The impossible cost to get on housing ladder – and why Gen-Z may never own a home

Gen-Z are being “locked out” of home ownership, campaigners have warned, as first-time buyers now face paying up to six times more for a home than their parents.

An analysis of rental, property and salary data by The Independent reveals that the average homebuyer in 1995 had to save just a third of their salary – £5,000 – to put down a deposit, while today’s first-time buyers are forking out average deposits nearly twice as high as the average salary.

Land registry data in England shows that the average house price now costs £286,594 – nearly six times higher (£50,679) than three decades ago.

But the average salary has barely more than doubled in that time, from £15,034 to £37,430, while the upfront cash needed for a deposit is more than 10 times greater on average.

Rents are also soaring, with average monthly rates going from £1,025 to £1,343 in the past five years alone – a 31 per cent jump, according to the UK-wide private renters index.

“If the government does not slam the brakes on soaring rents, many may never be able to buy their own home,” Ben Twomey, chief executive of the campaign group Generation Rent warned.

“Generation Z is Generation Rent. They are locked out of home ownership because they face higher rent costs than any other generation before them. Trying to save for a deposit to buy a home while rents soar is like pushing a boulder up a hill that keeps getting steeper and steeper.”

Young people who have managed to save for deposits say they feel they have had to “sacrifice” a lot to do it.

“It’s giving up your entire social life,” said Paris, a 26-year-old living in London, who started saving to buy her own place after a break-in and safety concerns while renting.

“My mum asks me, ‘What do you do, you just stay in all the time?’ And I say, ‘Well yeah, because we can’t afford it.’”

Even mortgage advisers admit that the challenges facing younger buyers are worse than in previous decades.

Ben Thompson, deputy CEO of the Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB), bought his first home at age 22 with a near-100 per cent loan. But he knows that his situation would be more difficult now.

He told The Independent: “I hate the arguments where people just say, ‘Oh, in our day, we had to save, and they’ve got it much easier these days.’ I don’t buy into that. I think it’s tougher to buy today than it was before.”

And being frugal alone will not be enough. Real estate and housing economist Chris Foye, who lectures at University College London (UCL), said that advice for Gen-Z to simply save or invest more wisely misses the full picture.

“I mean, there’s only so much you can do with a little, right? There’s only so much we can tell young people about investing wisely when they don’t have very much to invest in the first place,” he said.

“People are paying so much for rent, and their incomes aren’t as high as previous generations enjoyed. I don’t think [saving more] is going to shift the dial.”

The average annual income in 2025 is £37,430, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows. After tax and national insurance, the average earner is left with £30,469 a year.

Over half of this (£16,116) can easily be spent on rent, with average monthly rates at £1,343, according to the price index of private rents (PIPR).

But the average house deposit is now £61,000, according to Halifax, with starter homes being sold for around £311,000.

This means that homes are now being sold for around eight times the average salary, with deposits nearly double a year’s wage – and 12 times higher than they were in 1995.

A person on an average salary, paying average rent, is left with around £1,150 a month for all other costs, including bills, lifestyle, food, travel and savings.

If saving £500 of that a month, it would take over a decade to build up the average deposit, before even beginning to pay a hefty mortgage.

All this means there is now a growing divide between people with access to generational wealth – otherwise known as the “bank of mum and dad” – and those without.

Data from estate agents Savills shows that over half of first-time buyers had some form of support from their family last year, to the tune of £9.6bn in gifts and loans.

But the economic disparity among homeowners and renters risks creating greater financial divides.

Over a 30-year period, The Independent’s calculations, from ONS data, show that renters could spend £483,000 on average, if private rental prices remain the same, without the financial security of owning their own home to show for it.

“It’s not just younger generations, it’s middle-aged, older generations as well, who also haven’t accumulated housing wealth or other forms of wealth,” Mr Foye told The Independent.

“They have to, therefore, make sacrifices, right? They have to live in smaller spaces, change their life decisions. They might have to live further away from work. And these are all very unfair and uncomfortable ways in which people deal with these affordability constraints.”

Many young Britons are therefore likely to be “trapped renting” for decades, Mr Twomey warned.

“Gen-Z have spent their entire adult lives facing housing costs that are rising much quicker than their earnings,” he said.

And home ownership rates remain low among young people (aged 34 and under), at just 39 per cent, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. This is substantially lower than the peak of 59 per cent in 2000, but has been steadily increasing in the past decade.

Nonetheless, some in Gen Z are determined to get on the housing ladder regardless, and are willing to make those sacrifices for the long-term gain.

Earlier this year, Paris put down a £14,000 deposit on a small flat in southeast London.

She had saved for several years, after a series of negative experiences while renting, which pushed her towards home ownership.

Before buying her home, Paris was paying £950 a month on renting a room – and when trying to find a new rental, she was shocked at the soaring prices.

“At that moment, I tapped out. If a room share is £1,400, I’d rather put that money in my own home,” she said.

Others are turning to high-risk investments to raise the cash. Luke, 24, has put the majority of his savings into cryptocurrency.

“Truthfully, I think the only solution to [large deposits] is some high-risk, high-return way like crypto. The British population almost don’t have a choice.

“Of course, it’s affected my social life a lot. It’s been frustrating. But I try not to focus on the short term. The UK is a very land-ownership-based economy. And as soon as you own property, life just gets dramatically easier,” he told The Independent.

With a growing population and stagnant real estate market, the Labour government is focusing on boosting housebuilding and protecting renters by banning “no-fault” evictions and making all tenancies periodic.

Mortgage adviser Thompson believes that boosting home ownership would also be beneficial for chancellor Rachel Reeves’ economic growth ambitions.

“More home ownership and home buying tends to drive a lot more economic activity and growth, which is definitely where the government’s coming from, quite rightly at the moment,” he explained.

“You’ve got a supportive regulatory environment as well. So if you combine all those factors, there is a cause for optimism.”

The government has also allocated £39bn for affordable housing over a decade – something Paris believes is key to tackling the problem.

“The only solution to getting out of the housing crisis is to build more council housing,” she said.

“Home ownership in this country is a commodity; it’s an investment and a vehicle to your pension, and it should not be like that.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “The acute and entrenched housing crisis this government inherited has seen a generation locked out of homeownership and paying a record rent bill.”

“That is why our Plan for Change set out steps to get Britain building and deliver 1.5 million homes, while tackling excessive rent demands.”

“We have already announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, and our Renters’ Rights Bill will transform the private rental sector for tenants.”

Why Keir Starmer cannot survive as prime minister without this man

The name Morgan McSweeney may not be on the lips of people down in the pub or at the school gate but it is one that those in the Westminster bubble are obsessed with.

Labour MPs are particularly aware of the Downing Street chief of staff’s power and importance, either as something they consider to be a toxic poison at the heart of government or the means of future preferment and promotion.

So reports that Sir Keir Starmer was “screaming” at his chief of staff, telling him “you were supposed to protect me” over the Lord Mandelson debacle is a sign that this government is in incredibly serious trouble.

There is even a widespread belief in Westminster’s corridors that this is not Keir Starmer’s government at all, but rather Morgan McSweeney’s. The prime minister is in many ways the front man for a project which is actually being directed by an unelected official in Downing Street.

So when people question Sir Keir Starmer’s judgement on appointments, particularly the head scratching catastrophe of sending Lord Mandelson to Washington DC as the UK’s ambassador, they are in reality questioning the PM’s judgement in doing what McSweeney advises.

Recent tales from the big ministerial reshuffle seem to underline this point.

The three people removed from the cabinet were all people McSweeney wanted out, according to sources.

Angela Rayner may have self-destructed over her tax affairs, but there had been a long concerted campaign by the Blairite wing of the party, of which McSweeney is the prime member, to remove her. Who was it who authorised the revealing and damaging readout about Ms Rayner’s comments on immigration in a cabinet meeting just before the summer? That would only have happened with McSweeney’s blessing.

Lucy Powell – now apparently on a vengeance mission running for deputy leader against the Starmer/ McSweeney candidate Bridget Phillipson – was removed as Commons leader because “she kept standing up to McSweeney and telling him he was wrong”, according to an ally of hers.

Ian Murray was replaced by Douglas Alexander as Scottish secretary “because of McSweeney’s obsession with Blair-era figures”. Mr Alexander, a very capable individual, was a minister and campaign chief in Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments.

“McSweeney was desperate to get him in the cabinet, and Ian [Murray] was expendable,” a source told The Independent.

One of the footnotes of the reshuffle also saw McSweeney’s wife, Imogen Walker, inserted into the whips’ office. She was elected as MP for Hamilton and Clyde Valley in 2024 after he oversaw selections and parachuted hundreds of preferred candidates into winnable seats.

The 48-year-old’s apparent enthusiasm for figures from the Blair years is what drove him to not only push for Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US but also try to prevent his sacking.

To understand the current project, you need to go back to the Corbyn years, when McSweeney was at the forefront in trying to save the party from disappearing forever down a far-left black hole.

As director of Labour Together, he effectively organised the fightback and handpicked Starmer as the man to take over after Corbyn and turn the ship around.

The success in the election last year, which McSweeney ran, was the vindication of that project, but unfortunately, they came into office without much of a policy plan.

And it all started with McSweeney removing an obstacle to his authority – Sue Gray, who had been brought in as the original chief of staff before he replaced her almost a year ago.

As the welfare crisis mounted before the summer, with scores of Labour MPs threatening to vote the government’s policy down, the calls to remove McSweeney grew very loud indeed. And they have not really quietened down. In fact, last week’s chaos with Mandelson made matters worse.

But here lies the problem. If this government is more a McSweeney government than a Starmer one, the prime minister may have the authority to sack his chief of staff, but where does it leave him?

Without McSweeney, Starmer is hugely weakened and the suggestions of a leadership coup by May next year become very realistic.

McSweeney’s problem is that he cannot orchestrate Starmer to be replaced either. A new leader will almost certainly be more left-leaning and will want to take the party in a new direction. That means he will be out too.

That gives the rather disturbing image of two men locked in a room together shouting at one another over the rapid demise of a government that has barely been in power for a year, but trapped with one another with no way out.

Liverpool have a Salah problem and he might just cost them the title

When Alexander Isak was finally confirmed as a Liverpool player, many supporters from rival title challengers wrote off their team’s chances of toppling the champions this season there and then. Even after seeing Liverpool make it four wins from four at Burnley, however, many may be reconsidering such a position.

Having broken the British transfer record for one multi-faceted forward in Florian Wirtz and added one of Europe’s most exciting attackers in Hugo Ekitike to add to a title-winning, 86-goal strikeforce from last season, Liverpool appeared to be simply satirising the competition when they launched another record bid for Isak.

Did they even need him? Spending £125m on another striker just seemed downright frivolous. Yet, after Liverpool were so listless and unimaginative in attack at Burnley, before Mohamed Salah’s most fortunate of get-out-of-jail stoppage-time penalties maintained their winning start to the new campaign, Isak’s arrival is in fact out of necessity than frivolity.

For all the myriad of talents in the forward department, what was glaring in the meek Burnley showing was the lack of an attacking focal point.

Ekitike was again deployed centrally at Turf Moor, but offered a threat, fleetingly, when cutting in from the flanks. Wirtz again struggled to really have an impact, while Cody Gakpo’s speciality, coming off the touchline and whipping a cross or shot in on his right foot, will ensure he cannot be dragged into the middle.

Salah, however, although he was once again the matchwinner, is perhaps the biggest cause for concern. The Egyptian always struggles at Burnley, having scored only once against the Clarets in his Liverpool career, prior to Sunday’s clash engulfed by a swirling Lancashire wind off Pendle Hill.

He is rarely, however, this quiet. He didn’t win a single duel all match, didn’t complete a single dribble, created one opportunity and did not muster a shot at goal, all match, until his winning penalty.

And it is not the first time he has been so underwhelming since the Premier League restart. It is understandable at 33, but how long can he continue to get away with it, and rely on his elevated status in the team?

“I’ve thought about almost every substitution you can make,” Slot said when asked whether he would take Salah off. “But in the end, you always come back to the fact that I don’t want to leave this stadium with a draw.

“With taking Mo off – if you need a goal, you leave him on. It will probably happen this season or maybe next season, but it probably won’t happen a lot.”

Like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, Salah never misses out, unless rested. He is never substituted. You don’t beg a generational talent to stay twice and then leave him out.

In any other team, Salah’s position would be watertight, completely untouchable. But Liverpool have had an all-timer of a transfer window, broke the British record twice to bring in two of the best forwards in the world, and leaving Salah in there, week in, week out, when he remains this ineffective, could, even if it may seem unlikely at this stage, prove costly come May.

Isak’s return to full fitness gives Slot one of the most luxurious of dilemmas in Premier League history. If Salah’s form continues at this limp rate, however, the Liverpool boss may in fact have to do the unthinkable, for the greater good.

The Swede solves the one issue remaining in this near-perfect Liverpool unit. With him through the middle, Slot can then rotate the wealth of forward options he has at his disposal around the new arrival.

How Salah fits into that may define whether Slot creates another all-conquering Liverpool force that goes down in the history books or not.

Get that right and rival supporters will be left to go back to their initial pessimistic season expectations.

‘Unacceptable’ waiting list of up to eight years for NHS gender care

Patients needing NHS gender care face a 42,000-long waiting list, with some waits as long as eight years, health secretary Wes Streeting has revealed.

Mr Streeting has vowed to address the “unacceptable” waits for tens of thousands of people needing access to NHS adult gender dysphoria services, The Independent can reveal.

At a speech for the NHS England LGBT+ Health Annual Conference in London on Monday, the health secretary will say: “Evidence shows trans people have higher rates of mental health conditions, including depression, when compared to the general population. Longer wait times only steepen this pain.

“Over 42,000 people are still waiting, often for years, for their first appointment at adult gender dysphoria clinics. That’s 42,000 people who are hurting, anxious, and exhausted.

“This breaks my heart…42,000 or more individuals should not be feeling invisible, misunderstood or unsupported.”

A new pilot scheme in the Southwest will be given £125,000 to help patients on the waiting list by providing more information to patients before appointments and mental health support.

In this area of England, there are around 5,000 patients waiting up to eight years, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.

In London, patients referred to services run by The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, face a waiting list of more than 16,000, and first appointments are only just being offered to those referred in March 2020, according to the trust website. The organisation states it receives around 300 referrals a month.

Patients in the North of England are waiting almost seven years, according to Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust.

If the South West pilot is a success, the DHSC said it will roll out it nationally, the DHSC said.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Streeting will also say: “When I was growing up, I knew how it felt to keep part of myself hidden, scared of the judgment of others. To be bullied just for being me.

“I was lucky. I had a network of friends, family and organisations who loved and supported me for who I was.

“Having the confidence to be ourselves is as important as the confidence to express concerns about our own physical and mental health.

“And when who we are is so intimately linked to how we feel, safe spaces and understanding ears are what we need most.

“So, it is personally upsetting to me, and I am sure to anyone reading this, that LGBT+ people still face worse health outcomes than other population groups.”

He said people on waiting lists for gender services will also be able to access online cognitive behavioural therapy through the NHS’s Silvercloud service.

A national review of adult gender dysphoria clinics, led by Dr David Levy, is being carried out following concerns raised by Dr Hilary Cass, who led the Cass Review into gender services, about adult services.

The review is looking into how the services operate, areas of concern, and action being taken to improve services.

In a statement ahead of the pilot announcement, Mr Streeting said: “It is fundamentally wrong that so many LGBT+ people still face challenges when accessing healthcare – including barriers such as discrimination, misunderstanding, and miseducation…

“This pilot marks a major step – acknowledging the unacceptable waits endured by thousands of transgender patients and starting to tackle it head on.”

Following a Supreme Court ruling ruled the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”, controversy over the mixing of genders on NHS wards broke out.

Responding at the time, Mr Streeting said the NHS should provide single sex wards to patients, based on biology; however suggested the health services could treat trans patients in private rooms

Professor James Palmer, NHS England national medical director for specialised services, said in relation to the pilots: “We know there are unacceptably long waits for many of these services.

“This is why we have commissioned an independently led review into the operation and delivery of the adult gender dysphoria clinics, alongside work we have already undertaken to introduce new care models that are making significant progress in helping to bring down these very long waits.”

New video appears to show Charlie Kirk murder suspect stalking campus before shooting

Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is facing his first court appearance on Tuesday; however, the motive for the shooting is still unclear.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Sunday that Robinson had been radicalized in the dark corners of the internet, was left-leaning, and “not cooperating,” though friends and family are helping the investigation.

The governor confirmed reports that Robinson has a trans partner who is being “very cooperative” with and “had no idea this was happening.” Authorities have not said if this was relevant as they investigate the motive.

At a vigil on Sunday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., friends of Kirk and Trump administration officials mourned the slain activist.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard compared Kirk’s killing to the 9/11 attacks, while Arizona politician Kari Lake blamed the left and the “brainwashing” Robinson got during a brief stint in college for the shooting.

Elsewhere, President Donald Trump has lent his support to underfire FBI Director Kash Patel, who has faced criticism over his handling of the manhunt.

He will soon answer questions in Congress about the investigation.

I wish my mum had contacted Macmillan Cancer Support

I wasn’t at my mum’s side when she learned she had breast cancer, but that made me determined to be there the day she was getting the all-clear 18-months later. However, things didn’t go to plan that day.

Mum’s cancer journey started over a decade ago, a few months after a routine mammogram – when she developed “a pain”. She told herself it was probably nothing, because the scan she’d just had was fine. When she mentioned it to her GP – a small lump that didn’t feel quite right – she convinced herself that she was just being silly. The biopsy begged to differ.

In the list you keep in your head of the cancers you worry your mum might get, breast wasn’t that high on mine. Yes, it’s long been the number one cancer affecting women, with Macmillan Cancer Support reporting that about 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year  – the risk factor only increasing with age. But my mum had other health concerns to contend with.

As a schoolgirl in swinging London, she’d been a back-of-the-bikeshed smoker, which had graduated into a lifelong habit. Lung cancer seemed like a possibility.

Mum’s also the biggest sun worshipper I know. Long before any of us had heard of SPF, she would think nothing of spending an afternoon in the garden, stretched out on a blanket, slathered in baby oil. So, given what we know now about UV radiation, I wondered about skin cancer too.

Mum went on to have a series of lumpectomies to get rid of three spots of malignant tissue. She would also have lymph nodes removed as a precaution, as well as undergo extensive chemotherapy.

For me, her diagnosis was as though a stopwatch had been started. How long might she have left? She did her best to be stoic. Which was just as well, given what government austerity measures at the time were doing to the NHS: budget cuts, hapless reorganisations, and an end to the “gold-standard” two-week referral from detection to the start of treatment.

All mum could do was wait for the brown envelopes to drop on the doormat detailing appointments at unfamiliar hospitals many miles away, sometimes after the appointment had been and gone.

If she felt let down by the bureaucracy of our health service, the same could not be said for the army of individuals involved in her care. On a human level, she found her nurses and doctors to be uniquely composed and compassionate throughout her treatment.

When the day finally came for her oncologist to tell her that all the signs of her cancer had gone, I was invited along to hold her hand. “The scans are back,” he began. “And I need to discuss your options for the next course of action.” It seemed the cancer hadn’t quite gone after all. She had fought so hard to get to this point, she was expecting good news, and was unprepared for the knockback.

But she did go on to beat cancer – and has been in remission for more than five years, which we couldn’t be more grateful for. However, should it ever come back, there’s one thing we’d do differently from the off: make a call to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Only with hindsight, did we realise how much help Macmillan would have been. Someone to provide her with a calming companion for the journey, someone to help with the cancer admin – the appointments, the prescriptions, the test results – and someone to explain what all the scans and tests were for, what the results might mean, and what to expect next.

I couldn’t always be around while mum was living with cancer, and that’s where Macmillan steps in. Now, enjoying a slice of cake at a Coffee Morning, which is raising money to fund the work they do, seems like the least I can do.

Find out how you can help raise vital funds by hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Sign up now on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

Madeleine McCann suspect refuses police interview ahead of release

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has refused to be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police ahead of his upcoming release from prison, the force has said.

German national Christian Brueckner is due to be released from prison on Wednesday after serving a seven-year term for raping an elderly woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2005.

The 49-year-old has not been charged and denies any involvement in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine from the same holiday resort in 2007.

However, Brueckner remains a suspect in the Met’s investigation – with Portuguese and German authorities also probing the disappearance.

But after the force sent an international letter of request to Brueckner for him to speak with investigators, he rejected it, it emerged on Monday.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, a senior investigating officer for the Met’s investigation, said the force will “continue to pursue any viable lines of inquiry” in the absence of an interview with Brueckner.

He said: “For a number of years we have worked closely with our policing colleagues in Germany and Portugal to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of 3 May 2007 in Praia da Luz.

“We are aware of the pending release from prison of a 49-year-old German man who has been the primary suspect in the German federal investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

“We can confirm that this individual remains a suspect in the Metropolitan Police’s own investigation.

“We have requested an interview with this German suspect but, for legal reasons, this can only be done via an International Letter of Request which has been submitted.

“It was subsequently refused by the suspect. In the absence of an interview, we will nevertheless continue to pursue any viable lines of inquiry.

“We can provide no further information while the investigation is ongoing.”

A number of searches have been carried out by German, Portuguese and British authorities since Madeleine’s disappearance – with the latest taking place near the Portuguese municipality of Lagos in June.

In 2023, investigators carried out searches near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz.

Brueckner spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017 and had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.

In October last year, the suspect was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

The total funding given to the Met’s investigation, titled Operation Grange, has been more than £13.2 million since 2011 after a further £108,000 was secured from the government in April.

Farage blames office error for failing to register trip to Trump event

Nigel Farage has admitted breaching parliamentary rules by failing to register a visit to the US to headline a fundraiser for Donald Trump.

The Reform leader blamed an error by his office for the failure to disclose information on the trip to Florida in March to appear as a special guest at a $500-a-head Republican Party event in Tallahassee.

The Sunday Times reported that Mr Farage did not disclose who paid for the visit, and how much he earned from it.

Under parliamentary law, MPs are required to register visits abroad that cost more than £300 within 28 days if they are not wholly paid for by the MP or public funds. They must also report any fees or payments in kind within the same timeframe.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Mr Farage, MP for Clacton, said: “The trip to Florida in March was remunerated in three separate instalments over the course of two months. I emailed the details to my office in the normal way.

“Unfortunately, these submissions were not added to the register. This was an error. The travel arrangements were paid for by myself.

“A correction to the record will be made tomorrow along with an apology to the registrar.”

It was reported at the time that Mr Farage had missed Prime Minister’s Questions ahead of his appearance at the event.

Tables for top-tier “Trump sponsors” at the “Disruptors Dinner” were said to have cost 25,000 dollars (£18,440) and include photos with the Clacton MP and tickets to a VIP reception.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats had earlier called on Mr Farage to disclose how the trip was funded.

Anna Turley, chairwoman of the Labour Party, said: “Nigel Farage has failed to disclose who funded this US trip, refused to answer questions about his tax affairs, and changed his story about where he lives.

“Rather than representing his constituents in the UK Parliament to which the people of Clacton elected him, he’s been jetting off abroad to call for sanctions against our country, putting British jobs at risk.”

Mr Farage has also faced questions over his constituency home in recent weeks.

Last year, following his election as Clacton’s MP, Mr Farage claimed in a series of interviews that he had bought a house in his constituency.

But it subsequently emerged the property had actually been bought by his partner, Laure Ferrari, leading to accusations from the Labour Party that he had “misled” the public.

The Reform UK leader told the BBC on Friday he had had a “very expensive week” seeking advice from tax experts and “paid a lot of money to make sure we have done everything right”.

Mr Farage denied providing any money for the purchase and insisted the correct amount of tax had been paid.

He said: “The money was legally hers, she bought the house. I don’t have any financial stake in it whatsoever – other than she lets me stay there.”