‘Reasonable’ for European countries to deny British expats benefits, says Reform

It would be “reasonable” for European countries to deny British expatriates access to benefits, Reform UK MP Danny Kruger has insisted. The party vowed to ban foreign nationals in the UK from claiming almost all kinds of benefits if it formed a government. The changes would involve a renegotiation of the UK’s Brexit deal, meaning Britons living in the EU could also potentially be stripped of access to benefits. Asked if British expatriates in the EU could lose equivalent rights, Kruger told BBC Breakfast: “Well, I expect so. “So, it would be reasonable for the Europeans to deny British nationals access to European benefits.” Follow The i Paper’s live blog for the latest updates. ‘Reasonable’ for European countries to deny British expects benefits, Reform MP says Sort: August 17, 2026 8:27 amKruger: People with mild anxiety should not be consigned to be at home watching TV People with “mild mental health conditions” should not be “consigned to be at home alone for the rest of their lives sitting on the sofa and watching TV”, Danny Kruger has said.Asked if people with conditions such as anxiety, depression and PTSD will not be able to claim personal independence payments (PIP) under Reform’s plans to cut the welfare bill, Kruger told BBC Breakfast his party will introduce “better schemes assessed more accurately in a more personal way, and with more generous support for people with serious conditions”.He added that if people “are literally unable to work, and a clinician in a rigorous face-to-face assessment makes that conclusion, then they will be eligible” for welfare support.Former Conservative MP Danny Kruger, who defected to Reform UK last year (Photo: James Manning/PA Wire)“But no, our expectation is that people, particularly with mild anxiety, mild mental health conditions, which I recognise as serious for those people, we should not dismiss them at all, we do have a real problem with mental health conditions in our country,” he added.“The answer for many of those people is not to be consigned to be at home alone for the rest of their lives, sitting on the sofa and watching TV. They need to be given purposeful activity. “They need to be encouraged to work, which is often the best remedy for many of these mental health conditions, alongside the support that they should be getting.“So, the simple answer to your question is probably yes. We do expect people with those conditions, if they are mild and if they’re able to work, we do expect those people to work.” August 17, 2026 8:12 am‘Reasonable’ for European countries to deny British expects benefits, Reform MP says It would be “reasonable” for European countries to deny British expatriates access to benefits, a Reform UK MP has insisted.The party vowed to ban foreign nationals in the UK from claiming almost all kinds of benefits if it formed a government.The ban would include European Union (EU) nationals with settled status in the UK.According to Reform, the ban would save £21bn a year by its fifth year. It forms part of Reform’s wider plans to cut £50bn off the welfare bill by modifying or entirely withdrawing almost three million people’s access to disability and sickness payments.However, the changes would involve a renegotiation of the UK’s Brexit deal, meaning Britons living in the EU could also potentially be stripped of access to benefits.Asked if British expatriates in the EU could lose equivalent rights, Danny Kruger told BBC Breakfast: “Well, I expect so.“So, it would be reasonable for the Europeans to deny British nationals access to European benefits.”Reform UK MP Danny Kruger (right) with Nigel Farage during a press conference in London last September (Photo: Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty Images)Kruger added that Reform has included “in our plans a budget to ensure that British nationals, whether they return to the UK or remain where they are… will then become entitled to British benefits.”He continued: “I think it’s a reasonable principle that the country to which people belong, where they are citizens, should be paying their welfare and so I would understand if the Europeans decided to apply the same principle that we are, and to deny our nationals access to their welfare system, and we will pay for that ourselves.”