Nigel Farage thinks poor families should be denied benefits and the cash go to their local pub. When he runs the country, he says, he will cut child benefit for those with more than two children and switch the £3bn saved to keep down the price of beer.

The art of populism lies in headlines. It is about the way you tell it. Farage also says he would still give benefits to “British working families”, meaning about 3,700 households with two British-born parents who both work full-time. It seems a gratuitous discrimination. As for cutting VAT on pubs to 10%, it would apply not just to pubs but to the entire hospitality sector. It was for effect that he decided to make the announcement in a pub rather than McDonald’s.

The truth is that no national tax is hypothecated, other than the BBC licence fee. Farage’s family benefits would be as likely to go to bombers as to beer. He just wished to show some glimmer of fiscal responsibility. But his choice of pubs for special mention is significant. The government’s handling of Britain’s high streets is causing devastation.

Higher taxes on jobs and higher minimum wages, an end to rates relief and soaring energy bills have crippled small retail businesses. The assault on casual labour in the Employment Rights Act is another impending black hole. On top of this is the........

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