Farage: ‘Loathsome’ banks should not be hit with new tax

Nigel Farage has said that banks should not be hit with new taxes at this week’s Budget in a partial U-turn on his previous position.  Earlier this year, the Reform UK leader vowed to scrap interest payments lenders receive on deposits at the Bank of England, a move that would be widely regarded as a banking tax.  Asked by City AM on whether he would support reported plans by Chancellor John Healey to increase taxes on banks, Farage said that lenders already faced a larger burden in the UK than in other countries and that he did not want banks to leave Britain, even though believed the sector’s practices were “loathsome”.  “I hate the banks,” he said in a press conference on Monday. “The fact is that they are already taxed at about 46.5 per cent, which is the highest out of any other competitor nation. “You might as chancellor be able to squeeze a bit more out of them. But you have got to be jolly careful.” I do not want a tax rate that makes banks leave London