be $45 trillion — with Trump himself having contributed $18 trillion of it over two terms.

Which also means that interest on the federal debt is now among the top budget categories, near $1 trillion a year, and the country’s key ratio of debt to gross domestic product is near 100% and could pass 120% by 2035 – renewing fears of a debt crisis where investors both at home and abroad are no longer willing to lend the US money by purchasing treasury bonds.

“Bad things don’t happen until they do,” said Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Michigan. “You can switch very quickly from everyone thinking everything’s OK to everyone freaking out.”

From Reagan to Trump

While Trump and his followers routinely lie that his tax cuts are the largest in history, that honour actually belongs to Ronald Reagan, who in 1981 pushed through reductions totalling 2.9% of the nation’s GDP at the time.

In contrast, George W. Bush’s 2001 and 2003 cuts amounted to 1.3% of GDP and Trump’s 2017 cuts were about 0.7% of GDP.

But between Reagan and the second Bush came a sea change in how the party viewed federal debt.

While Reagan is universally known for cutting taxes, Americans are less aware today that he also raised them, repeatedly, a total of 11 times over his two terms. His Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, in fact, was among the largest tax increases in U.S history.

Reagan had campaigned on reducing the federal deficit and instead had watched it balloon thanks to his increased defence spending paired with his 1981 cuts. And it bothered him, his aides and allies said. In the end, his tax increases effectively undid about half of his tax cuts.

“He wasn’t very happy about it. He did it reluctantly. But at the end of the day, the math was overwhelming,” his budget director, David Stockman, told NPR in 2011.

For Republicans today, math no longer seems to matter. Starting in the early 1990s, Republicans in Congress began opposing all tax increases, all the time. In 1993, when Democratic President Bill Clinton pushed through a modest hike, not a single Republican in Congress voted for it.

Thanks in no small measure to anti-tax activist Grover Norquist’s efforts over the past 30 years to obtain pledges from Republicans at all levels of government never to raise taxes, opposing any and all tax increases and, in fact, claiming that all tax cuts somehow increase tax revenue, have become GOP orthodoxy.

Wolfers said the goal is clear: to “starve the beast” — continually cutting taxes with the hopes of someday bringing on a catastrophic debt crisis that forces the president and Congress to gut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs that activists have been unable to cut through consensus legislation.

Norquist — who in 2001 boasted that his goal was to get the government small enough to where he could “drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub” — did not respond to a HuffPost query.

Embracing debt

The irony of the debt explosion in recent years is how quickly the country’s long-term financial outlook has changed. It was just two and a half decades ago, within the lifetimes of all but the youngest voters, that the United States had finally achieved balanced budgets and diminishing debt.

In the final years of Clinton’s second term, the debt-to-GDP ratio was shrinking, and actually paying off the national debt seemed within reach.

That prospect quickly evaporated. The presidential candidate who won the 2000 election had promised sweeping tax cuts and immediately worked to enact them after taking office.

George W. Bush and congressional Republicans in that year also came up with a strategy that has since become a core part of the playbook: game the congressional budgetary analyses that would reveal how their tax cuts would generate massive and persistent deficits simply by making the cuts temporary.

In reality, everyone involved understood that once the public had grown accustomed to paying less in taxes, any president and Congress, regardless of the party, would be wary of letting the cuts lapse and being accused of raising taxes.

“We have a problem of Republicans beginning tax cuts on a partisan basis, and then Democrats being afraid not to extend them,” Kogan said.

Democrats, indeed, have repeatedly shied away from making the case that the country’s long-term financial health requires a return to previous tax rates. Instead, they have taken to arguing that the fiscal hole can be filled merely by taxing the rich — increasing rates on the richest 1% or 2% of Americans — even though the money raised by those proposals comes nowhere close to what is needed to get long-term revenues back in line with long-term spending.

An intentional revenue problem

For years, Republicans and tax opponents like Norquist have declared that Washington does not have a revenue problem, but a spending problem.

History, however, suggests the opposite. That spending on health care for the elderly and Social Security payments for an aging population would increase as a share of the federal budget has been known for decades. It was known and accounted for back in the late 1990s, when the existing level of taxation nevertheless projected an improving debt-to-GDP ratio for decades to come.

And as the years passed, despite new costs associated with a new Medicare prescription drug benefit added under George W. Bush and the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama, the long-term spending trend line remained largely as forecast, Kogan said.

“We used to be on track for our revenues to be on pace with our spending,” he said. “Then we cut taxes disproportionately for the rich. Now we are no longer on track.”

Today, the revenue line and the spending line diverge into the future, and will require tax increases or spending cuts totalling $1 trillion a year or more just to maintain a debt-to-GDP ratio that is as high as it was at the end of World War II.

How this can be resolved is unclear. Although an across-the-board tax increase to return to fiscal stability would be relatively modest, Republicans remain committed to not raising taxes and Democrats fear even making the effort.

Voters, meanwhile, do not seem eager to pay any more, especially given the claims from Trump and his allies that the federal government is rife with “waste, fraud and abuse” — notwithstanding the inability of multi-billionaire and former White House aide Elon Musk to find it in any meaningful quantities.

Even economists who are proponents of Modern Monetary Theory, who tend to be the least concerned about the national debt of a country that controls its own money supply, allow that sufficient tax revenue must be brought in to keep inflation and interest rates in check.

More mainstream economists wonder whether policymakers will appreciate their situation in time or whether it will require an actual economic disaster to spur them into action.

“That’s what happened to Greece,” Wolfers said. “So it does happen to first-world countries.”