Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, says he missed John Healey's Budget statement partly to avoid a repeat of a physical altercation with an MP at the State Opening of Parliament.
Farage was absent from the Commons chamber while the Chancellor delivered the Budget, Brit Brief reports. At a Reform UK press conference today, he said:
"At the state opening of Parliament, I got involved ... I didn't want to ... but I got involved in a physical altercation with an MP in the chamber. Just sometimes it's better to avoid conflict. That's one reason."
He said his other reason was to go through the Budget with Reform's economists. His account of an altercation at the State Opening has not been independently checked.
Farage called the package "a retail Budget aimed at an early general election". He added: "It doesn't overall do very much, but it attempts to please a very large number of people."