Fake Nigel Farage article supporting means-tested pensions shared online

Multiple social media posts are sharing a screenshot of an article purporting to be by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in which he calls for pensions to be means-tested. But this isn’t a real article.

Under Mr Farage’s byline a headline reads: “People did not work hard enough to deserve a pension”. Beneath the headline, a second line of text reads: “We should means-test pensions because it is the right thing to do."

The image uses similar text, formatting and colour schemes to articles on the Telegraph’s website when viewed on a mobile device, but no such article has ever been published there.  

A search of the Telegraph’s archives returns no results for an article using the wording of the image. The screenshot appears to be an edited version of the mobile view of an unrelated story, which uses the same photo of Nigel Farage and was published by the newspaper on 11 January. 

We have asked The Telegraph to confirm that the article did not appear on their website and will update this article when we receive a response. They have informed fact checkers from Reuters that the article is fake. We have also asked Reform UK whether the article is genuine. 

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a fake newspaper opinion column being shared online—we have previously debunked articles claiming to be written by American vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Eddie Izzard.

False or misleading claims about politicians and the political process have the potential to affect people’s opinions of individuals and parties, and decisions about voting. It’s always worth checking if social media pictures show what the posts say they do before you share them. For more advice, read our toolkit.