‘Super VAT’ tax as Ukip turn on luxury goods

Delegates gathered at the party conference in Doncaster heard a new wave of UK Independence Party policies as Nigel Farage prepares for the 2015 General Election.

A higher rate of VAT for luxury goods will feature in the Ukip manifesto, with shoes over £200, handbags above £1,000 and cars worth more than £50,000 all facing a price hike.

The party also promised to ditch inheritance tax and to cut the higher rate of tax from 40p to 35p for people who earn between £42,000 and £55,000.

On immigration proposals were unveiled for an Australian-style points based migration system and a cap of 50,000 people a year allowed to move to the UK.

Ukip also promised to reform UK border points so there is one line for British passport holders and “one line for the rest of the world”.

Ukip’s deputy leader Paul Nuttall said the party was pursuing a deliberate strategy of appealing to working class voters who are disillusioned with Labour, a group he described as the “low-hanging fruit in British politics”.

The MEP said: “You’ve just got to look at the by-elections over the past four years, starting with Barnsley in 2011 I think there’s been six on the bounce in the north of England where we’ve finished second to Labour - 25% in South Shields, 24% in Rotherham.

“I’ve been saying since 2007 that the low-hanging fruit in British politics are disaffected working-class people who will no longer vote for Labour, who feel that the Labour Party leadership doesn’t represent them.

“Many of these people have never had a proper job in their lives, they’ve been to private school, they go to Oxbridge, they get a job in an MP’s office and then become an MP and legislate on behalf of working class people they don’t know.”