Nigel Farage has announced his first ‘shadow’ ministers with Robert Jenrick chosen to become chancellor if Reform UK wins power at the next general election.

Mr Jenrick, one of a number of defectors from the Conservative party, said he would restore stability to the economy, and cut taxes, red tape and the benefits bill.

Reform UK will also commit to retaining the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and protect the independence of the Bank of England in a move designed to boost its financial credibility.

The OBR was created in 2010 by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government to produce forecasts for the economy and the public finances, published alongside the budget.

Mr Farage had previously said he would scrap the OBR but this latest pledge will help reassure investors and business that Reform will not seek to undermine independent financial institutions.

Richard Tice tasked with combining business, trade and energy policy and said he would focus on using oil and gas to help boost economic growth, while abandoning net zero targets.

“If we achieve those things then we can reindustrialise Britain, we can re-energise Britain, we can renew Britain and yes, we can rebuild Britain. These are absolutely essential to create growth,” he said.

Zia Yusuf, currently Reform’s head of policy, leads on home affairs, with a focus on cutting legal and illegal immigration.

Another ex-Tory, Suella Braverman, has been handed the education and skills brief.

Announcing his new team, Mr Farage declared that Reform was now “the voice of opposition” to the Labour government. Though it only has 8 MPs, it has led in the opinion polls by a significant margin since last Spring.

Mr Farage said it was time to “broaden the party” and put people in “shadow positions” to counter claims Reform was “a one-man band”.

Significantly, two of his nominees have ministerial experience. Mr Jenrick is a former housing secretary, and has also held ministerial posts at the Home Office and health department. He held a junior Treasury role as exchequer secretary under Theresa May.

Former Home Secretary Ms Braverman said a Reform government would set a target of 50% of young people going into “trades” rather than to university. She was also given responsibility for equalities policy, but said Reform would scrap the role of equalities minister.

She said the country was being “ripped apart by diversity, equality and inclusion” and Reform would repeal New Labour’s Equality Act, passed in 2010, which contains legal protections against discrimination.

It would “build a country defined by meritocracy, not tokenism” and “personal responsibility, not victimhood”.

There is no indication as to what would replace the legislation, but Mr Farage said it would mean “getting rid of the pernicious, divisive notion of protected characteristics”, while still protecting people in the workplace.

He said Reform would also be bringing in people who are “genuine experts in their area” to take up junior ministerial positions and offer “real world experience”.

He has rowed back some of his earlier pledges on tax, but said the party would make some “relatively modest” changes, such as raising thresholds, scrapping inheritance tax on family-run businesses, and reversing Labour’s move to charge inheritance tax on farmland.

Meanwhile, Reform’s leader in Scotland, Malcolm Offord, has stood by plans to axe a series of quangos in Scotland if the party formed the next government at Holyrood.

Mr Offord last month said he would axe “highly dubious environmental protection, economic development and 132 unaccountable quangos” in order to cut income tax.

Following a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies today warning the next administration that it would need to raise taxes or cut services, he told Daily Business he stood by his plan. He said that they represented a “gravy train” which had not helped to raise standards.

Commenting on Mr Farage’s new team, Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake said Reform’s front bench “looks more like a tribute act to the old Conservative Party than a credible alternative”.

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said Mr Farage’s top team was made up of “failed Tories” who had “failed Britain before” and would “do the same again under Reform”.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Nigel Farage is welcome to give his colleagues new name badges but it won’t change the opinion of the country – that Conservatives, current or former, are totally unfit to govern.”